The most well-known photos of George Lazenby as Bond come from a photo shoot of him leaning against a lamppost in London across the Thames from the clock tower—now called the Elizabeth Tower—at the Palace of Westminster. This photo shoot took place at Lazenby’s casting, and he’s wearing an Anthony Sinclair suit. Lazenby visited Sean Connery’s barber to get the same haircut and he visited Connery’s tailor to get the same suit, all for a better shot at the role.
Lazenby was not able to wait the six months necessary for Anthony Sinclair to make a bespoke suit, but Sinclair happened to have a suit made for Connery that Connery did not want. Sinclair lengthened the sleeves and sold the suit to Lazenby.
This suit has the same natural shoulders with roped sleeve heads as Sinclair’s suits. It has a full chest and gently suppressed waist, and like the suits Connery wears as Bond, this suit has two buttons on the front and four buttons on the cuffs. The pockets are slanted with flaps, and there are double vents at the rear. The suit trousers have a tapered leg and plain bottoms. The cloth is a large, but faint, check.
The suit isn’t as rakish as Lazenby’s suits in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service are, but it certainly makes Lazenby look the part of Bond. The only problem with the suit is that the collar doesn’t hug the neck as it should, but that’s most likely due to the poses causing the suit to not sit evenly across the shoulders.
The shirt has a small spread collar with no tie space, and it definitely doesn’t resemble a shirt from Frank Foster, who made Lazenby’s shirts in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The double cuffs have the link holes close to the fold, a characteristic of English double cuffs. In the traditional Bond manner, Lazenby wears a dark knitted tie. His shoes are an elegant style of low-vamp slip-on, with the inner quarter extending as strap over the vamp like a monk shoe would.
It will always be Big Ben to me.
Big Ben is still inside the tower.
Everybody here refers to the whole building as Big Ben, whether factually accurate or not. Is that not the case overseas?
As I have stated here before, Lazenby is my favorite Bond from a sartorial point of view. However, I much prefer the suits he actually wore in the film to the suit he is wearing here. I am quite glad that the producers of OHMSS decided to give Lazenby’s Bond his own style rather than simply mimic Connery.
Perhaps this also set an important precedent that allowed all future Bonds, starting with Roger Moore, to expres their own style when portraying the character.
Laz sure could wear a suit – why, oh why did he quit so soon?
Youth , arrogance and bad advice!
So true!
Before you purchase a lounge suit or any other suit for that matter always ask yourself
“If I was chosen to play Bond what would I wear?”
If you have been following the advice on this blog then you shouldn’t have a problem, shouldn’t you ?
Did any of Connery’s lounge suits from his first five films have slanted pockets on the jacket? I only remember seeing them in DAF.
The houndstooth check suit that he wears to M’s office in Goldfinger has slanted pockets, but it’s also a country suit and not far removed from the hacking jacket in the film.
Right so in that case then all his lounge/business suits had straight pockets. I think it compliments the slight waist suppression of Connery’s suits.
On the subject of the suit in this article; this is way better than anything we see in the film.
Cheers Ryan
great suit in my opinion and i love the shoes.
There was also a story that Lazenby bought his own Rolex, as well as the suits to match Connery before meeting with the producers. But I don’t know how much of it is true. I’ve met Lazenby once in London and at least the Rolex in the film was not his own. So it is possible that it is just another great story that he visited the same barber and tailor. And as you said, what barber did Connery go to?
The suit story could be true, since as I wrote here this suit resembles Sinclair’s cut. Of course, at the time there were other tailors who made suits in a similar cut, but not anymore.
I remember reading some story that it was Cubby Broccoli’s barber that he visited, wearing the Anthony Sinclair suit, in order to catch the producer’s eye. If true, it worked…
I think that actually may be the story, and he just asked that barber for a Connery cut.
Classic look. Excellent.
I guess the suit is mid-grey, Matt ?
The cut looks like a mix of the Conduit Cut and of the cut of Lazenby’s rakish light grey glen plaid suit.
I didn’t get your opinion about the pattern Matt. Is it a real plaid or a semi-solid, like sharkskin ?
It’s not a glen urquhart check, but it’s definitely some sort of larger plaid and it would probably stand out more in a colour photo. It may be grey, but my guess would be a muted brown.
The interesting thing is that these pictures were shot probably in mid-late 1967-very early 1968.
In that period fashion is not yet changed ( for the most of men) by early-mid 60s ( and haircuts too).
When few months later HMSS was shot ,the “peacock revolution” was already arrived.
So the new Bond had a brand new and bit rakish wardrobe.
I like that first version of Lazenby/Bond.
I think that the big problem with HMSS was that was a too much new concept; only Connery could make that movie.
