James Bond primarily wears typically masculine colours and shades like blue, grey and black, but he’s not opposed to wearing pink. While pink is largely considered a feminine colour today, men can wear it just the same. Pink was once considered a manly colour because it is merely a light version of the masculine red. Ultimately, colours do not have genders and James Bond is no less of a man when he wears pink.
Like any other colour, pink can be found in different shades and different hues. Pinks can be a pale red, but they can also be towards purple on the colour spectrum where they are called ‘rose’ pinks. Some pinks may be towards orange on the spectrum and have a salmon hue. Pinks can be pale, they can be vibrant and they can be dusty.
Pink is mainly a summer colour for James Bond, but pink can be worn at any time of the year. Most of Bond’s pink clothing is from the four films released in the brief span of 1965 to 1971, but there is no reason why Bond could not wear pink again today.
001. The Solid Camp Shirt
James Bond’s first foray into wearing pink is a linen camp shirt on Sean Connery in Thunderball. The colour looks like a rose-pink on film, but in photographic stills it looks more like a true pink. The shirt pairs with light blue swim trunks for a rare colour-blocked look on Bond that gives him an iconic fashion for the mid 1960s. This shirt was the first of Sean Connery’s many camp shirts, a look that would define Connery’s warm-weather casual style in his Bond films.
002. The Gingham Camp Shirt and Swim Trunks
Sean Connery continues his theme of pink camp shirts in Thunderball with one in gingham for a memorable beach scene with Domino. He wears this one in a monochrome manner, matching the pink in the shirt to his pink swim trunks. Few men would attempt an all-pink outfit, but James Bond never loses his masculine cool in this look.
003. The Cocktail-Cuff Shirt
In You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery wears a smarter lightweight pink shirt that is made by Turnbull & Asser in the same style as his formal shirts with a wide spread collar and cocktail cuffs. Bond wears this shirt casually with a pair of dark grey tropical wool trousers and sandals to stay cool in Japan’s hot weather. This shirt, however, could just as easily be dressed up with a summer suit or blazer and a tie.
004. The Formal Shirt
George Lazenby wears James Bond’s most formal pink shirt in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. This shirt made by Frank Foster is in pale pink cotton poplin or end-on-end, and it has a semi-spread collar and button cuffs. He first wears it with his cream suit and later with his navy double-breasted blazer in a montage scene. With the cream suit it adds to the summery look, but with the blazer it shows how it can be worn year-round. While light blue is one of the standard colours for men’s shirts, there’s no reason why the equally versatile pink shouldn’t be just as popular.
005. The Satin Kipper Tie
One of most derided items of James Bond’s wardrobe is Sean Connery’s pink tie in Diamonds Are Forever. The colour isn’t the problem; its the excessively short length, worsened by the Windsor knot. The tie’s shape follows the ‘kipper’ style that London clothier Michael Fish first made popular in the late 1960s. It is Sean Connery’s only light-coloured tie of the entire series, which makes it stand out even more than the pink colour alone does. In being a solid, the tie still stays on brand for Connery’s Bond, but the silk satin’s shininess looks out of place with the sporty suit. A tie with texture like Connery’s usual grenadine and knitted ties would have been a superior choice. The pink tie pleasantly coordinates with the ecru suit and cream shirt for a light and airy desert look.
006. The Striped Tie
For a scene in Venice in Moonraker while dressed in one of his famous blue blazers, Roger Moore wears a striped tie that includes two different shades of pink. While one of the main stripe colours is a rose pink, there are also pale pink beaded stripes. The tie is colourfully fashionable for the 1970s, and it is likely of Italian or French origin. This tie also includes a rare example of James Bond wearing purple, a colour he wears even less frequently than pink.
007. The Velvet Dinner Jacket
This one isn’t exactly James Bond. Daniel Craig said goodbye to the role of James Bond at the No Time to Die world premiere wearing a double-breasted dinner jacket in pink velvet. The dinner jacket was made by Savile Row bespoke tailors Anderson & Sheppard, and the 15-oz cotton velvet is from Scabal. James Bond has never worn a pink tailored item so it sent fans into shock, who gave it a mixed reception. But this is Daniel Craig wearing a pink jacket, not James Bond, so there’s no need for him to stick to the James Bond look, even at a James Bond premiere.
