In a memorable scene from Never Say Never Again when Sean Connery’s James Bond breaks out of a prison cell, rescues Domino on horseback and jumps off a cliff on said horse, he wears a casual outfit that would not look out of place today.
Connery’s olive windcheater blouson is similar to the jacket he wears at the start of the film in almost all aspects of its style. This blouson is more refined than the earlier one and is an easy piece to wear today. It’s likely made of a nylon and cotton or polyester and cotton blend.
The front has a zip closure with a fly that fastens with five black poppers. There are is a patch pockets on the front at waist level on either side, each with a centre box pleat and a flap that fastens with two poppers. The stand-up collar fastens in front with two poppers. The cuffs have a square extension with two male poppers to adjust the size of the cuffs around the wrist, and Connery uses the larger size. The insides of the collar and cuffs are trimmed in olive corduroy.
There are bi-swing pleats in the back for movement. The gathered waistband is elastic for a close fit, which allows the body of the jacket to blouse over the waistband. The jacket also has shoulder straps, each fastening on top of the shoulder with a popper.
The trousers are a rare instance of James Bond wearing jeans, albeit not blue jeans. These are khaki cotton canvas, a traditional material used for five-pocket trousers. They have a fairly trim straight leg and a mid rise with a five pocket design. Connery wears the jeans with a wide light brown belt that has a large round single-prong buckle. The beige suede and white leather high-top trainers have eight pairs of eyelets, beige laces, grey soles, and white edging, and they complement the trousers nicely. These are the same trainers he wears in the film’s opening sequence.
As part of a disguise on the street so not to be recognised by Largo’s men and to keep incognito, Connery wears a grey checked scarf around his head.
Connery wears this new blouson over his bare chest, and the grey merino wool V-neck jumper and polo shirt from the previous scene are absent here. He was likely provided this blouson in captivity, for no logical reason as far as the story is concerned. The blouson looks better in this action sequence than his knitwear would have, which in a Bond film is as good a reason as any for an outfit change.
However, the lack of a shirt underneath the blouson makes the outfit look incomplete. Today, Daniel Craig’s Bond would wear a t-shirt or Henley underneath. Roger Moore’s Bond would likely have worn a button-front cotton jersey shirt or a lightweight polo neck under it. The latter would have fit in with Connery’s Never Say Never Again wardrobe. But if any Bond actor can pull off the windcheater without a shirt underneath, it’s Sean Connery.
The moment Bond and the horse land in the water, Bond is without his blouson. To be topless in the water may be the reason why he didn’t wear a shirt under the blouson.
To be fair, I don’t think it’s possible to ever say Sean Connery isn’t wearing a sweater under his jacket.
Actually, what’s weird about this is that we know for a fact this Bond wears undershirts, because he and Leiter were able to get through the crowd in their underwear posing as a boxer and his trainer and Bond was wearing an A-shirt.
Again with those trainers! The only logical reason I can think of to put him in those instead of suitable combat or casual boots is due to his age. But then, would orthotic insoles not be an option? Bizarre. As much as I generally like Casino Royale, the two pairs of trainers were a low point sartorially in that film as well and had pretty much no excuse at all.
Interesting what you say about Casino Royale, with him being undercover story wise and the plot requires him to do a lot of running and climbing after the bomb maker, what alternative footwear would suggest?
Even when Bond has been undercover, he typically dresses to a certain standard or tweaks his personal style to blend in slightly better. The trainers and loud printed shirt were not very good choices. I would suggest desert boots with a rubber studded or low profile lug sole, or something else casual, leather, with a hard wearing sole. I also second Matt’s suggestion on the original article of having him wear a bush shirt with rolled sleeves instead. Bond has done a lot of running and climbing in dress shoes before and we’ve willingly suspended our disbelief for it to work. I don’t see how this should be any different. Casual boots with good tread would be plausible.
With the second pair of trainers, there’s really no excuse at all. He had just retired and not expected to go on any foot chases or blend in anywhere. Any other casual footwear besides sneakers or sandals would have been a better choice.
Much as I like the movie, the whole “he’s not the refined Bond we know yet” angle simply doesn’t work. It’s also inconsistent with the refined choices of suits, shirts, ties, and shoes he brought with him on the train before he even met Vesper.
Once I noticed this bizarre costume change I’ve never been able to unsee it, but that’s far from the only time the continuity of the clothing makes no sense in Never Say Never Again!
Reminds me how “jeans” don’t always mean trousers in denim cloth! Though would these trousers technically qualify as “khakis” too? (My understanding is “khakis” are different to “chinos”?)
Yes, these are ‘khakis’. Chino is a type of cotton.
The one I’ve wondered about is whether all five-pocket pattern pants are jeans, or if there’s something specific that sets jeans apart, like the riveted construction. I know naval dungarees aren’t jeans even though they’re denim, because they’re not five-pocket pants.
I’ve usually seen five pocket trousers with rivets at the stress points being called jeans, and those without rivets being called, well, five pocket trousers. But that’s not always the case.
I think this is one of the more timeless casual looks we have seen Bond wear. The lack of shirt under the blouson is a let down, even a polo shirt would have worked well. That style of blouson windbreaker doesn’t really date. The khaki jeans are quite timeless also.
Matt what do you consider the best casual outfit out of all the Bond films?