A wool gabardine suit in British tan is perfect for in San Francisco’s mild spring, summer and autumn. Tan has always been a flattering colour to Roger Moore’s warm spring complexion, but it’s especially beneficial to his aging visage (or facelift) in A View to a Kill.
Gabardine is a classic material for tan suits as well as for odd trousers. Gabardine is a tight twill weave with a 63 degree angle due to twice as many warp yarns than filling yarns. The tight weave combined with a clear finish gives the fabric a slight sheen, but too much cleaning and abrasion can cause an unpleasant shine. Gabardine is either woven in a 2×1 or a 2×2 twill weave, the later being more common. You can see its structure below:
While this suit is a wool gabardine, gabardine may also be made of cotton. Cotton gabardine is most well-known for its use in trench coats, but it may also be used in suits or trousers, where its smooth finish gives it a dressier look than the similar chino cotton twill.
This suit has the usual cut of Roger Moore’s classic 1980’s suits, with soft shoulders, roped sleeve heads and a clean chest. The jacket is a button two with a low position, and it is detailed with double vents, flapped pockets and three buttons on the cuffs. The buttons are lighter than the suit, made of beige horn. The lapels here differ in shape from Douglas Hayward’s signature notch lapels, which are cut straight across the top. This suit jacket’s lapels have a concave curves along the top, and the pocket flaps are also curved on the side instead of straight down.
The trousers have a flat front and a straight leg with a plain hems.
This suit was made by tailor Henry Rose through Douglas Hayward. Listen to an interview with him, where he talks about this suit.
Moore wears a cream voile shirt by Frank Foster with a spread collar, front placket stitched close to the centre and rounded single-button cuffs. The tie is bronze with white and blue stripes that point up to the left shoulder, which is the English direction. Moore wears chestnut brown slip-on shoes and black socks with grey stripes, which don’t match any other part of the outfit. He also matches the shoes with a brown belt with a silver-toned buckle.
To me, this suit is almost a lighter hued facsimile of this suit from 4 years previous https://www.bondsuits.com/?p=105 and the touch of the lighter horn buttons is present on both suits. It’s a nice Hayward touch and shows more flair and imagination than the expected matching or brown buttons which might usually appear. I would assume, to be very specific, this is what is referred to in some circles as “British Tan”?
Moore is, incredibly, 85 this Sunday. Browsing around You Tube recently I came across some comments on foot of an interview which had been posted and they chimed with my feelings. Moore really is the quintessential English gentleman, in the truest sense of the word, in a lineage which stretches back to people like Stewart Granger, Cary Grant and, his friend, David Niven. One commentator remarked that “there’s nobody out there now of his type to replace him” and that they found this “sad”. While this is, in a way, sentimental, it does chime somewhat with my feelings for the man. When we do lose Roger Moore we will have lost an era and a decent, humane man who, I feel, brought a lot of fun and happiness into a significant number of people’s lives as a result of his chosen career (never mind his UNICEF work) and who was on the receiving end of an awful lot of misplaced, ill informed criticism be always taken with a good natured quip.
David,
As usual, I echo everything you said. Sir Roger will be missed in a world in which crassness and brutality pervade the big screen and, increasingly, the small screen as well as real life.
I’d like to see Daniel Craig perform a kick like that while wearing any of the suits from Skyfall.
Why do you think they made so many copies of the suits? :P
It is quite blurry but on your screenshot of “I’d crack my trousers if I had to kick like this it in a Tom Ford Skyfall suit” it looks like a 4-button cuff. But I seem to remember a 3-button for the rest of the scene as you mention. Continuity mistake with different suits used for action?
The tie dates it a bit in my opinion (colour and stripes) but the rest is just perfect and timeless.
I’ve never stopped wearing striped ties, and frankly I find the solid, non-contrasting ties worn by Craig quite boring and anonymous. Besides, regimental stripes are a quintessentially British look!
