Blair Ballard of The Bond Experience interviewed Skyfall‘s and Spectre‘s costume designer Jany Temime to find out more about her experience and ideas for dressing Daniel Craig as James Bond. Temime spoke about her process for finding and designing clothes for him to wear, Craig’s input and working with Tom Ford. Watch the interview and read more below.
Since Tom Ford was already associated with the Bond films from Quantum of Solace, Temime had no plans to find a new brand to associate with James Bond. She spoke about how Daniel Craig’s own vision was her starting point for the style of his suits in the last two Bond films:
I didn’t really decide for a brand because when I stepped in I knew that Tom Ford was a sponsor. I had a meeting with Daniel to ask him what he wanted, and he showed me some pictures of clothes for which direction to go. And we had the same idea about something, which was easy, very physical. A suit that is a continuation of your body, a suit that is like a second skin. Not something that is protective but something which moves with his body … I wanted a suit that would just follow his shape, so that you could see his muscles moving when he was running, so that you could see his shoulders moving.
If anyone is to take responsibility for the style of the suits in the last two Bond films, Craig is the one behind it because it started with his ideas of how he likes a suit to fit. Temime’s idea for a suit that is a continuation of the body and a suit that moves with the body like a second skin is a wonderful concept. No matter the cut of one’s suit, one must always be comfortable in a suit and be able to move naturally in it. A suit should never be a hindrance.
Tom Ford’s suits are generally constructed in the armour-like Savile Row tradition, which does not lend itself to being so much like Jany Temime’s idea of a second skin. A stiffly canvassed chest and structured shoulders can not follow the body in the same way a softer, lighter suit can. Ford’s suits are designed to work with the body and give it a more regal silhouette.
The highest-quality fabrics that Tom Ford uses do not blend synthetics with the fine wool, mohair and silk, so they can’t stretch to show off Craig’s muscles so much either. A suit can certainly function like a second skin, but there are limitation to how much it can follow all of the curves and crevices of the body. Whether or not Craig’s suits fit exactly the way they were intended to fit, the concepts behind the fit are perfect for an action hero.
The cut of the Brunello Cucinelli jacket that Craig wears in Spectre does the best job at being like a second-skin for Craig of all the tailored clothes in his Bond films. Craig is a huge fan of Brunello Cucinelli in his personal life, and their soft construction best aligns with his personal views of how a suit should fit. The jacket has a soft construction with soft and natural shoulders that are best able to follow the lines of Craig’s muscular body in most places. Brunello Cucinelli’s jackets, however, are not shaped as dramatically through the chest as Tom Ford’s are and thus don’t do as good as job at fitting Craig’s big chest in relation to his small waist.
Temime further explained her experience working with Tom Ford to get the suit that she and Craig wanted:
I went to New York with six trousers, six jackets, six waistcoats and six shirts from everybody, and then we tried it just to define the shape. When I had that shape, I went to Tom Ford, and I said ‘this is what I like’. And then I thought, well he might throw it in my face and say ‘I’m doing my own things and forget it’. But he was extraordinary. He said he understands because he’s a filmmaker himself, so he understood it was the job of the costume designer and said ‘if it’s what you want, it is what we will do.’ He sent me his tailor, and his tailor did exactly the shape that I wanted. Then we had two more fittings with Daniel and the Italian tailor, and they were great. They understood immediately what I wanted. Because it is so near the body, it has to be excellent.
This clarifies that Jany Temime designed the O’Connor suits in Skyfall and Spectre, not Tom Ford. Whatever your opinion of those suits may be, Tom Ford cannot take credit. Some details are Ford’s, like the roped shoulders, barchetta breast pockets, rolled lapels and side adjusters on the trousers. With the idea to fit the suits as close to the body as possible, it is impossible to get a perfect fit with the way Craig’s body shape fluctuates. Gaining a kilogram of muscle or fat—or even just eating a meal—will be immediately noticeable with a suit that fits so closely, and with each film taking months of filming, there was certainly some of that at play. Realistically such a close fit cannot be done perfectly with the way the body fluctuates.
