James Bond actors often have clothes made for their Bond films that are either cut from the film’s wardrobe or are made to wear in promotional photography. For Live and Let Die, the dinner suit and ruffled shirt that don’t appear in the film were widely used in promotional photography to provide Moore with the expected Bond black tie uniform. Another outfit that was not used in the film and was used much less in promotional stills is a stone-coloured safari suit.
This still was sourced from Thunderballs.org and is the only place I have seen this still.
Roger Moore’s first safari clothes as James Bond appear in The Man with the Golden Gun. In that film he wears a cream tailored safari jacket as well as a green safari shirt. He wears both with non-matching trousers, and the matching safari suit of shirt-jacket and trousers wouldn’t appear until Moonraker. However, in a promotional still for Live and Let Die, Moore wears a safari suit of matching jacket and trousers in stone, which is a pale grey-beige. The Moonraker safari suit is a similar colour, though a shade darker.
The safari suit looks like it is made of cotton, which is a traditional safari suit material, and one that would keep one cool in a warm climate. This cotton looks like a lightweight gabardine.
The safari jacket from this suit is similar to the black silk leisure suit jacket from the Live and Let Die hang gliding scene as well as the cream safari jacket in The Man with the Golden Gun when Bond meets Lazar. Like both of those jackets, this is a structured garment with canvassing and shoulder padding, which means it was most likely made by Moore’s tailor at the time, Cyril Castle. The traditional safari jacket, on the other hand, is an unstructured shirt-jacket, which makes this jacket more of a fashion item rather than one to wear in the bush.
There are four black buttons down the front of the jacket, and the jacket has a straight front edge like a traditional safari jacket or military jacket. The shoulders are narrow and straight on the natural shoulder line. The collar is an exaggerated Prussian-style collar with a large collar and narrow lapels. The cuffs have a strap with a single button as well as a vent like on a regular jacket cuff. There are four rectangular patch pockets on the front with pointed button-down flaps as well as the classic safari-jacket shoulder straps. The rear style of a the jacket is a mystery.
The jacket also has a full belt with a buckle in front, which none of Moore’s safari clothes as Bond have. It brings a more traditional look to this garment, but it also draws more attention to it and makes it more cumbersome to wear.
The safari suit’s trousers have a slightly flared leg. They most likely follow the style of other trousers in the film with a darted front and cash pockets under the waistband.
Under the jacket, Moore accessorises this suit with items of clothes from Live and Let Die. He wears a cream cotton poplin shirt from Frank Foster with a semi-spread collar, two-button cocktail cuffs and a concealed front placket. His tie is a Royal Navy regimental striped tie from Benson & Clegg with a navy ground and narrow red and white stripes.
The shoes are black bit loafers from Gucci. They have an apron toe and a bit with the two ends connected by a round Gucci emblem in the middle. Brown or tan shoes would have been a better choice with this outift, but since it is just for promotional purposes Moore likely just wore the shoes he had to hand.
I love this for personal reasons (I’m a massive ’70s apologist, shoot me) but I can fully understand why they didn’t use it much for advertising the film, along with the black version of the same suit which made it into the film. They needed to sell “Bond” and fresh off the back of Connery and Lazenby this was pretty far from what we were used to. I think it was smart sticking with the dinner suit for promotional purposes.
Just never do the flared trousers, and I’m good. As the late Anthony Sinclair always said, don’t exaggerate things, ever.
Wide flares, never. I’ve tried and I can’t pull them off, they make me (and I think everyone) too bottom heavy. I usually wear straight cut trousers.
But I do have a pair bootcut corduroy jeans that look great with my cuban heel boots. Not the most traditionally masculine outfit I own, but it’s striking and tends to draw attention when I want it!
I never saw this promotional picture before. My opinion may seem controversial but I prefer this ensemble. I love Moore’s choice for safari wear and I approve of the stones color, as well. I wish this suit was placed within the film. It would have been interesting to see the full details of the whole ensemble.
As mentioned above, I prefer the safari shirt-jackets and suits within my own wardrobe. Moore makes these jackets look stylish and fashionable. Some from the opposite liking would suggest the contrary. But I’m happy the wardrobe designer did not create the 70s dog ear collars for Moore.
Overall, I love Roger’s dashing good looks on these promotional stills. Great find and nice read Matt.
An executable piece, but needs a bit of tweaking, some of which will involve actual practicality. I can actually see myself commission something like this, but it will have to be heavily modified, but it won’t stray too far away from the original concept, even by visual.
Then again, it takes a trailblazer.
It could do with being a slightly closer fit to my mind, but I suppose it was considered “good enough” for a promotional shoot.
It looks like quite a close fit to me. They wouldn’t have any lower standards for a promotional shoot.
I’ve seen this before – it was the same day they took photos at his hotel of a dark one too (or maybe it was the hang gliding outfit) which better co-ordinated with the black shoes (and the tie). He wears a similar (but different) beige safari suit in the colour plates of the old Live & Let Die diary (towards the end of the plates) – it may be this was his own and the photographer asked for a quick change and this was the result… just a thought. Personally I’m not a fan and am pleased it didn’t end up on screen.
Great read Matt! I will come out to say that I see no issue with this outfit at all. I know that there are those that are not huge fans of safari wear and that is fine. This was something that Roger Moore as Bond would go on to make his own choice of style. There are things that all of the Bond actors have done and that is what makes them all fun to watch. I would have had no problem with this in the film! Great read Matt and have a good week!
This promotional photo may have added to the myth that Roger Moore “always wore safari suits”. Another thing being that some modern day fans don’t actually know what a safari suit is and believe all earth-coloured lounge suits from the ’70s are safari suits!
The suit itself is fine, but I don’t really care for the vented sleeves combined with the button tabs. It’s a “pick one or the other, not both” situation. Vented sleeves without any buttons at all can be pretty stylish though, especially on suits with minimalist details like a single button front.
Dreadful.
Just absolutely dreadful.
The reverence people have for styles like this always leaves me baffled but it takes all sorts I suppose. I was a kid during the seventies and have a revulsion for most of the trends that became mainstream during ‘the decade that style forgot’, and this suit is a typical example of why I feel that way. And this is far from the worst example of seventies excesses. Clark Gable wearing a safari suit in the African jungle in ‘Mogambo’ when there’s a fair chance he’ll be hunting big game can wear a safari suit till the cows come home as it’s fit for that purpose. Moore / Bond wearing something similar in the concrete jungle when he’s hunting for a drug king pin? No – just no! Wrist straps, shoulder straps, belt, four button flap pockets, flared strides … it’s all just way too much and way too far from the unfussy, almost stark, form-follows function way that Fleming dressed Bond and Connery followed suit – at least until the seventies and DAF.
I see frequent attempts to revive this sort of style from time to time – presumably from people who didn’t live through the seventies – and it always looks like risible cosplay to me. Thankfully those attempts never seem to have much longevity beyond a momentary novelty. There’s a reason for that!
Since more summery posts such as this one are appearing, will we see a post about Brosnan’s jungle outfit in Goldeneye soon ?!