Roger Moore’s second film to feature the suits from Angelo Roma, the tailor who made the fashionable suits for The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, is Street People from 1976. Since this is an Italian-made film, it’s very likely that Angelo Vitucci made these suits. The suits have the same cut as Angelo’s suits from the Bond films: the jacket has an elegant Roman silhouette with straight shoulders, longer jacket length and close fit through the body. The trousers have a flat front and a flared leg.
The light grey three-piece suit is one of the more interesting pieces in the film. The jacket is a button two with wide peak lapels. The lapels have a lot of belly, or outer curve, reminiscent of lapels from the 1930s and 40s. The jacket is detailed with swelled edges and four buttons on the cuffs. The pockets have flaps, but the flaps are much narrower than the lapels just as on Angelo’s suits in the Bond films. The jacket also has a very deep single vent that starts all the way up at the waist, reminiscent of a hacking jacket. The wide peak lapels, deep single vent and close fit is very much like the work of a popular fashion designer today: Tom Ford. Ford has very effectively done the single-breasted peak-lapel style. The waistcoat that completes the suit is a button six with two pockets. Angelo’s inspiration, like Tom Ford’s, likely came from English designer Tommy Nutter.
Moore wears the suit with two different shirts and ties in the film. Frank Foster made the shirts for this film. The first shirt is white with one-button cocktail cuffs, but they do not button down like Foster’s single-button cocktail cuffs typically do. With this shirt he wears a navy tie with white squares. The second shirt is a blue and white awning stripe with contrasting white collar and cuffs. The cuffs on this shirt are two-button cocktail cuffs. With this shirt he wears a solid black tie. Both shirts have a large point collar. Moore wears black shoes with this suit.
Very good post Matt, given that the suiting in this low budget movie effectively marks the transition from Cyril Castle’s reign as Moore’s tailor to the more fashion forward Angelo Vitucci. I think Moore leaving his home in Britain and becoming a tax exile in the mid 1970’s may have influenced his choice of tailor as many won’t travel to fit and measure a client for suits.
What is interesting is how, when I first saw this movie, late at night on British TV in about 1989, how awfully dated this style looked. The epitome of 1970’s excess. Now, given that Ford and others have reintroduced elements of this style, it appears less so. Nevertheless, I still don’t care for this suit and, for me, it’s one of Roger Moore’s least appealing looks. I think it’s the wide peak lapels on a single breasted suit. They may not be actually wider than those on his Bond Vitucci suits but they certainly appear to be. The rest of the suit is ok and it is well tailored. It’s just that Vitucci’s suits which were worn in the two Bond movies looked more balanced, but, having said that, for example, Dalton’s 1989 suits and Craig’s current ones are, to my eye, far worse than this one and don’t have the virtue of being well tailored to fall back on.
In relation to the shirts there’s a transition here too as Moore’s previous Bond outings featured the final display of Foster’s cocktail cuffs (bar the evening shirt in “Moonraker”) and the next two Bond movies would feature longer collar points like here but coupled instead with the tab cuffs. There shirts straddle the two styles.
This movie also features a version of this jacket, https://www.bondsuits.com/?p=129, which previously attracted so much adverse comment, but here worn with matching trousers as a suit. For me, that was his most attractive outfit in this movie.
I have to say that while I appreciate the cut and the fabric, I’m not a fan at all – the styling just isn’t right to my eye. I like the shirts and ties but the suits and jackets here are just too extreme, far more so than even the most outlandish moments of The Persuaders.
I am not a big fan of a lot of the Cyril Castle suits in The Saint (I think they tend to look boxy and don’t flatter Moore’s physique – he’s 6′ 2″ and a big guy) and The Persuaders stuff is fun but dated, but he really did turn out some amazing outfits in L&LD and, particularly, TMWTGG… and the drop off to Street People is huge (it is also a bloody awful film).
I think Angelo did a jacket for Moore in The Wild Geese – in the recruitment scene he wears it with a burgundy sweater… I think it is charcoal and has a flap on the outer breast pocket – I hope you’ll cover this (and other Moore movies, particularly Bullseye) in due course…
I agree with your comments. I’ll be sure to write about the clothes in many more of Moore’s films. I just have to be careful not to let this become a Roger Moore clothing blog. But there’s probably a lot more material for him than for any other Bond actor. There are still a lot of Connery outfits I need to cover, like from Marnie, Zardoz, etc.
Matt,
Zardoz…thanks, that was today’s big laugh, you made my day!
Gold is also quite interesting with a LALD/TMWGG wardrobe but with bold patterns for the shirts. And with Peter Hunt as a director,you have an axcuse for covering.
Regards from France
Im not a great fan of Angelo Vitucci. He was a great tailor,sure,but too much fashonables in trends.
In 60s his lapels were very,very tiny,in 70s very huge with a lot of belly…this is not style.
Anyway i don’t like at all the 70s silhouette,so heavy,not natural,a parody of the 30s silhouette.
Hi Matt, I’m searching for the sunglasses Sir Roger wears in Street People in the bar scene just before Stacy Keech wrecks the hoodlum’s car. They’re huge and look like Persol but if you or anyone can identify them I’d be grateful. All the best for a great site.
I love the fact Bond spans so many decades and speaks especially about the suits of that era , the 70s probably are the ones that are the least easy on the eye today ..