Moore’s famous collection of sports coats started with this one, a button two in a fancy tan basketweave or hopsack weave. I’m not sure what the jacket’s fabric content is, but I would guess linen and silk. It’s likely highly breathable, which would make it the perfect fabric for the hot Louisiana weather. The colour of this jacket blends in perfectly with the dirt ground on the crocodile farm, while his brown trousers match perfectly with the murky waters.
Like the suit jackets Cyril Castle made for Live and Let Die, this jacket by Castle has soft shoulders, a swelled chest, deep double vents, slanted pockets with flaps, and flared link-button cuffs. The buttons are light brown horn. This jacket has gently roped sleeve heads, whilst the suit jackets in Live and Let Die do not have any roping. For a sporty touch, this jacket has swelled edges on the lapels and pocket flaps. The notched lapels are a medium width, so the jacket hardly looks dated.
The jacket has Cyril Castle’s signature detail of flared link-button cuffs. The flare of the cuffs mirrors the trouser flare. The cuff meets at the vent in a kissing fashion rather than overlapping, and there is one button on either side of the ends of the cuff so it looks like the cuff fastens with cufflinks.
Bond wears contrasting dark brown, flat front trousers. The trousers have two rear pockets but no side pockets for a clean look. The cut narrows at the knee with a slight flare towards the bottom, for more of a subtle boot-cut look. Since these trousers lack the front darts and top pockets of the other trousers in the film, and the rear pockets are placed much lower, these trousers may not have been made by Cyril Castle. The belt loops hang below the waistband, which does not follow the typical Savile Row custom that Castle follows of making wider belt loops being contained within the height of the waistband.
Bond’s shirt from Frank Foster is beige cotton with a jacquard figure. The shirt has a semi-spread collar, rear darts, two-button cocktail cuffs and a fly front that covers the buttons with a placket that has one stitching line down the centre. The brown tie with a large, abstract self-pattern is tied with a four-in-hand knot.
Roger Moore thought it would be clever to wear crocodile shoes at the crocodile farm, so he found a pair of red-brown crocodile slip-ons. The shoes have a squared bicycle toe, which makes these some of the least attractive shoes Bond wears. The belt, however, is just plain brown leather.
You can see more pictures of the shirt and trousers in the previous entry about the brown basted suit jacket.
Not a big fan of this ensemble (though it looks good on Moore), but that is a great, classic Submariner. Perfectly completes the Bond look.
The crocodile shoes are flashy and tacky, but I've been in love with the rest of the outfit ever since I saw the movie as a kid. It is also comparatively easy to replicate (except for the cuffs on the jacket sleeves).
Very, very nice suit.
How about the one which Moore dresses in the airplane while going to Scaramanga island? I'd really like a post about it, if you like it too.
Tommaso,
I am REALLY looking forward to a post on that particular sportcoat!
I'd be interested in the blog, when it comes, on the suit Moore wears for his seduction of Solitaire earlier in this movie. The jacket appears to be reversable with a second jacket underneath although i expect its a trick of cinematography rather than cunning tailoring.
When Bond arrives by hang glider he sheds first a pair of dark "over trousers" worn over the beige/oatmeal colour ones of his suit. He then reverses his dark jacket to reveal, hey presto, the jacket of the suit which perfectly matches the trousers. The dark jacket I have seen, worn independently, in publicity photos for the movie and is a sports coat with buttoned patch pockets (safari style).
Moore does the same kind of thing in the pre credit sequence of Octopussy when a tweed sports coat is reversed to double as a dark green military jacket which matches his lovat green trousers.
The Man With The Golden Gun plaid sportscoat was, indeed, a rather unusual choice for a showdown in the tropics but would've been a fashionable item of meanswear in 1974. Whatever he wears though (bar maybe the denim ensemble in Live And Let Die) Moore always exudes style and class (IMO)
David, I agree with everything you've said; my only quibble is that the plaid sportcoat from TMWTGG would still be perfectly wearable today, assuming one had sufficient panache.