Jany Temime earns a lot of points for being a firm believer in the suit. She had the perfect response when asked about putting James Bond in a suit when suits have become less relevant today:
I would still put him in a suit because I think that the suit is the most perfect, elegant, sophisticated piece of clothing for a man. What you have to care is about good tailoring; good tailoring means a good suit. If your suit is well cut, if your suit is good enough to be worn with nonchalance, elegance. The association of a suit with armour isn’t good. A suit can also be a continuation of yourself. You should be able with good tailor to forget that you’re wearing a suit, and then you are really elegant.
These are words to live by.
This is great. Kudos to you, Matt for sharing this here. It now kind of gives me an impression that Daniel Craig himself is to blame for the mess with the fit of the suits we have seen in Skyfall and Spectre – even with tailored clothing he still manages to make himself look too tight and overweight in the wrong places, in the end looking like a stuffed sausage:
http://www.realmenrealstyle.com/5-tips-muscular-man/
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/features/gear/muscular-man-s-guide-style
Even Arnold in his peak is able to look better in a suit than Daniel Craig’s Bond:
http://www.realmenrealstyle.com/bodybuilder-mens-suits/
If Daniel Craig wanted the stretched suit look, it is unfortunate that only blended fabrics with stretchable synthetic fillings will work for his Bond. Pure wool as used by Tom Ford or any premium clothing brand or bespoke tailors just would not do that. Pure wool should instead be rightfully appreciated for its handle and armour like silhouette.
Having recently seen the Kingsman 2 trailer at a shopping mall, it reminds me of the immaculate fit of the suits even while being used in action scenes which we grew up to Sean Connery’s Bond with in FRWL, Goldfinger and Thunderball. We might unfortunately eventually lose that signature look which we have associated with James Bond for such a long time.
By the way this article does not seem to show up on your home page. I actually stumbled upon here from random browsing.
I think she just wanted to see Craig in skin tight suits.
I fully agree – it is obviously her own concept she’s now trying to sell as being supported by Craig. She thinks that skin-tight suits are “hot” which proves that she has absolutely no idea of the James Bond style which can never be “hot” but gains its attractiveness from a cool and sober way of dresssing.
I didn’t think it was possible, but this article has totally changed my opinion of Ms Temime. Thanks again for another brilliant post!
My opinion of Mrs Temime remains unchanged – IMO she is definitely not the right person for dressing James Bond.
“If anyone is to take responsibility for the style of the suits in the last two Bond films, Craig is the one behind it. ”
-I can’t find that – it is Temime stating “I wanted a suit that would just follow his shape, so that you could see his muscles moving when he was running, so that you could see his shoulders moving.”
“Whatever your opinion of those suits may be, Tom Ford cannot take credit.” – Neither can Craig.
We don’t know what pictures Daniel Craig showed her, and we still don’t know if he was pleased with the result: “Whether or not Craig’s suits fit exactly the way they were intended to fit, […]” – exactly so to me that is the question which still remains unanswered.
The idea started with Craig. You should watch the entire video.
Bond without a suit and tie is not Bond. Essentially Bond is a man for all seasons and even with the changes in moods, fashion and the decades he is effectively unchanged.
@Matt
-I did watch the entire video but she’s just saying what you summarized in your article. It becomes clear that she’s in love with Craig’s body shape and wants his clothes to show off that. But there’s no evidence that this is identical with what Craig wanted his Bond clothes to look like. During the video she’s just talking about her ideas. There’s not really much information about Craig’s influence.
It would be interesting to know how the costume designing process went in the past – I mean CR and QoS. Was Craig also asked about his opinion beforehand and what did he think about the results?
And BTW: A lot of what she’s saying is utter nonsense – `’Every man’s wardrobe should contain a white tuxedo jacket and it can be worn with jeans (!!)’ – What are you supposed to make of that?!
