Original article published 21 April 2011
I am in the process of rewriting and republishing old articles about James Bond’s outfits that need a refresh and expansion. All former comments are preserved below.
For a night out at the casino and dinner with his contact Kristatos in For Your Eyes Only, James Bond wears a black notched-lapel dinner suit. Sean Connery wore notched-lapel dinner suits twice previously in Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever, and this one follows in the same tradition with many similarities. Some menswear experts believe that notched lapels are inappropriate for a dinner jacket because they bring it too close to an ordinary lounge suit, but the style has historical precedent going back to the Edwardian era, and it has been a popular alternative to the more widely accepted shawl collar and peaked lapel since the 1960s. In Bond’s case, when his clothes are made bespoke, the notched-lapel dinner jacket is always a purposeful choice, unlike the shortcut it often is in ready-to-wear.
Choosing notched lapels for a dinner jacket is a matter of taste, and they present Bond as a man of unassuming taste. For a low-key black-tie night at the casino, notched lapels match the occasion, though a shawl collar would be the more traditional choice. Just coming out of the 1970s, the lapels have a little extra width. A little belly gives them a traditional English shape for added presence. The lapels are faced in black silk satin.
Doug Hayward made this dinner suit for Roger Moore of medium-weight black wool barathea, the most classic choice for evening wear.
The dinner jacket is made in Hayward’s usual style with soft shoulders, a slight roping at the sleeve heads, a little fullness in the chest and a suppressed waist. It follows black-tie tradition with one button on the front, and in following Hayward’s house style, it’s in a low position to give the dinner jacket some drama that’s lacking in the cut. The jacket is detailed with double vents, self-faced jetted pockets and three buttons on each cuff.
Typically the buttons on a black dinner jacket are covered in silk that matches the lapels, but here the buttons are unpolished black horn, like those often found on a suit. Covered buttons are not necessary on a dinner jacket, but shiny black buttons would traditionally be used before unpolished horn. This is Hayward’s usual choice for dinner suit buttons.
The matching trousers have a silk satin stripe down the sides and are cut with a flat front and a slightly wide straight leg, a leftover hint from the 1970s. The wide black silk satin waistband is a signature of Hayward’s for black tie. It extends across the entire front and fastens at the right side just in front of the silk stripe on the side. It secures with two vertically positioned black buttons, which appear to be traditional 27L polyester brace buttons with a large flat rim and a recessed centre. The effect is almost like a built-in cummerbund. Because of the wide waistband, the trousers have a high rise.
There are two cash pockets, like large coin or fob pockets, just below the waistband, giving these trousers a very clean look without pockets to break up the front or side of the trousers. There are single-jetted pockets at the rear. There is no means of adjustment visible on the outside of the trousers, but there could be a device hidden inside.
Moore’s dress shirt is made by his usual shirtmaker Frank Foster in a lightweight white cotton with a fine tonal stripe. It recalls the tonal-stripe dress shirts that Sean Connery wore previously as Bond in Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever, again the same two films where Bond also wore notched-lapel dinner suits. The stripe allows the shirt to be breathable without being as sheer as voile. It has a high semi-spread collar, with points of around 3 1/4 inches and a rear leaf height of about 2 1/8 inches, for presence without being excessive. The shirt has a pleated front with five 1/2-inch pleats on either side. The front placket is stitched approximately 1/2-inch from the edge, which is how Frank Foster stitches most of their plackets, but here it matches the pleat width so the placket looks like a sixth pleat.
The shirt has deep double cuffs with rounded corners. The placket has regular mother-of-pearl buttons, with five showing in the jacket’s deep opening. The cufflinks are gold rectangles with a smoke mother-of-pearl inlay and a simple T-bar at the back. The shirt has a neat fit but with a little fullness through the body.
The black silk satin bow tie is a medium-sized butterfly shape and ties a slightly chunky knot. The bow tie’s black is a darker, richer black than that of the jacket’s facings.
Bond wears black patent leather loafers with an apron toe and a horsebit detail across the vamp, likely from Moore’s usual shoemaker, Ferragamo. The shoes are not a traditional style for black tie because of the apron toe and the bit, but the fashion-forward Italian shoe is typical of Moore’s Bond.
