George Lazenby’s car coat in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a hybrid of different overcoat styles. It’s a navy melton three-quarter length, double-breasted coat that combines elements from the British Warm and the pea coat. Like a British Warm it has six buttons on the front with three to button and suit-like pockets. Like a pea coat it has a large Ulster collar and broad lapels, which allow the coat to button at the top. The heavy navy wool melton cloth that this coat is made of comes from both the British Warm and the pea coat.
It has a deeper single vent than most overcoats, one button on the cuffs and slanted hacking pockets with flaps. The mix of styles on this coat works well together. Though Lazenby wears the coat in a city setting over a chalkstripe suit and, later, a navy blazer, the coat can also be worn almost as casually as a pea coat can be. Lazenby wears the coat with a navy trilby and black leather driving gloves.
Very interesting and gorgeous coat. Ironically, I just bought a new overcoat for the coming winter that is almost identical, including all of the Peacoat-like features. The only differences are a belted back and straight flapped pockets rather than hacking pockets.
I like this. Traditional with a fashionable twist like all of Lazenby’s Bond clothing.
Brandon, I compliment your good taste? Sounds like a lovely coat. Where did you come by your recent purchase?
Thanks for the compliment. I actually grabbed it new with tags from an outlet retailer on eBay.
Brandon, is it indiscreet to ask you the name of this retailer’s shop ?
I have been seeking a nice belted back coat for quite some time.
Who was the manufacturer? Or do you not want others here to have the same coat (in case we all show up at the same party dressed alike)?
It’s the Bloomingdale’s house brand, the Men’s Store. It leans more towards the affordable Bond side of the spectrum so the construction may not be up to the standards of some here. (Law school student loans make me not as picky as I would like to be) LeChiffre, I’m afraid mine was listed as the last one left when I bought it, but the the retailer was thesuitdepot. Most of their stuff is junk though.
Still the most elegant of all the Bonds, if one takes into account both the clothes themselves and the man wearing them. Why, oh why did he let his handler talk him out of his Bond contract….
So true Dan ! We will never complain enough about Lazenby not being in DAF… which would certainly have been entirely different then !
Absolutely gorgeous coat. I still haven’t pulled the trigger on a new coat this winter. I’m moving so I want to test out of the weather before I get one.
I’ve always loved that coat
Great coat (no pun intended) and very stylish gloves too. Double-breasted coats are always great. I know it’s a typical American coat, but I wish he would wear a polo coat one day… it’s something that sadly seems completely forgoten today.
Matt, do you know how the sleeves of this overcoat are made ? Any button or tab or cuff apparent ?
As others have mentioned, this is an unimpeachable choice. Despite the small sample size (or perhaps because of it!), Lazenby continues to strike me as the best-dressed 007. As David aptly stated, his clothing was traditional with a fashionable twist, but always elegant. The man knew how to wear his clothes.
I would have loved to see him do a few more Bonds. I watch OHMSS every year right before Christmas with my friends – it’s become a bit of a tradition – and afterwards we always rue the unfortunate fact that he only did one film.
Completely agree, FS.
And I think that the best feature of this coat would be its versatility, as Matt pointed out.
Where is the “suit like pocket”?
The hip pockets are like hacking pockets on a suit rather than the slash pockets on a pea coat.
Ah, thank you. Always trying to expand my knowledge!
Billy Reid has a somewhat similar coat that I tried on today. It has large flapped patch pockets but it otherwise quite similar including the length (although more fitted). Beautiful coat, and only a fraction more expensive than the BR pea coat.
The navy coat suits Bond’s naval background. Conceivably, he’d avoid wearing a British warm, which, being an army coat, is typically brown.
I agree with all of the comments regarding this great coat and Lazenby as the most stylish Bond. I’ve long wanted a coat like this.
From memory, Michael Caine in the Italian Job wears a very similar db knee-length coat (Doug Hayward?) in the funeral scene, albeit in black or dark grey. Which is yet another similarity between the styles in OHMSS and the Italian Job.
Matt, overcoats seem relatively rare in the films. Are you going to look at the one Connery wears in Thunderball?
I did! See here
I’ll be honest if never noticed this outfit before even though I have lost count of the number of viewings this film has had in my life. It’s welcomed to have it pointed out.
Various forms of car coats are a winter staple in Australia. To my eyes they are worn as a type of sportscoat rather than an overcoat so they are usually cut closer than the one Lazenby wears. The high % of synthetic fibres is a turn-off for me, but even with this, they look 10X better than the short trenchcoats one also sees.
Bond in SKYFALL wears a SB car coat. Or perhaps two – the one in the final scene appears to be charcoal grey rather than the dark blue of the one worn in the gallery where he met Q. For what it’s worth, Lazenby had a poor relationship with the producers, and thought his future success depended on playing hip, groovy characters who rejected violence.
Does anyone know who made the driving gloves george is wearing? These are way cooler than the ones worn by Daniel Craig in spectre
What color is the shirt and necktie?
Is the necktie also a knit?
It’s this outfit (https://www.bondsuits.com/the-flannel-chalkstripe-suit/) but with a red knitted silk tie.
In the scene when he meets Bray at the Royal College of Arms, is the suit underneath 3 piece or 2 piece?
It is a three-piece suit, which you can read about here: https://www.bondsuits.com/the-flannel-chalkstripe-suit/
Matt, given that you mention this combines many style features associated with the military-derived pea coat and British warm, I was actually wondering if this might actually be a “bridge coat”, namely a naval coat similar to a pea coat but longer in length and reserved strictly for officers.
It has much in common with a bridge coat as well, but it’s styled differently than a bridge coat.