The quote I pulled is placing it on Craig: “I had a meeting with Daniel to ask him what he wanted, and he showed me some pictures of clothes for which direction to go.” It started with Craig’s idea, but sure, Temime is still responsible for how the suits turned out in the end. Craig has shown in his personal life that this is what he likes to wear. If Craig still liked to wear classic bespoke tailoring, I think we would have seen more of a classic style. The Tom Ford suits in Bond actually fit better than what Craig likes to wear. I never heard about Craig having input in the Bond clothes before, but his tastes in her personal life were also much different 10 years ago.
I agree that she is off when she says you can wear it with jeans.
I couldn’t agree more with you, Renard !
The idea of a suit showing off the muscles and the body is just plain nonsense. She obviously doesn’t know that a suit isn’t supposed to fit like leggins and a sports t-shirt.
These are two different items for two completley different purposes.
Connery in Dr No looked elegant in both his suits and his polo shirt. The latter showed off clearly his athletic body, the suits were just gently showing it. And that’s why he looked great.
Connery and Lazenby were the most muscular Bonds before Craig. Yet their suits didn’t emphazise their bodys and muscles. That ´s why they looked elegant, masculine and understated. That is real Bond style.
Moore and Lazenby before Craig were the Bond actors that had their suits fitted the closest to the body. Yet no comparison with Craig’s suits.
I think the idea of a suit showing off the muscles is just simple, pure poor taste.
Renard is probably right in saying that she falled in love with Craig’s body. But every viewer knows that Craig is in a great shape. That’s a good point and a good thing for Bond. But it is not a reason to show it everytime Craig appears onscreen either.
My opinion on Mrs. Temime stays the same, or is even worse.
I miss the sense of taste and style Lindy Hemming and Louise Frogley had.
The remark on the white dinner jacket is indeed priceless… not to mention it is not a basic item every man has in his wardrobe/ can afford to pay.
Craig looked his best in QOS, and the Brioni CR dinner suit was as fantastic as the QOS TF one. I hope we will have another costume designer for the next Bond. Craig just looks childish dressed in such tight suits.
That’s just my very humble point of view.
One of the crucial statements she made is the following:
“When I had that shape, I went to Tom Ford, and I said ‘this is what I like’. And then I thought, well he might throw it in my face and say ‘I’m doing my own things and forget it’.”
So she is well aware that her conception must appear being rather crude on a man of good taste (as she considers Tom Ford to be) and that such a person would be sceptical (to say the least!) about it. Tom Ford also tailors Craig’s personal wardrobe (Am I right?) and as far as I can see those suits are a bit on the tighter side but not to the extreme as Craig’s Bond suits are. To me that shows that those tasteless shrunken suits are clearly a result of Temime’s designing – I don’t think that Ford would go that far. So it’s quite possible that Craig is a victim of her questionable taste in clothes.
Craig has had Tom Ford suits made for Bond press events, but most of the tailored clothing he gets on his own in the past few years has been very shrunken suits from Brunello Cucinelli. When you see Craig in Tom Ford outside of Bond, they don’t look as tight because he wasn’t keeping up the muscle tone he needed for the movies.
Good point Matt. Between CR and QOS, I saw a lot of pictures of Craig dressed in suits for public/ press events /etc. He looked great during this period, wearing suits rather close to the body, but nothing common with the last two movies. Often 3 piece suits by the way.
On another note, since it’s still hot summer now, would you consider doing a post on Largo’s striped casual shirt in Palmyra ? ;)
“Largo’s striped casual shirt in Palmyra”
-Yes, that’s a good idea – I too would enjoy it ! :-)
I can’t remember if I looked into this one before. Is enough of the outfit seen on screen?
I think so – should be quite easy to pull some stills from the shark basin scene (in which Largo’s incompetent henchman gets thrown into).
Indeed you didn’t cover it yet, Matt. We don’t see the outfit very long, but I figured every outfit of Largo deserve an article- he certainly is the best dressed Bond villain of all time, if you ask me.
His wardrobe is both flamboyant -and thus making a nice contrast with Connery’s Bond style- and yet sober and timeless !
I wish there were more summer shirts available with camp collars , ‘shark collars’ and other nice sporty details nowadays.