Bond wears this outfit the following morning on the beach, sans dinner jacket and bow tie, because he did not bring a change of clothes with him when spending the night with Lisl at Columbo’s beach house. He wears the shirt with the collar button and the first two placket buttons open in an attempt to make his evening wear feel more relaxed on the beach.
Roger Moore wore the same dinner suit to the For Your Eyes Only premiere in London on 24, June 1981, following his tradition of wearing the dinner suit from the film to the premiere.
Now Pay Attention
| SUIT | |
| Tailor | Doug Hayward |
| Fabric | Black wool barathea |
| JACKET | |
| Front buttons | 1, low stance, black unpolished horn |
| Lapels | Medium-wide notch, trimmed in black silk satin |
| Shoulder | Soft with roped sleeve heads |
| Breast pocket | Welt |
| Hip pockets | Straight, jetted |
| Vents | 2 |
| Cuff buttons | 3 |
| TROUSERS | |
| Front | Plain |
| Support | No visual support |
| Front/side pockets | Cash pockets |
| Rise | High |
| Leg | Slightly wide and straight |
| Hem | Plain |
| Trimming | Black silk satin waistband and side stripe |
| SHIRT | |
| Shirtmaker | Frank Foster |
| Fabric | White-on-white stripe cotton |
| Collar | Semi-spread |
| Cuff | Double cuff |
| Front | Placket with mother-of-pearl buttons and 1/2-inch pleats |
| BOW TIE | |
| Brand | Unknown |
| Fabric | Black silk satin |
| Shape | Medium-width butterfly |
| SHOES | |
| Shoemaker | Likely Ferragamo |
| Style | Black patent leather horsebit, apron-toe loafers |
Cummerbund? Or maybe some sort of Gentleman's Support? Roger Moore is unusually barrel-chested.
A very nicely tailored dinner suit and Moore looks great while delivering (IMO) his best, and one of the best, performances as Bond. Is this the same dinner suit as the one he wears for dinner with Kamal Khan? I believe he wore the double-breasted one twice as well.
I'll have to look more closely at the dinner suit in Octopussy to see if it was the same one reused. The double-breasted dinner suits in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker may be the same, though since both saw a considerable amount of action it makes it less likely that the suits were reused.
It's so clear to me now that his clothing flatters him much better in the '80s, especially as he gets into middle age. Not a fan of the hairstyle though. Notch lapels and weird faux-cummerbund notwithstanding, this is a solid black tie rig.
Moore's 80's suits look better than the suits in the 70s simply because of the proportionate lapels and trouser legs. But I think that Cyril Castle's suits had a better fit than Haywards (which are still excellent). Moore's 80's hairstyle goes back to the hairstyle that Moore had in the 50s and 60s, which can best be described as swept to the side but not parted. He started parting it in the beginning of the 1970s, after a trendier hairstyle in 1969's Crossplot.
I’m surprised that Moore/Hayward would make the minor mistakes of notch lapels and plastic buttons on the jacket sleeves, but other than that this is very nice.
Actually, neither are incorrect. Notch lapels are frowned upon by many, but they have been around almost as long as the dinner jacket has. They are acceptable for less formal occasions, like a simple dinner as Bond is enjoying here. These buttons are horn, not plastic, though plastic buttons are not incorrect either and have long been used on Savile Row for dinner suits. Some may consider horn’s rustic texture inappropriate on a dinner suit. Fabric-covered buttons aren’t necessary.
One can also take into account that Corfu is an informal island, and that could be the reason they chose notched lapels for the Corfu Casino and dinner. I don’t like it on Connery’s black tie in Never say never though.
I agree, a notch lapel dinner jacket is not appropriate for such a grand ball in Never Say Never Again.
Hey Moore fans !
I may be wrong but I read that some auction house was auctioning items from Roger’s personal collection soon, including some items from his Bond period. I am pretty sure this beautiful dinner suit will be present, I saw a very similar picture. If it’s not this one could be the one from Octopussy then.
