The Autumn/Winter Bond Capsule Wardrobe

A spring/summer Bond capsule wardrobe was laid out earlier this year, and the autumn/winter Bond capsule wardrobe follows the same template and principles. A capsule wardrobe is a small, carefully curated collection of clothes that pair well together for maximum versatility. A capsule wardrobe attempts to do the most with the fewest items of clothing. It’s a good wardrobe for someone on a budget or for someone who wants to travel lightly but have a variety of looks. The capsule wardrobe takes thought to curate, but its pieces can be worn with little thought. The Bond capsule wardrobe is perfect for someone looking to dress like Bond when building their wardrobe, when upgrading key wardrobe items, when trimming their wardrobe or when travelling.

Bond’s style fits perfectly into the capsule wardrobe concept because Bond does not wear a wide variety of colours. He sticks with both classic colours and classic styles, which tend to be the most versatile clothes, even if they’re not the most exciting.

A practical and stylish wardrobe is a seasonal wardrobe. Some of the items in this autumn/winter capsule wardrobe are repeated from the spring/summer version if they can be worn year-round to limit pieces in the spirit of a capsule wardrobe, while others are limited to a temperate climate’s cooler half of the year. This capsule wardrobe guide is fairly generic because there is plenty of room for interpretation and flexibility when curating this wardrobe. While this capsule wardrobe takes inspiration from James Bond, it will not work for everyone.

Jackets and Coats

A Bond capsule wardrobe needs both a smart jacket and a casual jacket. For smart, the navy blazer is a highly versatile garment that can be dressed up and down to varying degrees. A blazer is not a suit, but it comes close to being a suit when worn with tie because of its dark colour. Unlike most suits, it’s also stylish without a tie. James Bond frequently wears a blazer during his travels. For winter, a heavy wool such as doeskin or serge are the best choices that offer versatility. Cashmere or a cashmere blend can also be an effective but luxurious choice. The blazer needs to have some sort of texture to ensure it doesn’t look like a suit jacket. While the traditional blazer has metal buttons—Bond’s blazers always have metal buttons—smoke mother of pearl or horn buttons can be good alternatives for an updated look. The navy blazer can be either single-breasted or double-breasted, but a single-breasted blazer will be easier to wear in a wider variety of settings.

If you’re looking for an alternative to the navy blazer, especially if you have a navy blazer for spring/summer, a brown tweed jacket is a useful garment, albeit one that does not dress up as well.

The autumn/winter capsule wardrobe needs more pieces than the spring/summer because Layering is essential to an effective and stylish cool-weather wardrobe. An overcoat is necessary for warmth in a climate with a cold winter, and if there’s one overcoat that fits the needs of a capsule wardrobe it’s Bond’s navy ulster-collared double-breasted coat in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It dresses up over a suit and down over knitwear equally well. A navy Crombie-style coat like in Spectre can do the same.

Bond also wears purely casual jackets in cold weather, like the wool pea coat from Skyfall, the navy cashmere blouson from Spectre and brown and black leather jackets of varying styles. These jackets can be acquired in addition to a longer all-purpose coat, but they don’t fit the needs of a small capsule wardrobe.

Shirts and Knitwear

A capsule wardrobe contains a variety of smart and casual shirts. One’s initial smart shirts should be chosen for versatility in white, light blue and mid blue cotton royal oxford and twill. Royal oxford and twill can both be worn year-round, though twill is not good for hot weather. A pink shirt can also be a versatile addition to the blue shirts, but it’s a less common choice for Bond. These smart shirts can dress up or down well with both the blazer and the casual jacket. A white or light blue cotton poplin shirt can be a slightly more formal addition to wear with the blazer, but it’s not necessary for a capsule wardrobe. If one chooses a brown tweed jacket for their smart jacket instead of a navy blazer, the white shirts should be replaced with cream or ecru.

These shirts should have a spread, semi-spread or point collar, depending on personal preference, as these collars can all be worn with or without a tie. Tab collars and pinned collar should be avoided for this reason. Button-down collars should be mostly avoided because they don’t dress up well, but they’re fine with a blazer or tweed jacket. Button cuffs are the most versatile and can dress up or down well, while cocktail cuffs are fine but are a bit flamboyant when worn casually on their own or under a casual jacket. Double cuffs (French cuffs) should mainly be avoided in a capsule wardrobe since they are limited to smarter outfits.

Knitwear is essential to the cool-weather casual wardrobe. A roll neck jumper in black, blue, light grey or cream is a versatile choice, which can be worn casually or dressed up under a blazer or tweed jacket. A merino wool long-sleeve polo in black or navy is a very useful item that Bond wears on a few occasions, but it’s not as versatile as the roll neck. A merino wool or cashmere jumper in black, blue or light grey, with either a V-neck or crew neck is a useful item to wear over a shirt when dressing down. A smooth knit, fisherman’s rib or cable knit are all Bondian choices.