Cordially,
DFI
Thanks Dan. I agree. The features of the jacket itself aren't particularly dated (as we can see from Matt's latest blog). No excessively wide 1970's lapels. Ditto Moore's suits from the time.
My only quibble was the context; as a tweed jacket, even if relatively lightweight, would be an unusual choice of apparel for the Thai climate (even if most of the indoor scenes in Scaramanga's pad where it features would've been filmed back in Pinewood)
David, the plaid sports coat in the Man with the Golden Gun is not tweed. Sure, it's wool (or a wool blend with silk), but it's woven in an open weave, not a tighter twill weave like tweed. Though I'm sure it's not lightweight by today's standards, it's probably very comfortable in the tropical weather. If it's too much of an English country pattern for you, then that's another matter.
Moore and some of the other actors actually commented on this. It was not comfortable! Apparently the heat was nearly unbearable even with nothing but swim trunks on it was so bad. Moore did comment that his clothes were a lot more comfortable than Villechaize’s heavy black morning dress, so it was probably very lightweight, though no one was anywhere near actual comfort while filming that scene.
Matt, I don't know what comment in my above observations made you conclude that the jacket might be "too much of an English country pattern" for my liking?? In fact, I have worn sports coats with various patterns and designs over the years. I like them. I would happily wear this jacket too but not in a climate like Thailand.
Your comments re: the make up of the jacket while, no doubt factual, are semantics and of no real bearing on the substantive part of my original comment.
As for your assertion that the jacket is "probably very comfortable in the tropical weather" i can only suggest that you try out the theory and let me know how it works out for you in terms of comfort. Apart from the looks of surprise from both the natives and fellow tourists!
I meant to say that it was too much of an English country pattern for you to consider appropriate for the tropics. But I think I misunderstood you originally. So, basically your saying that you think it's ridiculous for Bond to wear any sort of coat and tie on his arrival at Scaramanga's Island? After all, it is what Bond likes to wear, and he probably wanted to make a good impression since he was meeting Scaramanga for the first time.
My only conclusion is that people can construe and misconstrue meanings from an observation according to their personal whims.
It will be quite obvious from my original comments above what my opinion was on Bonds apparel and it doesn't concur with your conclusion.
The other contributors can decide (though I'm sure they've better things to do!)for themselves.
The weave is known as hopsack, rougher one. Excellent warm weather wear.
It’s not really hopsack, which is a much simpler basketweave. Though I suppose the term could also be used for a complex basketweave like this one.
This warm weather ensemble of a sports coat looks fantastic and I think holds up pretty well. Just a question Matt, does this kind of example look to warm toned for someone with a cool complexion to pull off, as I have a cool complexion and am wondering if clothes like this is to warm for my complexion. If it is too warm what tips can work for me to cool it down and work well for my cool complexion? Thanks
This could work better on someone with a cool complexion by replacing the shirt with a blue one. If the jacket were more of a rosy tan than a golden tan, that helps considerably.
Thanks Matt for the input. Do you think a navy tie would go well with a light blue shirt with this ensemble?
Sure. A navy ties pairs well with almost anything.
Thank you once again for your helpful advice Matt
I would LOVE to know what brand this tie was. I wonder, like the trousers, was it an American brand……
This is one of my favorite sports coat in the entire series! It is interesting that this is the only time James Bond wears a belt with a jacket and tie.
David, I don’t know what brand the tie is here but I can tell you that I have one that looks just like this one in burgundy instead of brown.
When saying this is the only time James Bond wears a jacket and tie with a belt I am referring to live and let die. Just wanted to make that clear!
Hey Matt, what odd trousers would you wear with a tan linen odd jacket? I considered brown linen trousers, but am worried that might be too much linen. Perhaps brown high twist wool trousers? (or grey high twist wool trousers with a blue shirt if one wanted to dress up the jacket). Thanks.
There needs to be some textural difference between the jacket and trousers. It can be as simple as a herringbone linen jacket and plain-weave linen trousers. You could do wool trousers in high twist or gabardine. Cotton gabardine is nice too. Brown trousers would look nice, but you could also do cream or white. Grey trousers may work, but I find combining tan and grey difficult because they can compete being clashing neutrals.