For Lazenby first Bond movie was necessary a strong continuity with previous 007; a classic James Bond story (and maybe a Anthony Sinclair wardrobe too).
The peacock revolution started before this. By 1967, Anthony Sinclair suits were very old-fashioned. See what Roger Moore and Patrick MacNee were wearing that year. Lazenby’s suits in 1969 were quite tame compared to the extravagance of Patrick MacNee’s clothing, just as Roger Moore’s suits as Bond were fairly tame for the 1970s.
I disagree with you, both about Lazenby’s wardrobe as well as the film, which I think is one of the best in the entire series.
However, for the purpose of this blog, I think the more important point to note is that a Lazenby would have looked great in just about anything. He had an excellent figure that was perfect for wearing suits.
Indeed. His physique was almost identical to Connery’s in Dr No, muscled, lean and athletic. He also moved very well.
Wait a moment Matt.
You have right about the Peacock start ( is probably began in 1965,and the
beginnings are recognizable in 1963),but until 1968-69 was a fashion for few.
If tou look at a picture shot in 1966-67 you can see the most of men with sober suits and clean short haircut.
Many of these men in 1968-69 have orange or pale green shirts,rakish large ties,a little more long sideburns.
Is the 1968 the turnung point,when the peacock style reached the bourgeois.
James Bond is not John Steed.
Steed dressed from the start (or almost from II season) in new Edwardian style (a style that in UK date back to 1949). Is true that in 1967 Steed, with his new Pierre Cardin wardrobe, is more peacock that Edwardian,but he always dressed in showy way,not so Bond.
Moore as the saint in 1966-67 dressed in average 60s fashion (a little on narrow side): the peacock days for Sir Rogers are in 1970 with the Lord Sinclair role.
Lazenby never dressed like a peacock for Bond. He wore a pink shirt briefly, but peacock style never made it to Bond.
With the exception of those awful, skin-tight ruffled front shirts.
It’s awful indeed, but I have the feeling Lazenby actually was the only Bond actor that could have pulled it off, well, decently. It turns him more like a sex-symbol Bond, when he’s in his hotel room with just the shirt on. But I would have preferred an evening shirt like Dr No’s one myself.
When thinking about it, I find the Scottish eveing attire perhaps more ridiculous -and that’s just due to the jabot shirt, because otherwise I appreciate this look.
“Lazenby never dressed like a peacock for Bond”.
I did not say this.
I have said that from 1967-1968 many elements of so called peacock style was received in the men wardrobe.
Clothes,ties and shirts become more colored and flashy,sideburns a little more long.
You can see this for Bond/Lazenby, in ruffled front and cuffs shirt,pink shirt,slanted pockets for coats,cream suit with white-cream shoes.
Matt, one question. In your opinion, Connery suits in YOLT could be perceived as old fashioned by the audiences at the time of its original premiere?
I believe the audiences (or rather the people who cared about clothing) may have viewed Connery’s suits in YOLT as a little old fashioned. He’s wearing the same full-cut jacket and pleated trousers that he wore in 1962, whilst a cleaner-cut jacket and non-pleated trousers were far more common by 1967.
When I was ‘Bunny Deana’ at the London Playboy Club (over 40 years ago!) I was lucky enough to be crowned “Bunny of The Year” by George who was starring as James Bond at that time. He was such a smooth, suave gentleman, and beautifully dressed of course. See the photos at bunnydeana.com
That’s a great website you have got ! And your pictures are very nice too, especially the one with Lazenby !
It looks like he’s wearing his OHMSS grey glen plaid suit, the same he wore in the classic scene of him quietly enjoying looking at the double center page of a Playboy magazine ! Classic Bond.
As a Bond fan I am almost as enthusiastic about Lazenby’s suit as I am about your costume and pictures ! Sorry :)
Funny how the first thing I also noticed in that photo is the suit!
I know you say this cut was out by the late 60s, but to my eye, it’s better than anything he wore in the movie. This picture still looks like Bond. After this, it all went down hill, IMHO.
To each their own! I think the suits are beautiful, though the collar sits a bit low on them.
That’s curious. Wasn’t Connery much broader than Lazenby, in the thighs, chest and shoulders ? Especially since Connery gained some weight from 1962 to the year Lazenby was cast as Bond.
I would have thought the suit would have needed much more alterations than just having the sleeves lengthned.
Perhaps it was made for Thunderball-era Connery. He wasn’t as muscular then but had yet to gain the weight he did for You Only Live Twice.
This is how I got my henry poole…
I had two different Tailors work on it and for some reason it still looked boxy. I guess the house style is the house style.
Poole’s house style is not boxy.
Next time I wear it I will send some pics.
You tell me
How similar is this suit to the Glen Check suit he wore in the film.
The check is very different, and the cut is more tame on this suit.