“007 never had any respect for government property,” says Q in regards to Bond’s trilby, implying that he supplies Bond’s hats as well as his gadgets. Bond wears two felt trilby hats in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The black trilby in the opening scene is the same hat that Bond wears later at his wedding (above), and both of these scenes are in Portugal. The trilby has a narrow grosgrain ribbon and a C-crown with a front pinch.
Bond wears another trilby (below) with business wear in London. This one has a wide grosgrain ribbon and a taller, less tapered crown with a centre dent and front pinch. It’s very dark, but it’s probably navy. Both trilby hats have a narrow snap brim, and that’s what defines the trilby. Following 1960’s fashion trends the brims are extra short, but they suit Lazenby very well. Though Lazenby’s wardrobe is more fashionable and modern compared to Sean Connery’s rather traditional tailoring, he doesn’t forego the trilby the Connery has thus far worn or carried in all his Bond films.
I have often thought that it looked very strange wearing such an informal hat with the formal dinner suit at the begining of the film whilst driving and with a morning suit at the end.
Interesting, I had always interpreted Q’s line as a chastisement of Bond’s making Moneypenny cry, but you may be right.
I know very little about gentleman’s hats, as they fell out of fashion long before I was born, but I’ve always thought Bond’s trilby hats looked very nice and suit the character. Do you think that these came from Locke as Connery’s did?
Q is pushing the hat back into shape, and he’s a very literal person, so I take his comment to mean the hat. I don’t know if the hats came from Lock. In the 60s there were quite a few more hatters. If the hats did come from Lock, they don’t have these hats anymore.
I would tend to agree that you might normally expect a homburg hat with semi-formal wear (such as the black lounge he wears here or, for that matter, black tie in the evening). I suspect that the producers/costume designers might have felt that that would be a bit old fashioned looking, whereas the trilby was a bit less stuffy.
That’s a good point. At least the hat is black. The typical brown trilby would not have worked as well.
As usual with Lazenby, he shows excellent ideas, his own clothing style being both inspired of Connery’s ‘sartorial habits’ -which created a nice continuity- and original, a bit bolder than his predecessor. His hats are no exception to this rule.
I wonder what kind of glasses he wore with his dinner jacket. We barely see them, were they reading glasses or sunglasses ?
Hi Matt,
Do you have any clear pics of Lazenby’s “Portugal” hat with the C Crown?
I want to find one, or have one made.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Tom
Hello Matt! Would appreciate if You (or anyone, visiting this page) would explain what in the world the people in the crowd are wearing? Especially the girls in the front row. What do these outfits suppose to mean? Thanks!!