Roger Moore’s Grey Multistripe Flannel Three-Piece Suit in The Persuaders!

Today marks what would have been Roger Moore’s 97th birthday. Lord Brett Sinclair of The Persuaders! was his last role before first taking on the mantle of playing James Bond, and it solidified his place in history as a style icon. Moore was even credited with designing his own wardrobe, even though it wasn’t entirely true. The series was filmed from spring 1970 to spring 1971, and his wardrobe in the series was a combination of the contemporary peacock fashions, New Edwardian fashions that were popular from the mid 1950s through the mid 1960s, and other historic styles. The result was flashy but ultimately extraordinarily stylish in a way that was unique to and appropriate for the character.

For many of the cold-weather-set episodes of The Persuaders!, Roger Moore wears three-piece suits in more conservative styles compared to the flashy clothes his character Lord Brett Sinclair usually wears. This blog already covered one of his most conservative suits of the series, a charcoal track stripe that would be sober enough for James Bond. Moore wears an identically cut and detailed suit in a flashier mid-grey multistripe—a pattern of different stripes—flannel that is more congruent with Sinclair’s peacock tastes and extravagant lifestyle without being too showy.

Moore wears the grey multistripe suit in the episodes ‘The Long Goodbye’, ‘The Morning After’ and ‘Someone Waiting’. All three episodes are set in England, while ‘The Morning After’ is also partially set in Sweden. This flannel suit is appropriate for these cool locales, especially in a three-piece suit.

At the time of making The Persuaders! Roger Moore was a director at the cloth merchant Pearson + Foster, who made the cloths for the garments that Roger Moore and Tony Curtis wore in the series. The pattern is a multistripe with sets of alternating narrow and wide dark red stripes bordered by white pinstripes. Though this is a fancy stripe, it ends up being fairly subtle and tasteful because the stripes don’t stand out. The red is a muted maroon, and the fuzzy flannel cloth softens the pattern. The cloth is reminiscent of 1930s suitings.

Cyril Castle, Moore’s tailor for The Saint and his first two James Bond films, made the suit in a classic English style. Like George Lazenby’s suits in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, this suit is from a transitional period between narrow 1960s styles and wide 1970s styles, and it has only a few small details that peg it to the 1960s or 1970s. It’s a suit with a strong individual character that transcends any particular period in fashion history. Though this suit premiered in The Persuaders! only a year and a half before Live and Let Die, Castle tailored a much different style for Moore in both the jacket and the trousers, with only the soft shoulder, dramatic shape in the jacket and hacking pockets remaining when Moore became Bond.

The suit’s cut with is similar to Roger Moore’s suits in The Saint, but the jacket’s skinny lapels have been updated to a more balanced medium width. The shoulders are soft with natural sleeve heads. The chest is full cut with a slight amount of drape and the waist is tightly nipped to give it a dramatic English look and to give Roger Moore more of a silhouette. The front has three button in a medium-low stance, which looks balanced and flattering on Roger Moore’s figure. The buttons are slightly more spaced apart than they were in The Saint for a more classic button-three look. The lapels roll to the top button. Slanted, flapped hip pockets and a long single vent turn this into a classic hacking-style jacket. The jacket is detailed with three buttons on the cuffs.

Moore wears this as both a three-piece suit and a two-piece suit. As a three-piece suit he leaves the jacket unbuttoned for a more relaxed feel. As a two-piece suit his fastens the jacket’s middle button for a more buttoned-up look.

The suit’s waistcoat has six buttons with five to button. The bottom of the front edge starts to curve away above the bottom button, so the bottom button and buttonhole do not line up. The waistcoat has notched lapels and two welt pockets. The waistcoat fits a slightly too long on Moore, covering too much of the trousers and making his torso look larger than it should.