Honourable Mention
An honourable mention goes to the solid black silk twill black tie in the final scenes of Spectre. The tie is from the brand Thomas Pink, so it could be called a ‘Pink tie’. The tie’s tipping and label are in the colour pink, but they are not seen on screen. It almost counts as James Bond wearing pink.
Hah! What a fun article. Nobody can accuse Connery of being anything but ultimately masculine, even in 002 on this list, where he’s in an all pink outfit and wearing sunglasses that would today be considered slightly feminine in shape. Pink merely requires confidence. One can tell when someone is trying it for the first time. I always try to compliment the colour when I see it to help put people at ease, because I’d love to see it more.
And that’s exactly why I don’t want to wear any pink shirts. I lack the confidence to pull it off especially with my overweight physique.
I used to have a stocky build student who rocked a pink and white gingham shirt with absolute impunity. He looked so great, I’d say he’s best dressed over anyone else who tries too hard with suits that are shrink-wrapped over their bodies.
Reid, you’ll look great in it regardless of your physique. I love a man in pink!
Great post. I really enjoyed the extra twist with the Honourable Mention.
Craig looks like he has just borrowed a jacket from his younger sister. LOL
LOL
I concur along with looking like a ‘clown’ in an ill fitting (way too tight) smoking jacket suit totally inappropriate for the venue ! The staff of Anderson Sheppard must of had a good laugh after he left the shop and cashed the cheque for that abomination ! Shows you that money/celebrity status can’t buy you style even when you have a British accent, sad really.
Totally agree, Daniel Craig lacks any real elegance in my view and looks like an immature young fashion follower in these clothes due to the fit. I’m glad to see the back of him from the Bond world. At least Roger’s fashion forward looks of the 70’s fit him well. Daniel Craig’s clothes from 2012 onwards are the worst fitting tailored clothes in the entire series for me and by a long way!
I can’t help but notice that two of the most ugliest ties of the series are present here…
I’ve got a few pale pink shirts, and will never be without at least one. Nothing will put a swagger in your step quite like a little pink. Looks absolutely killer with a gray suit.
My son used to have a pink t-shirt that said “Real men wear pink”.
I like the theory of a pink shirt with a grey suit and Matt’s example of Lazenby wearing a pink shirt with the cream suit looks great too. But I think a lot of the success is due to being worn by tanned blokes with dark/black hair.
I’ve never really liked the pale baby pink shade for anything myself and set against a light skinned blondie it just serves to wash me out so I’ve never owned anything in pale pink. I like bold fuchsia and have a couple of polo shirts in that colour. I actually didn’t mind Craig’s fuchsia jacket at first glance. I guessed that he might have grown tired of the chromatic austerity of traditional dinner suits so wanted to go out with a bang, but there’s no denying that the execution was very poor in particular the fit around the arms. Once you choose to go bespoke, is it that much more costly in time and labour to make a jacket fit correctly? Not a great advert for A and S craftsmanship.
I frequently wear a pink oxford with a blue hop sack blazer and grey flannels or worsted trousers, in a Lazenby-inspired fashion. It’s a nice way to differentiate that look from a a low budget uniform.
I too love a pink shirt with a navy blazer, a great look in my opinion. As you say, it can help avoid the uniform look of a white or blue shirt if wearing grey flannels. Roger Moore would wear this from time to time too, sometimes with a white stripe in the shirt and often with mauve tie.
I love pale pink shirts like Laz’s. I had some made in poplin and Oxford. Great wit POW suits and regimental ties ! Or blazers. I also have a Thomas Pink woven pink tie (not grenadine but close) and love it. The first tie I bought from then was navy with a pink woven pattern.
I remember telling many people, back when I was in college (20 ish), that I will never wear a pink shirt unless I have a girlfriend.
Well, my Battle Buddy says I have no excuse anymore now.
I used to detest Lazonby in the cream suit and pink shirt combination but I think that it looks very dapper now! I still maintain that the blue knit tie on the pink shirt was / is a mistake though. I’d have gone for a forest green knit as (and perhaps this is just me), pink and green harmonize very well.
Had it been a darker suit, the blue knit tie would have fared much better. The contrast is so stark against that shirt/tie combo that the tie just sucks in the eye way too much. A lighter shade would have done him wonders. I do like navy with pink if done right. Some of my pale pink shirts have thin navy windowpane, and it gets me a lot of compliments. Green also does go very well with pink if done correctly, though.