I wish there was more summer shirts ac
Indeed the outfit is only shown for a few seconds but there are photos of it, for instance:
http://jamesbond007.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/largo7.jpg
I think his shoes must be the same he is wearing with his white shirt / grey trousers outfit later in the film.
@Le Chiffre: “…every outfit of Largo deserves an article – he certainly is the best dressed Bond villain of all time,…”
-That’s right – his panache is still to be topped! Kamal Khan came close, but his wardrobe has some shortcomings which Largo’s has not.
Funny how many of you say that Jany Temime should be fired on the basis of Daniel Craig’s suit fit alone, even when she does a bang up job everywhere else including choosing the fabrics and colours of the Tom Ford clothing. She brought British brands like Barbour to the forefront and styled the other actors pretty well. Everyone seems to forget that the impeccable, classic-fitting Timothy Everest bespoke suits worn by Ralph Fiennes were also designed by Temime.
Come on, gentlemen. If Matt can see the good in her tenure as costume designer surely you can too. It doesn’t have to be everything or nothing: https://www.bondsuits.com/praising-costume-designer-jany-temime/
I agree with this. All of the other men in both films wear proper fitting suits. The poor fit of Bond’s suits is down to Craig’s creative input, not Temime. She is, at worst, a willing participant. The evidence that Craig is primarily to blame is overwhelming.
Granted, if Temime doesn’t return for the next film and Craig is wearing suits that fit, I’ll eat my words!
No need to eat your words if that happens. Costume designers and directors alike let their actors have varying amounts of input depending on their vision.
Another costume designer that let their actors have a lot of input on was Jacqueline Durran with Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast. It too was for the worse.
@Jovan
” It doesn’t have to be everything or nothing”
-When it comes to the quality of Bond’s suits it surely has to – as a regular commentator on this blog you should know that! ;-)
@FS
“The evidence that Craig is primarily to blame is overwhelming. ”
-Where is that evidence? I cannot find any.
Renard, while I do wish Craig’s O’Connor suits fit more like the ones on Ford’s models or famous customers (like Jimmy Fallon), I can take the good with the bad. You didn’t address any of my other points. Have you seen her work in the Harry Potter films?
The evidence is there in the interview and other tidbits of info we’ve gathered over the years since Skyfall. You just don’t want to see it. Frankly, I’m getting tired of this witch hunt against her.
“Have you seen her work in the Harry Potter films?”
-No, I have not and I think it is of no relevancy here because it would mean comparing apples and oranges. Dressing James Bond is a completely different animal than designing costumes for Harry Potter.
“Everyone seems to forget that the impeccable, classic-fitting Timothy Everest bespoke suits worn by Ralph Fiennes were also designed by Temime.”
-IMO that’s not right: Surely Everest did not tailor Fiennes’ suits according to her drafts as Tom Ford did – his house style is clearly recognisable. Which should not surprise anybody since he is a true bespoke tailor. Perhaps Temime told him that she wanted M’s suits to be double-breasted and with stripes but that’s all. The rest he did on his own.
“The evidence is there in the interview and other tidbits of info we’ve gathered over the years since Skyfall. You just don’t want to see it.”
-But this is nothing but pure speculation, no evidence. We don’t know any details on how the designing process went on and if the results are really what Craig had in mind when he made his suggestions. I can well imagine Craig asking for a more fashionable cut but the answer if his suits as they actually turned out were what he expected them to be remains unanswered. I have pointed out that his personal Tom Ford suits are cut more tightly fitting but not to the extent as his SF and SPECTRE suits. To me it looks as if Temime had exaggerated a good deal because she considers shrunken suits being “hot” – a sign of bad taste IMO.
“Frankly, I’m getting tired of this witch hunt against her.”
-Let’s don’t overdo – “witch hunt” is a bit too strong. It is merely some (understandable) dissapointment that Bond’s suit
I do not want to deny her any merits; for sure she has some; as you have pointed out – the cloths + brands she chose and I must say that IMO she did a good job when it comes to Bond’s casual clothes. But on the whole that doesn’t count because Bond’s suits remain the main isssue and they turned out miserable. It’s of no use choosing the best and precious cloths and materials if they are bungled into some lousy-looking thing.
