James Bond recovers from Le Chiffre’s torture in Casino Royale wearing comfortable, loose clothing. The first outfit consists of a dressing gown over a jumper and t-shirt. The dressing gown is made of woven cotton in navy with a white grid check, and it has a shawl collar and a patch breast pocket. It probably has a belt and patch pockets on the hips, but we don’t see them since Bond is covered in a white towel below the waist. The light grey ribbed wool V-neck jumper has a full fit. Under the jumper, Bond wears a black crew-neck t-shirt.
Bond later recovers in a light blue cotton dressing gown. This gown has collar but Bond doesn’t fold it over. Under this dressing gown Bond wears a dark grey crew-neck t-shirt and navy sweatpants. His shoes are brown trainers.
As Bond’s recovery progresses he wears another outfit made up of parts of the previous two outfits. He again wears the light grey V-neck jumper from the first recovery outfit with the navy sweatpants from the second recovery outfit. Under the jumper he wears a white t-shirt, and white underwear peaks out above the trousers. His shoes are white trainers. The clothes in these three outfits are all worn for comfort and not style. One could say the jumper is too baggy or that James Bond should never wear sweatpants, but Bond is appropriately dressed for his situation, and he doesn’t look so bad either.
I think, considering the hammering Bond’s old chap has taken from Le Chiffre’s rope – and, one might argue, the (hopefully) gentle work out he’s about to get from Vesper – that anything tighter than baggy sweat pants would be highly uncomfortable. In fact I’m amazed he has a towel on his lap…
Considering he’s far from home at this point I assumed that the clothes were brought by Mathis or Vesper, perhaps bought locally. It never occurred to me that these were his clothes that he had brought with him in his luggage to Montenegro.
Seeing him dressed in these outfits actually brought home just how much this was a recovery period. A small detail, but a nice touch rather than seeing him immaculately dressed.
The trainers look like the Converse Jack Russell model. That would be coherent as Bond wears another model of the same brand in the Madagascar sequence.
I agree that Bond looks appropriately “deconstructed” here. This may be the only time in the films that I can remember Bond looking defeated. He’s suffered physically and psychologically. This atypical garb visually reenforces the point.
Even James Bond wouldn’t wear Brioni while in hospital!
Maybe, but one does not need to wear Brioni to achieve a minimum of elegance.
Bond displayed more dignity after 14
months in a North Korean jail, with both physical and psychological damage, while remaining ‘plausible’.
Just surviving, Mr Chang,… just surviving.
Not really sure what’s undignified about these clothing choices, but I always found them to be an elegant take on hospital loungewear.
Well, the problem is that he looks so ordinary. Even Borat would look more elegant;)
But that is only an opinion, after all.
For those of us who were raised with a hero who used make a sartorial effort, this example (among others) is not really a glorious one.
There is no need for flamboyance to reach elegance. Just a continuous effort to aim at it, IMHO.
I agree, Stan. For me it was a pity he “recovered” at all. Would love had he taken a shower and re emerged as Brosnan!
Your sincerity does you credit, David.
I quite enjoyed Casino Royale (and even Skyfall).
The scenario is not so bad, especially any references to Fleming’s core story. It is even populated with good actors. Including Daniel Craig.
The only thing we are missing is James Bond himself.
Last night I watched an episode of the Persuaders (‘Someone like Me’) and watched it with a sigh of relief and nostalgia. For someone born in 1970, this is a whole world of reference. Roger Moore wears a few uncredibly well-cut suits and coats. He was after all the most ‘clothes-conscious’ of them all. Brosnan comes as a close second.
Not only did Sir Roger design the clothes, but he did wear them with great natural class, an expression that has become an oxymoron nowadays.
Matt please do us a favour by covering at least the 3 piece suit Brett Sinclair wears from 40’31’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOUu6FPh6O0
A pure feast fot the eyes, that vastly balances out the interesting striped tie ;)