Roger Moore’s marine blue suit in The Man with the Golden Gun is one of his most popular suits of the James Bond series due to the vibrant colour. It’s just a shame to see this suit get so beat up, but the throughout the dressing room fistfight we get to see the suit from all angles, wide shots and close-ups. We even get a peak at the flashy printed lining. While Roger Moore’s suits in the 1970s appear a little outdated due to wider lapels and flared trousers, they are still well tailored and allow James Bond the full range of movement he needs for a fight. And they really aren’t even all that outdated. The lapels and tie aren’t all that wide, just on the wider side of classic, and the trousers are not even all that flared. The shirt collar is a little larger than typical today but it complements the shape of Roger Moore’s chiselled face.
The colour of this suit is known as marine blue and is perfect for warmer locations and warmer times of year. Marine blue is medium blue with a green cast and not commonly seen today. It’s flashier than navy and not always appropriate for business, but it is perfect for a night out as worn here. Maxwell Smart was a fan of this colour, and he won the award for best-dressed CONTROL agent. The material of this suit is silk, suggested by its sheen. And since he wears it in scenes that take place in Beirut, Lebanon (though filmed at Pinewood Studios in England), silk gives it an exotic look for the exotic locale. Silk’s texture and sheen also makes it an excellent choice for a night out to differentiate it from a typical business suit.
Cyril Castle made this suit in the same cut and style is the same as Roger Moore’s other single-breasted suits in The Man With The Golden Gun. The jacket has a button two front with a slightly low stance, a clean chest, soft and slightly roped shoulder, deep double vents, slanted flap pockets and link-button cuff. The trousers are cut with a darted front and slightly flared legs. There are front pockets across the bottom of the waistband and two button-through back pockets. The trousers have no side pockets, which gives them a much more streamlined look in line with the darted front. Many people have problems with their side pockets gaping open on flat front trousers, and whilst the problem doesn’t exist on properly-fitted trousers, helped by front darts, eliminating the pockets altogether is another solution. Side pockets, especially on-seam pockets, help to give more ease to the trousers when sitting down, functioning much like pleats.
Starting in The Man With The Golden Gun, Bond wears his suit trousers with a belt, and here it’s a black textured belt. Though Roger Moore wears British suits, his belts and shoes are Italian. The belt is made by Gucci though the black side-bit loafers are likely from Ferragamo.
The sky blue cotton voile shirt from Frank Foster is a Bond classic. Voile is the perfect shirting to pair with a suit for the warm weather in Beirut, as it is breathable and looks crisp, though it is rather transparent. Voile was a favourite of Roger Moore because he preferred his shirts lightweight. The shirt has a high spread collar with deep points that is a little of its time, a front placket with the stitching close to the centre, two-button cocktail cuffs and rear darts. The cuffs here a cut differently from the ones in Live and Let Die and look similar to the ones that Roger Moore wore in the sixth series of The Saint.
The with tie is a deep red satin, made in a four-in-hand knot. A satin tie is best in the evening for social occasions, as Bond wears his here.
This suit is the subject of one of Roger Moore’s favourite stories from his Bond films. This was a favourite suit of Moore’s and had looked forward to wearing it in his personal life after the production of The Man with the Golden Gun ended. Producer Cubby Broccoli got word of this, and to play a prank on Moore he got up on a ladder and dumped a bucket of paste on Moore when the filming of this scene ended, ruining the beautiful suit.
Very nice blog, good description
But I like slightly flared trousers!!!! I think Roger Moore had great style in his 70s flicks. I enjoyed the contrast of your elegant text about his fine apparel and the stills of him fighting. Classic Bond humor. How high did his pants come up in this film?
The trousers sit around the natural waist, higher than typical today. In the next entry I'll show you an example of the trousers from another suit in the film. The trousers sit just under the top button of the 2-button jacket. It creates a smooth, continuous look from jacket to trousers without the interruption of a tie or shirt in between. That's the biggest problem with wearing low-rise trousers with a suit, as is often seen in today's fashion.
Hmmmmm, interesting point. I'll have to wait for the next post to see what you mean.
see
http://ferragamowallet.blogspot.com/2009/11/james-bond-items-on-offer-in-pop.html
re the Ferragamo shoes. I would say Moore's shoes in the 70's Bond flicks were Ferragamo, judging by their style. The 1980's shoes as you point out in another part of this blog, are more conservative and subtle in detailing but this could be either a different brand or a style Ferragamo produced which were more traditional and less "bling" than some of his range. Nevertheless, they suited Bond's style and even a horse bit loafer, for example, looks subtle in style when paired with traditional British tailoring.
The Marine Blue suit is a beauty. Would be nice to get a tailor to knock up something similar.
I think it´s the blue Suit that Sir Roger Moore described in the Audiocommentary in TMWTGG, that Cubby Broccoli
had ruined.
Then the material must be Silk.
This is not Bond, this is Lord Brett Sinclair. Bright, flat, flashy colours and that horribly tacky suit lining. Still, aww, this suit and tie is just lovely (minus the lining of course), I wish I’d have the guts to pull it off.
Anybody know the make of the necktie he is wearing? You can briefly see the label but I just cant make it out.
Hi Matt I’m reading Roger Moore’s autobiography at the moment and there is a part where he talks about the scene where he goes to meet the belly dancer and he is wearing a silk suit, so I’m guessing that’s this one? In fact he says he was looking forward to taking it home but Guy Hamilton decided to pour a bucket of paste over him and ruin it! Shame!
This is indeed the suit he meets the belly dancer in, but it looks more like mohair than silk. The suit he meets Andrea Anders in is silk: https://www.bondsuits.com/the-light-cool-grey-suit/. He kept the grey suit and wore in to interviews.
Socks’ color ??
The socks are black.