While I don’t get as much of a chance to dress up as I might like in my job, I do get to on occasion, and I get a lot of compliments from women when I do. My usual “uniform” is a pinpoint button down shirt and a pair of twill pants and Chelsea boots. Most of the time nobody notices or comments on my clothes – except when I wear a pink shirt. Women seem to like it almost as much as a sport coat or a suit. So I would recommend wearing more pink shirts, I certainly like to when I can.
Great focus, Matt. At the risk of riling the Craig-haters, was this post by any chance inspired by the shirt spotted on him in Empire’s GLASS ONION coverage this week?
Thanks, Phil! This post was not inspired by Craig’s shirt as I had already written it before. If anything inspired it, it was @britishbondaddict on Instagram, who frequently posts about how he loves wearing pink.
If I block out Craig’s right arm, the velvet dinner jacket doesn’t look that bad. Velvet dinner jackets are traditionally a little on the less fitting side. Craig’s sleeves appear not only too tight, but his right one seems to be a bit bunched up. It needed to be tugged down a bit.
The Moonraker tie is one of the worst Sir Roger wore. A pity as some of the Moonraker outfits are some of my favourites in the whole series – such as the elephant grey silk suit also worn in Venice.
Pink shirts are best worn with grey suits. Never quite works with blue jackets IMO – it just gives off that blue for boys, pink for girls vibe. Lazenby pulls off cream suit v well though.
Connery’s seaside attires are amazing, I often copy his camp collar shirts and his matchings. I like to wear pink, but only for casual outfits. I hate pink shirts with suits or blazers, maybe because here in Italy they are somehow associates with middle-aged, cheap-dressed dandies… And not with a refined taste. Just my point of view. Pink works best with something bolder and sportier: for example, I appreciate Lazenby’s attire since it is clearly a leisure summer suit. And the pink is a very very pale shade. That is the ONLY pink dress shirt ever worn by 007 (I find strange that Moore didn’t wear any, he could be the type), there must be a reason… Finally, pink ties are awful, absolutely not admitted.
“Ultimately, colours do not have genders and James Bond is no less of a man when he wears pink.”
Absolutely right. I think more men could wear lilac and lavender too, they look great on everyone.
I agree. Lilac/lavender can be a very nice tie color, or also be used for polos or casual summer shirts. Connery had a lilac checked shirt in FRWL, well it was Young’s, and it worked very well.
I don’t think pink ties are easy to pull off at all. The pink color has to be not candy like… I guess it could work with a white shirt and a medium grey suit. Having a good tan or an orange like skin would certainly help a lot.
Apart from that horrible length problem, I didn’t think Connery’s beige colored suit worked at all with the pink tie. The two colors didn’t match. They were both light colors, so they competed with each other.
I’m a big fan of lilac too.
I wouldn’t call the overshirt in FRWL lilac. It’s darker, more of an indigo.
I have a lilac/lavender polo, and it gets worn frequently. I agree on the ties. Solid or mostly pink ties can be very tricky to pull off, but some pink ON a tie can be quite lovely (pink pindots on a navy tie, for instance). I’ve got several pocket squares with pink in them, too.
Pink definitely isn’t easy to pull off in a tie, but it can be done. Like the dusty rose with blue dots I wore recently. I hope to get a dusty rose knitted silk tie at some point. (Which I think definitely would have improved the aforementioned linen suit.) I’m also a hesitant to wear woven, solid pastel pink ties due to their association with a certain person.
The Pink kipper tie……I dont think so.
Commander Craigs jacket from Willy wonka…
All we need now is Daltons Gilligan from the LTK deleted scenes…
Great article Matt. I find it interesting that James Bond has not worn a pink shirt in so long. I never knew that James Bond’s tie in spectre had pink in it.
the nttd premiere looks too short, too tight and too pink. In fairness so does Craig
Severely underrated comment.
Craig looks more like Harry or Cubby rather than 007 James Bond…
Is it safe to assume all of these outfits were worn on Wednesdays?? :)
Roger Moore often wore pink dress shirts and favored a pink and navy striped tie in his later years, I refer to mine as my “Roger Moore tie.”
I see no reason why a pale pink dress shirt shouldn’t be in Bond’s rotation, it’s a classic.
Janna made you write this post, didn’t she :P
Why would Janna have made him write this post?
Because of her love of the color pink