Kamal Khan’s Beige Herringbone Suit

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Kamal-Khan-Beige-Suit

Louis Jourdan sadly died Saturday 14 February at the age of 93. Jourdan brilliantly played Octoussy‘s lead villain Kamal Khan, who is one of the most charismatic and stylish villains of the entire series. Previously this blog has written about Kamal Khan’s navy suit, peaked lapel dinner suit and grey tweed jacket. The only western outfit he wears that hasn’t been covered is a lightweight beige herringbone suit that is well-suited to India’s hot weather, at least visually. It is difficult to tell exactly what the material is, but it is likely silk blended with wool or cotton. Whatever the material is, Khan isn’t as comfortable in India’s heat as Octopussy and her girls are.

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The suit’s cut matches the cut of Jourdan’s other suits in Octopussy. The button two suit jacket has straight shoulders with roped sleeve heads, a clean chest and gentle waist suppression. It has typical continental details like jetted pockets and no vent. The lapels are a balanced width and have a steep gorge. This suit jacket also has three-button cuffs, unlike the single-button cuffs on Jourdan’s other jackets. The suit trousers are cut with a wide straight leg and most likely reverse pleats. The suit’s style matches 1980s trends, but those same trends also match classic 1940s style. This suit has the classic look of the 1940s but at the same time doesn’t look like a relic.

Louis Jourdan’s medium brown shirt is made by Frank Foster in lightweight cotton jersey, which makes this a casual shirt and not a formal shirt that is missing a tie. Dark shirts are difficult to wear with a suit, but when done casually without a tie it can be done successfully, as Jourdan does here. It has a spread collar worn open and two-button mitred cuffs, just like the cuffs Roger Moore wears on his shirts throughout For Your Eyes Only. The shirt has an open breast pocket with mitred corners that matches the cuff’s mitred corners. The back of the shirt is tapered with darts. The shirt’s placket is stitched close to the centre like on most of Foster’s shirts, but it is also stitched on the edge of the placket since knitted jersey cotton doesn’t keep a crisp crease. This shirt was sold at Prop Store on 16 October 2014 for £850. Jourdan’s shoes are medium-dark brown, probably slip-ons.

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33 COMMENTS

  1. Nothing have any story about the working of this movie?
    Jourdan and Moore were friends or enjoying to work together?

  2. “Very sad to hear Louis Jourdan has died. Many happy memories of filming Octopussy together.” – Sir Roger Moore

    This is interesting:

    “His friend and Bond producer, Albert R. Broccoli, cast him as Kamal Khan in the 1983 James Bond film ‘Octopusssy’. He had previously passed on the opportunity to play Hugo Drax in ‘Moonraker’ four years earlier”.

    • Dan and Miles, this is one of Daniel Craig’s personal suits and not likely to appear in Spectre. The style of the suit is great, but the fit, like the Skyfall suits, is really off. The jacket’s sleeves are too long, the jacket is too short, and the balance is a bit off. The pocket handkerchief is great, but it’s too flashy for Bond. The trousers are far too tight. This point-collar shirt, however, matches the shirt at the Thames filming and is probably what we will be seeing in Spectre. The collar is too narrow for Craig’s angular jaw.

    • In spite of the tailoring flaws Matt pointed out, the photo shoot overall has a certain old-school movie star glamour that is sorely lacking these days!

    • I agree that this is definitely an improvement on the “Skyfall” suits, notwithstanding Matt’s caveats. The narrow wrap is great from what I can see of it in these photos although I don’t believe Ford matches Castle’s flair in the Bond suits he produced . The narrow wrap style DB suit is much nicer than the DB suits that proliferated in the late 80’s and early 90’s and which were ghastly! The point collar here is also an improvement on the “Skyfall” shirt collars although I agree with Matt that this style is not ideal for Craig’s face. The brown suede boots are the most unappealing part of the outfit, to my eye. I thoroughly approve of Ms. Belucci (and have for a long time!) and it’s nice to see Rome being finally chosen as a Bond locale. I always found it rather intriguing how the likes of Istanbul and Venice featured in 3 separate movies each while other, equally interesting locations such as “The Eternal City” were overlooked?? Getting off topic…

      I agree that Jourdan’s character was, along with Adolfo Ceili, the most stylish of the villains of the series. I do know that Roger was personally friendly with Christopher Lee prior to them appearing as hero and nemesis. He and Curt Jurgens became friends when filming TSWLM and that he and Christopher Walken were also friendly. I believe he didn’t care too much for Yaphet Kotto and detested Grace Jones. I know nothing about his relationship with Jourdan.

  3. Jourdan looks as cool and relaxed as any of the Bonds. A great suit and look for him. A terrific actor throughout his career and a wonderful addition to the Bond universe. May he rest in peace.

  4. I like narrow wrap style DB,but the wrap of Craigh’s double breasted is too much narrow.
    As said by the tailor Richard Anderson: “I was always taught that the gap should be between 5 and 6.5 inches, depending on the size of the customer,” he says. “We used to get new cutters coming into Huntsman cutting 4 or 4.5-inch gaps; that had to be beaten out of them. Anything less than five just looks insubstantial.”

    http://therakeonline.com/men-dressing-stylishly-rake-style/the-db-series-richard-anderson/

    • Yes, and it looks quite good. However, it appears from some other photos that he is wearing a collar pin. I have no problems with collar pins, but like the tab collars they are very un-Bond-like.

    • The presence of the collar pin leads me to believe that Bond is in disguise here, posing as someone else. It’s seems too un-Bond-like. The tie also looks much wider than the one that appeared in the Thames scene. Acrually, it looks almost as though Bond is dressed as Tom Ford himself!

    • It seems like every year GQ or Esquire or someone like that announces “double-breasted suits are back,” and after seeing the one that Cillian Murphy wore in Inception I thought perhaps they were, but it seems like the style still hasn’t caught on with my generation. It’s a shame really, because it’s a classic style if the suit is made with the right proportions.

      As for Kamal, the suit shown here is very nice, I don’t think it would look at all out of place to wear this suit today. Some of the details, such as jetted pockets, reverse pleats, and no vent remind me of Armani’s suits. I don’t know enough to comment on his Eastern attire, but Kamal’s tailored clothing, though stylistically very different, is as elegant as 007’s.

  5. Jersey is such a soft material. I have polo shirts made of it. Even with an English placket, is it just the stitching on the placket that keeps the shape? And there must be a strong interlining in the collar to get it to stand that much. Does jersey take well to starch?

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