And one last remark: What I am getting tired of are those permanent attempts to disqualify Craig for the Bond role by attesting him bad taste and style. I am not talking of you but there are people who do exactly that. But in truth it’s only that actually they have rather grave ressentiments against him as a person and an actor – they don’t like his way of portraying Bond and that is only channeled through their criticising his suits.
You’ve got a bunch of facts wrong there, but I don’t have time right now to go into it.
“…turned out miserably.”
“…but I don’t have time right now to go into it.”
-Well, then perhaps later. I am curious to know about what I am suspected to have gotten wrong.
Renard, while I agree with most of your points, I don’t agree with you about M’s suits. Clearly the tailoring is perfect and I don’t see why Temime shouldn’t get the credit of it. No, what I think is awkward is to have a movie (two as a matter of fact) where somebody is clearly better dressed than Bond himself ! In the early Bond -until Moore came I say- M was as well-dressed as Bond. It looked great and. provided an interesting contrast onscreen. But here having a person clearly much better tailored than the hero of the film itself is quite disturbing.
Looks like Temime knows what a classic, timeless cut looks like. So why not put Craig in it ? Perhaps she thinks it’s too old-fashioned a cut for Bond ? We may never know.
A last remark. Fiennes is also in a great physical shape (see the jacketless scene in Skyfall), perhaps not as ripped as Craig (although I don’t think it’s that important but it is another debate), but still pretty stocky. And the tailoring perfectly emphazises gently his physique, while not being cut very close to the body.
On another note : Jovan, some goods points too about Temime but above all, great article about Tom Ford ! :)
Thanks! I appreciate your support.
If one looks at Timothy Everest’s ready to wear suits on the website, they’re actually more on the modern side of tailoring. M’s suits were made to look more traditional than that with the only conceit to modern fashion being flat front trousers. (Albeit with the tabs for braces that more or less act like a high fishtail back.) I think it was a good approach, though something like Colin Firth’s trimmer fitting suits in Kingsman would have looked fine as well. Then again, the character of Harry was meant to be a little less stodgy and closed minded than his superiors so maybe it wouldn’t have worked as well on good-old-boy, ex-military Mallory. He too is in great shape in his mid 50s.
I’m guessing Temime probably struck a good deal with Everest knowing they could make the shapes she wanted. So yes, she definitely deserves credit there. They also made the Nehru jacket for Blofeld and both three piece suits worn by Hinx.
@LeChiffre
“No, what I think is awkward is to have a movie (two as a matter of fact) where somebody is clearly better dressed than Bond himself !”
-Unfortunately this is very true. Even the psychologist in SF is wearing a suit which outmatches Bond’s dross with ease, not to speak of Fiennes’ TE suits.
“Looks like Temime knows what a classic, timeless cut looks like. So why not put Craig in it ? Perhaps she thinks it’s too old-fashioned a cut for Bond ?”
-Judging from her statements during the interview she probably thinks that it wouldn’t be “hot” enough for Bond. She may have her merits but it’s her attitude about Bond style which is wrong IMO. But that’s the essential point.
@Matt
“Costume design Lindy Hemming was responsible for Bond’s clothing in her films, but I know for Casino Royale she considered Daniel Craig’s opinions on some of the clothing. Louise Frogley in Quantum of Solace also respects Daniel Criag’s fashion sense, but I don’t if she consulted him.”
This is from one of your comments on the “Opera and Wurstlprater” dinner jacket Dalton wore in TLD. Do you perhaps know more about this by now? Would be interesting because to me it seems that we already had that regrettable tendency towards shrunken suits in 2008 but Frogley’s costume designing showed no trace of it.
May be the idea is to show Bond as a “brute” a more physical guy and not dressed that well for a reason …
Am I the only one who finds the rolled up trousers in the Marocco scene strange?
I can’t find that Craig is acting like a “brute”. Mr Hinx certainly is one and the tailored clothes he is wearing can’t camouflage that.