The suit’s trousers are made by Cyril Castle’s trouser maker at the time, Richard Paine, who would later work with Sean Connery’s tailor Anthony Sinclair and take over his business. The trousers have jetted cross pocket on the front steeply slanted at about 35 degrees from horizontal. The pockets are rather low, but they’re placed so that the waistcoat does not cover the pocket. A dart centred on the front of each side sits just in front of the pocket. There is a button-through pocket on either side in the back. The trousers have a moderately narrow straight leg, following 1960s fashion. Though Moore often dresses flamboyantly in The Persuaders!, he was a few years behind on trouser fashions and wouldn’t adopt the popular flared leg until filming Live and Let Die in 1972. The trousers also have belt loops, but Moore forgoes the belt so the waistcoat can lie flat without a bulge from the belt. The trouser waist fits tightly enough that a belt is not needed, and the waistcoat keeps the unused belt loops hidden.

Moore’s wears two different pale-coloured shirts with this suit, both made by Frank Foster. The shirt is white poplin in ‘The Long Goodbye’ and cream oxford in ‘The Morning After’ and ‘Someone Waiting’. These shirts are both neutral and provide a blank canvas so not to compete with the suit’s fancy stripe. The shirts all feature the same details. The collar is a classic English spread that sits high at the front to accommodate a large tie knot. The cocktail cuffs fasten with a single button and button-down at the sides so the cuff has a roll reminiscent of a button-down collar. The front of the shirt is plain without a folded placket.

The suit’s maroon stripes beg for more red in the outfit, and Moore satisfies this by wearing two red ties with the suits. A tie of another colour with some red in the pattern could work just as well, but Moore prevents any competition in the outfit by sticking with solid ties. In all three episodes that feature this suit, Moore wears a brick red silk tie with a double-rib weave, a common type of tie that he wears in many different colours throughout the series. The tie is much wider than his jacket’s lapels, but since the tie is contained within a waistcoat the width isn’t obvious when the suit is worn as a three-piece.

When Moore wears this suit as a two-piece in ‘The Long Goodbye’, he changes the tie to a ribbed bright salmon pink most that is likely from Turnbull & Asser, since they made ties using this kind of silk, but it’s possible other brands used the same silk. The tie’s ribs vary in size, gradually getting thicker and thinner. Moore wears the same tie in other colours in The Persuaders!, and Sean Connery wears the same tie in black in Diamonds Are Forever. The pink is further from colour of the suit’s stripe than the red tie is, but it’s close enough. Pairing colours in menswear is an art, not a science. Moore ties his ties in a four-in-hand knot

Moore wears black shoes with this suit, and depending on the episode he either wears square-toed V-front derbies or apron-front monk shoes.

Under the shirt, Moore wears a gold chain with a gold Egyptian Ankh (identified by Peter Brooker) and a gold Saint Christopher medallion (identified by Ken Stauffer). Roger Moore wore these in his personal life and not just as Lord Brett Sinclair. The ankh is a cross surmounted by a loop, and it is known as the ‘key of life’. Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travellers, and it’s fitting as both Roger Moore and Brett Sinclair were frequent travellers.

Moore wears a stylish dark charcoal grey overcoat over this suit in ‘The Morning After’, as well as in a few other episodes. It combines elements of the Chesterfield and Ulster coat. Like a Chesterfield it is knee-length and has a fly front, a welt breast pocket, straight flapped hip pockets and a long centre vent. It is detailed with three buttons on the cuffs. The wide collar and style of wide lapels comes from the double-breasted Ulster coat. Where it becomes a typically flashy garment for Brett Sinclair is in the luxurious details. The body of the coat is made of thick cashmere, while the Ulster collar and revers are faced in black fur. While the wide collar and lapels are meant for a double-breasted coat and look a bit out of place on a single-breasted coat, the fur facings give them purpose, and if they were narrower it would give the impression of skimping on the fur. While it is an ostentatious coat, it is also a practical coat. Moore had a similar, but less elegant, coat with a fur shawl collar that he wore in The Saint, featuring prominently in ‘To Kill A Saint’.

With the coat, Moore wear dark brown leather gloves. Though black gloves would look more harmonious with the rest of the outfit, they also tend to look villainous. Brown gloves instead of black prevent the outwear from looking too overbearing.