Daniel Craig wears two different cardigans in Casino Royale. In the opening scene, he wears the film’s first cardigan under a pea coat, and this cardigan has a stand-up collar. The second cardigan in Casino Royale has a shawl collar, and Bond wears this cardigan on two separate occasions in the film. This is a black wool cardigan with six buttons on the front. The top button is placed in the middle of the shawl collar and is smaller than the other buttons. The bottom two buttons are spaced close together. The cardigan’s ribbed shawl collar continues down the front into a sort of placket. The cuffs and hem are ribbed and elasticised.
Under the cardigan, Craig wears white V-neck T-shirt and beige cotton trousers. Overall it’s a great casual outfit for a nice day when there’s a pleasant cool breeze. Craig takes this outfit up a notch in Quantum of Solace when he replaces the white t-shirt with a more refined white formal shirt.
Great sweater, and I have a similar one that I still wear today. I really like how versatile it is; compare the overall look of this outfit to the cardigan’s first appearance (with a charcoal tee shirt and grey glen plaid trousers with a blue overcheck).
This makes me wonder – has Craig’s Bond influenced men’s fashion more than any other Bond? By this I mean the regular man in the street, or the general population. Would chukka boots and cardigans have been as popular now if they were not featured so prominently in Craig’s films? Or did the costume designers just jump on emerging trends very early (VERY early in some cases, as I still read articles that act as if cardigans have only been rediscovered this fall!).
This is just about perfect for casual wear in the 21st century. Fits the literary character too, at least in spirit, and perfect for the setting. A look I have copied many times – though sadly not in Venice :(.
Interesting question posed by TheLordFlasheart. I will go with a mixture of both, but leaning more towards catching emerging trends early.
I think they were very successful in terms of catching onto emerging trends early during Craig’s first two outings. The Haiti outfit in QoS also comes to mind as an example of this.
It’s interesting how Bond’s style went from being out in front of current fashions in Craig’s first two outings, to mimicking current fashion trends in Skyfall. This subtle distinction somehow created a real gulf between the elegant style of CR/QoS and that of Skyfall.
I think a navy cardigan would work much better with this outfit.
As usual with Craig in Casino Royale, a casual -and appropriate- outfit that Craig pulled off perfectly. He really looks effortlessly cool here, with a kind of Steve McQueen style.
I think I prefer this look to the similar outfit in QOS- the French cuff shirt was a bit too much for Bond.
“Craig takes this outfit up a notch in Quantum of Solace when he replaces the white t-shirt with a more refined white dress shirt”. I agree completely. The QoS outfit was one of the nicest casual outfits I’ve seen on Craig and it straddled traditional Bond and modern casual very well. Le Chiffre mentions Craig having a style reminiscent of Steve McQueen which echoes exactly something I have always thought myself (when they first cast Craig the person he most reminded me was McQueen) but that’s the crux; McQueen was an American icon but shouldn’t Bond be a British one? But I’m probably, as usual, out of step here!
Can anybody imagine Moore-Bond or even Connery-Bond picking his feet while talking on the phone, as Craig appears to be doing here?
Connery, yes, Roger, no. I think Craig does look very much like McQueen but not much he can do about that. He’s not my favourite personally but in these times he does an excellent job. Not sure who else would be a natural replacement today.
Thank you Steve for an objective answer. There’s really quite a Craig hate on this blog, it’s impressive.
Le Chiffre, come, come. Speaking for myself, I don’t hate Craig or any other actor. My contribution here above was quite balanced even if I say so myself! To “hate” any particular actor would be rather extreme. I could say that I don’t personally particularly care for Craig’s style of portrayal or some aspects of his wardrobe but as I admit freely I’m a dinosaur!
David,
Good points indeed but it was Dan’s remark that made me react, not yours !
Le Chiffre,
It really has nothing to do with hate; I agree with David that hating an actor I don’t even know personally is ridiculous and extreme. I suspect, however, that many of us read this blog because, at some point in our lives, we have modeled our personal style after some iteration of James Bond. That style should include not picking one’s feet, something my undergraduate students do quite often, and which I find as unsightly as it is unhygenic. It troubles me to see my stylistic role model engaging in that same behavior.
Ahhh the good old Lindy Hemming days! When clothes that suited Bond were picked out, regardless of the label. And if it couldn’t be found, she had it made.
G. Wilson you fool, bring Hemming back!!
I will have to pull out the Blu-Ray, but I don’t think Craig is actually picking his feet. I think his fingers are wrapped around his big toe to make his posing of the Omega Seamaster on his wrist look as natural as possible, when it is in fact posed so that Omega S.A. gets their money’s worth (as if that horrible line on the train in the middle of one of if not the finest dialogue sequence in the series was not enough http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S39paDGZ0Ew).
Going back to the outfit vs. the QoS one, they are both terrific, and perfectly fit the differing settings, moods, and goals of Bond in the respective scenes.