Bonham’s is the auction house selling these pieces, and the black single-breasted dinner suit is the one from Octopussy. They had a midnight blue double-breasted dinner suit on their website, but they’ve since removed it. They said it was the A View to a Kill dinner suit, but only the trousers were. I informed them that the jacket was not from A View to a Kill. I suspect it was the one from The Spy Who Loved Me, but they had no information about it. Perhaps we’ll find out more about it later.
For anyone who’s interested, a link for a similar pair of trousers with the same waistband style :
https://www.savvyrow.co.uk/collections/latest/products/copy-of-23-0750-beautiful-distinctive-vintage-1972-doug-hayward-savile-row-bespoke-black-mohair-worsted-evening-trouser-34
Thanks for the link. It’s interesting to see an example with a grosgrain waistband and a double braid down the side.
Certainly Moore’s weakest dinner suit. I could excuse the lapels or the buttons, but not both, and the smart pseudo-cummerbund doesn’t make up for it. It’s depressingly ordinary, and for an actor beyond his best Bond-years, doubly so.
It’s a nice film, by and large, but it does Moore no favours regarding his age and this suit doesn’t help.
Looks like Universal Exports provided a standard budget company dinner suit with notch lapels, non-matching buttons, a faux pseudo-commerbund, no studs, T-bar cufflinks, no pocket square, et cetera.
Are you two guys trolling ? I can’t make up my mind ! Seriously, I think it’s one of Roger’s best dinner suits. Understated, but timeless. I have had in hand many English bespoke dinner suits with similar buttons, even a Henry Poole one. These were actually quite common in bespoke. So was plastic. The low stance flatters Moore, and the shoulders are well done. I think the shirt is absolutely timeless, especially with the substantial spread collar, simple pleated front and simple mother of pearl buttons. I personally think studs belong on a white tie ensemble only. They look too formal on an outfit that is basically a lounge suit with silk facings. Only thing I guess is regrettable is the built-in cummerbund : a hit and miss thing. It’s an interesting gimmick but in the end, it just adds an unnecessary layer to the waist. Given Moore’s physique, a thicker waist isn’t flattering. I am sure either button tabs or side buckle adjusters would have worked fine.
Let me come down in the middle here. Yes, this probably is Moore’s weakest black tie outfit in terms of standout appeal. First off, the lapels; notches certainly have a pedestrian quality compared to peaks or a shawl. But for a man who has multiple dinner suits, having a lowkey one for private dinners is understandable, if not itself very special. Similarly the horn buttons are not the expected option nor very noticeable. T bar cufflinks are not my preference but they are acceptable – Brosnan’s Dunhills all have them. And the pseudo-cummerbund is neat but only noticed because bond is wearing no jacket on the beach the next morning. None of these things are that bad on their own, but in totality they take their toll.
That all being said, Moore looks good, much as he does in his notch lapel dinner suit in Octopussy. He does not look like he is wearing a hired suit in the way he does in LTK or Spectre. The issue really is that Moore has a lot of other versions that standout much more. And in many ways, a black tie outfit that is understated has a merit all its own.
This looks far better than most notch lapel dinner suits from 2026 or 1981, for that matter.
Doug Hayward certainly does understated well, though perhaps here too well. I’m never very impressed by a notch dinner suit, but I suppose this is done as well as they ever could be. I’m inclined more towards Kristatos’s suit.
Right on target. And the single button stance on the front of the jacket really is in a very low position, even by Doug Hayward’s standards. On pic #4 (above), five buttons on the front of the very nice dress shirt are clearly visible, making it awkward to wear studs anyway, as they generally come as a quartet, in sets of four.
When a shirt is made for studs, the stud holes are positioned differently than the buttons are on this shirt. Stud holes start lower below the collar and may be spaced further apart. Frank Foster buttons start higher than the typical shirt and are spaced closer together, at least in my experience. So four studs would typically show in this space instead of five.
In a more old-fashioned sense, there would only be three studs for black tie, and they would have been worn on a starched marcella front, so the stud hole would be even further apart because the starched front would keep the shirt closed with fewer studs.
Thanks Matt, interesting info. My dress shirts for black tie (Marcella and Voile) feature a detachable ribbon with three MoP buttons so I can use it if I like or take it off to use studs instead (the forth stud is a spare). For my white tie dress shirt with a stiff-bib, only studs with a screw fitting works.