The number of smart shirts versus roll necks and polos in one’s capsule wardrobe depends on one’s lifestyle and needs.

Trousers

The capsule wardrobe needs trousers that go with the smart and casual looks. Navy jackets and coats were chosen for how well they pair with a variety of trousers, but brown jackets can go with all of the following trousers too. A mid to dark grey woollen flannel trouser is the ultimate choice for cool-weather for warmth and comfort, and it dress up and down equally well.

Wool cavalry twill in tan, beige or light fawn makes for an excellent second trousers that also pairs well with all of the above. These two pairs of wool trousers are everything one needs in cool weather but machine washable.

A pair of machine-washable corduroy trousers in any of the above colours or in dark brown can fill this gap. Corduroy trousers are not a Bondian paring with a blazer, and a Bondian dark brown corduroy would be less ideal with the blazer than the other colours. Brown corduroy are an excellent choice with a brown tweed jacket, if one chooses that for their capsule.

Shoes

The same shoes can work for both the spring/summer and autumn/winter capsule wardrobes. Two pairs of versatile shoes that go with all of the different pieces are a necessity. Dark brown or tobacco suede chukka boots are the versatile Bond footwear of the 21st century. Depending on the last and sole they can be casual or smart, but smarter versions on a trim last and a Dainite sole will prove more versatile.

A pair of dark brown or mid brown loafers, in calf so they complement the suede boots, can be equally versatile for dressing up or down. Roger Moore was partial to bit loafers, but penny loafers or other types of slip-ons are all possibilities. Instead of loafers, a pair of brown wingtip brogues like what Pierce Brosnan wears in GoldenEye are also a versatile choice and can dress up slightly more than loafers.

Accessories

A necktie is a necessity in any capsule wardrobe, but few ties are needed, especially if ties will be worn infrequently. The capsule wardrobe does not need a seasonal tie. Sean Connery demonstrates in Dr. No and From Russia with Love that one tie can do it all: a navy silk grenadine tie. It dresses up well with a suit but isn’t too formal for a blazer. A solid navy tie is versatile because it goes with almost everything but can easily be reworn because it doesn’t draw attention to itself.

Almost any solid navy tie can work for the purpose of a capsule wardrobe. A smooth repp tie or woven textures other than grenadine can be just as effective and just as Bondian. A silk knitted tie is another Bondian choice, and while it pairs well with a navy blazer it isn’t as smart as other ties if one needs a dressier look.

If one desires a pocket square—a stylish addition but never required—a white linen handkerchief is the only one a man needs. Like the solid navy tie it can be worn repeatedly without being too memorable.

A hat and gloves are necessary in winter. Black or brown cashmere-lined leather gloves are indispensable. A navy cashmere or wool knit cap is excellent for warmth with casual clothes but does not dress up well. Bond dresses up with a dark green, dark brown, navy or black trilby in the 1960s, but these hats are difficult for the average man to wear today, though they are still stylish.

Suit

A capsule wardrobe for most people does not need to include a suit. A suit provides little versatility compared to a blazer, which can stylishly pair with multiple pairs of trousers for a variety of looks. If one needs a suit for dressing up, it usually won’t be the kind of suit that splits up well and thus offers little use outside of formal occasions. A casual or sporty suit that does split up well—like a brown or grey thornproof tweed—will ultimately be less versatile and more informal than a wool blazer and trousers and can’t take the place of a more formal suit.

If one needs a smart autumn/winter suit as part of their capsule wardrobe, a dark blue or dark grey flannel suit are classic Bondian choices for autumn and winter. The dark blue flannel suit’s pieces can each be worn on their own, but it’s not recommended. If one piece wears out before the other (usually the trousers wear out first), the other piece can still be worn stylishly on its own. With a grey flannel suit, the jacket doesn’t work well on its own, so the suit should never be split up because the trousers will wear out prematurely. A heavy worsted herringbone or birdseye suit in blue or grey can also be a good choice for autumn and winter.

While Bond’s capsule wardrobe would always include a dinner suit, this is of little concern to the average man. For those who need a singular dinner suit in their wardrobe, a black or midnight blue wool/mohair dinner suit would be Bond’s choice year-round as it’s comfortable in the summer but still stylish in the winter. A classic wool barathea dinner suit is a better choice for cooler weather if one does not need a dinner suit for hot summer weather.

Athletic

A gym wardrobe is separate from the rest of the wardrobe for both stylistic and practical reasons. It doesn’t need to relate to the rest of the capsule wardrobe, but it can pull from the same colour palette to keep within the spirit of Bond. Athletic T-shirts can double as casual shirts, but it’s not how Bond usually dresses. A tracksuit like the one Bond wears for training in his cold underground headquarters in Skyfall is useful for autumn/winter athletic gear.