Christian–That line is awful, but the lingering shots of the Seamaster during the Istanbul chase in Skyfall might collectively be worse. Fortunately, it’s a handsome watch!
I think your assssment about the foot grab is accurate. He is not “picking” his foot, but rather he is holding it. Although I suppose that’s still counts as unhygienic and unsightly behavior that should be avoided at al costs!
Agreed about the foot picking. Also, I think the different outfits between this and QoS show how Bond changed In CR he was a new 00, a green horn still doing stupid things like breaking into M’s office. In QoS he’s much more refined hence the collared shirt and French cuffs.
Matthew,
I took the CR outfit to be perfect given the fact Vesper just killed herself and betrayed him, he has been through a demanding physical ordeal in the final action scene, and he is by himself, hanging out on a boat in Venice. Anything beyond a t-shirt and sweater would be a bit too much. In QoS, he is essentially going to Mathis’ villa to beg for his help and probably put on more refined shirt as a show of respect to Mathis.
Good points, but to me it seems that if he was trying to impress Mathis consciously, he would have worn one of his immaculate suits or at least a linen suit like in CR. But why are we picking this apart? I’m pretty sure the costume designer just put together what looked nice with the background!
Agree on all counts, FS.
I do wish they would have stuck with the Submariner though. Literary Bond wore a Rolex probably because Fleming like the name, and Connery Bond wore a Submariner because it was on Cubby Broccoli’s wrist when it came time to film the scene and Rolex didn’t provide a watch and no one bought one. Imagine that – no product placement! And film Bond stuck with that watch through Golden Gun, with a welcome return at Dalton’s insistence for L2K. But like Bollinger Champagne and BMW’s, Omega (and Tom Ford/Brioni) pays a lot of money….it’s too bad really.
I agree about the watches. While Omega makes some beautiful watches, the character’s heritage calls for a Rolex. I’d love to see them go with something more understated than the sub, like an explorer. This would probably be even more in keeping with Fleming.
I find the black faced Submariner very understated, particularly with the material strap as worn by Connery. Apparently, this watch used to be standard issue to Royal Navy divers, so it is very much in keeping with the character.
FS – I agree that Omega makes beautiful watches, but they are flashier than the Sub or Explorer. I like a diver’s watch like the Sub for Bond, but Ian Fleming did wear an Explorer (as does Don Draper!) and it too would work for Bond.
http://rolexblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/list-of-all-watches-worn-in-james-bond.html
Brosnan driving a BMW was really terrible. British secret agent 007 driving a BMW Z3, 750 and Z8 is just sad and a non-sense. Especially when the Aston Martin DB7 was on the market. It looked superb, but Bond never drived it…
As far as I am concerned it shocked me more than knowing that Bond had an Italian tailor instead of a British one !
I do recall hearing that Girard Peragaux (forgive my spelling) was Bond’s watch of choice?
Cheers
Ryan
In the books that is.
Right. I think it is said in one novel that this watch was taken by Bond on one of his ennemies’ corpses -or perhaps just stolen.
It was a Girard-Perregaux that Bond took from Red Grant in From Russia with Love (Grant had shot Bond’s watch earlier).
I believe the only watch brand Bond wears in the Fleming novels is an unidentified Rolex, which he uses as a “knuckleduster” in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
30 years from now, that t-shirt and casual foot picking will get as much abuse as Roger’s powder blue leisure suit and sleeveless tee in Live & Let Die.
Not that I have a problem with the leisure suit or cardigan, but the T-shirts are simply unbecoming of Bond.
I am not sure about that, simply because the outfit here is a perfect example of “casual clothing”, and that the trend today in clothing is only about “casual first”. I am afraid of what the world will look like in 30 years if such a trend continue. I hope lounge suits will not replace dinner suits, and today’s terrible casualwear will not replace these lounge suits. I also hope that tie and bowties will still be around…
But perhaps this trend will stop after all, and will take the opposite direction. In that case you’re certainly right. If in 30 years everyone dons 3-piece and double-breasted suits at home in the weekend then I will be very pleased.
“30 years from now, that t-shirt and casual foot picking will get as much abuse as Roger’s powder blue leisure suit and sleeveless tee in Live & Let Die.”
I can’t see that happening for two reasons. First, there is no “foot-picking” happening in the film (I can’t believe that even needs pointing out).
The second thing is that this outfit seems more restrained than the powder blue leisure suit; it’s not reaching as far into the outer boundaries of current fashion as the LALD ensemble did. There’s also the fact that Moore’s “sleeveless tee” isn’t a sleeveless tee but a “wife-beater”. I don’t know how that shirt was viewed in ’73 but I would think that it was far more below the casual dress of the time than a simple tee shirt is now.
Every Bond actor has had outfits that were or will one day be criticized for being dated or too extreme in fashion, but I can’t see how this is one of them.
Any idea what these trousers are made of? I assumed they were chinos.
As I wrote in the blog, they are made of cotton. They do appear to be chinos.