I understand your point Dan. And classic regimental ties are indeed timeless (see LALD’s Royal Navy regimental tie). But there the fancy stripes of brown and beige with a hint of blue on a cream shirt and tan suit lack a bit of contrast, IMHO. 80’s fashions seemed to like tone-on-tone ties (eg mid-grey suits with grey multi-stripe ties, beige on beige). Or does this tie correspond to an actual regiment/club/college ? Certainly neither Eton nor the RN.
Although Sir Roger’s outfit is near perfect, perhaps a plain tie (grenadine, satin ?) would have worked better to my eye 27 years later.
It is true that being French and with no British military or college background, I refrain from wearing striped ties in case I’d make the mistake of wearing the tie of an institution I do not belong to.
And yes, Daniel Craig’s ties are quite boring in what we see from Skyfall (the Istanbul grey on grey is quite dull, though the fabric looks interesting).
Best regards,
Eric,
I appreciate all the points you made; as I recall, however, the tie looked a bit darker on the big screen and provided more contrast. I still think a solid tie with a solid shirt and tan suit would look a little boring.
Cordially,
Dan
This is probably my favorite of the Hayward suits– one of those classics in which one looks well dressed without standing out. This suit has aged very well, it doesn’t look dated at all.
I hope his socks are indeed dark brown, it would be quite out of character for Moore to wear black socks with tan pants and brown shoes!
On a side note, always got a kick out of the alias he uses as a reporter for the Financial Times– James Stock. Way to be subtle, 007!
I guess it sounds better than James Share!
“Eric from France on 10 October 2012 at 19:58 said:
it looks like a 4-button cuff. But I seem to remember a 3-button for the rest of the scene as you mention. Continuity mistake with different suits used for action?”
The answer is simple : this is not Moore on the last picture ! Old Rog’ was 57 years old, and quite unacapable of such a kick… Look the movie carefuly, he didn’t performe any of his stunts !
A very good blog about Bond (“theincrediblesuit.blogspot.fr” to be exact) said that… and that’s bloody true :
“The thing that stands out the most about A View To A Kill, though, is the frequent attempts to make us believe that a near-pensioner is executing the film’s typically amazing stunts. It’s almost as if director John Glen knew he’d never fool us so he just didn’t bother trying, allowing so many obvious shots of stuntmen to slip through the edit that it’s a wonder they weren’t all credited as James Bond in the end craw.”
For what it’s worth, my Karate instructor could kick higher than his head until he was about 60 years old; I am 55 and can kick head-high (after a good stretch!) Don’t underestimate us “near pensioners”!
Cordially,
Dan
Excellent. This is an example of what Bond (a secret agent) would wear. The Brioni and Tom Ford suits are too flashy for a spy.
I really like them, but they are not for a SECRET agent.
Once again another great outfit worn by Roger Moore as James Bond. I agree that the colour goes well with Roger Moore’s complexion. I will also agree with you that a tan suit can be worn in the summer, fall and spring. This is something I would definitely where even today.
Would this jacket work with a pair of navy chinos for a casual look.
I think navy chinos are too casual to pair with a wool jacket. If you’re going to wear it as an odd jacket, I’d pair it with cream tropical wool trousers.
Would linen be a better choice for warmer climates?
Tropical wool is great for warm weather. Linen would also be great for a warm climate, but San Francisco isn’t usually a warm place.
San Fran looks like the perfect place for 14oz fresco, to be honest.
I think you’re right!
My grandad had a similar tie but he wore a green jacket and trousers or something like that. Also the difference between this and the FYEO confession suit is that this is tan whereas that was brown but not beige. Roger Moore was a class act and apparently Richard Kiel brought up his UNICEF work so Moore could discuss it at length. What a gent.
You say San Francisco isn’t usually a warm place but I went in July once and it was quite warm then.
They may have a few warm days each summer, but in general the weather is very similar to London’s. I’ve had some scorchers in London, but that’s not typical.
Firstly, to get the tie to be tied in the British direction with the stripes up to the left shoulder, which blade when untied should blade on which side, and secondly, is it a four in hand knot?
The direction of the stripes is based on how the tie is made. You can’t change it by how you wear it.