For his first day in Montenegro in Casino Royale, James Bond wears a navy fine glen check suit from Brioni. The fabric is worsted wool in a subtle tone-on-tone glen check made up of two muted shades of navy. It’s the kind of plaid that looks solid until you see it up close. The navy is so muted in this suit that it looks like a charcoal blue suit. The subtle tone-on-tone variation in the check also gives this suit the light and dark variation that a solid charcoal suit would have.
The button three suit jacket has straight shoulders with a lot of padding, roped sleeve heads and a clean chest, though the fit in the chest is slightly tight and needs a little improvement. The jacket has straight flap pockets, four-button cuffs and a single vent. The notched lapels rolls just below the top button and have a high gorge. The suit trousers have a darted front, wide straight legs with turn-ups and are worn with a belt.
The cut and style of the suit follow what was popular in the mid-2000s, but overall the cut and style are balanced and classically inspired. Costume designer Lindy Hemming always aimed to give Bond a mostly timeless look with mild concessions to the era.
The Brioni shirt is unusual for Bond: it is pale blue with light grey chalk stripes. The shirt has a semi-spread collar and double cuffs with rounded corners. Bond’s tie is a classic navy and white macclesfield pattern; it’s essentially a checkerboard pattern with light blue boxes framing the squares.
Bond’s footwear is a black two-eyelet plain-toe chukka boot in the John Lobb ‘Romsey’ model. Chukka boots are often too sporty to wear with suits, though these John Lobb boots are made on a trim last with a thin sole that help them look appropriate with this dressy suit. This outfit started a tradition of Daniel Craig’s Bond wearing chukka boots with his suits, which he continues later in the film with his three-piece suit and again in Skyfall with his grey sharkskin suit. This revives Sean Connery’s style of wearing boots with his suits as Bond.
Note: Bond leaves the last button on the jacket cuff undone. This is rare in the series but Craig have done it in both his films.
Keep up the excellent work!
Regards
Alexander
This is one of my favourite outfits from Casino Royale. I love that tie!
I always thought, Bond would wear shirts made by Turnbull and Asser of London, subsequently the collar looks like the classic T&A one…
^^ I noticed that with the Tom Ford suits, because they naturally have 5 buttons instead of the customary 4, but I hadnt noticed in Casino Royale.
What a great look. Craig pulls together three great suits in this movie – the dinner suit, the train travel one, and this one, all well-covered by this excellent blog. But the fit does seem a bit off on this one. Is it that Brioni may not be the best choice for Craig's body?
This is not the classic T&A collar (I have many in my closet), and the fabric does not look like something that would come from T&A.
The business of leaving the last cuff button undone is a look favoured by people who want to publicly make the point that they wear surgeon cuffs and not something I see Bond doing.
Perhaps Bond left his cuff button undone as part of his cover as "Arlington Beech"?
I also find Craig's style in this movie to be a welcome change from Brosnan's flash, and much more in keeping with literary Bond or the early Bond – elegant but low-key. Or as low key as possible in a $5,000 suit.
No mention that his sleeves are a bit long and don't show any shirt cuff? You're getting senile, Matt. ;)
One of my favorite suits in the series, and I love those Persol sunglasses, they are the best I've ever owned.
Charcoal Blue? Is there such thing as a midnight grey suit? I saw someone wearing what appeared to be a midnight grey suit.
Earlier in this scene, a coat is worn. What kind of coat was it? Trench Coat? Top Coat? It definetely was not a typical overcoat.
It's a navy rain coat. I'll write more about it in the future.
What exactly are the properties of Charcoal Blue? I don't see any charcoal and the suit appears to be plain navy.
Navy is a darker, more saturated colour. The pattern is a plaid in both navy and grey, which brings this overall colour of the suit in between the two.
I very much prefer the Brioni cut to the Tom Ford cut.
I think the Brioni shoulder looks a little too aggressive on Craig's build, but that's just me. Brosnan looked a little more at home in Brioni.
What kind of tie knot is that?
See here for more on the four-in-hand knot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-in-hand_knot
I agree with Brandon concerning the casino Royale suits
Very nice suit, and raincoat too. I wonder if it’s the first time we ever see Bond with a raincoat. Have you any idea why we don’t see them much often in the movies, Matt ?
Even Fleming did mention some Burberry in a novel, I think.
Anyway, keep up the great work !
Hey Matt!
Ok so my question is about the classic blue and white macclesfield pattern tie he wears, I really want to find a tie just like it bc it’s spot on Bondian (in my opinion) and I know you are aware of Magnoli clothiers, they have a tie that seems to fit the same pattern as the one bond wears here except they call it the Quantum tie (referring to QoS but I think they confused it for this one being in CR. also instead of white they say it has silver in it) check it out and let me know what you think.
http://www.magnoliclothiers.com/quantum-tie-ties-p-287.html
If you’re looking for the tie from this outfit, order Magnoli’s Montenegro tie: http://www.magnoliclothiers.com/montenegro-tie-ties-p-285.html
Make sure you order it in the Modern/Straight-Sided shape. I have the exact same tie, and it’s one of my favourites! The colours and pattern are beautiful!
The “Quantum” tie that you linked to actually goes with this outfit from QoS: https://www.bondsuits.com/?p=11
Matt, how did you notice the cloth was a glen plaid ? I mean, what time in the movie, what screenshot ?
You can see it in the cuff shot in the car. You can see hints of it in other close-up shots if you look hard.
Thanks Matt. I guess that’s a good reason to buy a Blu-Ray dvd. I never found the pattern clearly in that cuff shot with my “basic” dvd.
Anyone know where I could source the Charcoal Grey/Blue suit material ?
Matt, is this glen plaid’s scale similar to the plaid of the North by Northwest suit ? Or is it bigger ?
I think it is similar.
I know there’s almost no material, but do you think you can cover Bond’s suit in the titles sequence of Casino Royale, Matt ? Or is it the same suit ? The (striped ?)tie and shirt definitely different though.
Do you think it’s the same suit Matt ?
It’s certainly possible, but it’s difficult to make out anything about the suit in the title sequence.
Matt the collar to me looks to be a classic point. Are you sure it is a moderate spread?
The way I see it is that a point collar can be pinned, so if it looks too wide to be pinned it’s a semi-spread. This collar looks too wide to be comfortably pinned.
My favorite suit in the movie. It may not be on screen long but the combination of Charcoal and Navy colors makes for a versatile suit. Do we know who provided the fabric for the suits in the movie? I would love to have a suit like this but without the glen check and in a wool and mohair blend.
Could you please do a small diagram of the checked pattern ? I never noticed it, not even in the sleeve close-up shot.
I cannot make out the pattern clearly enough to make a diagram of it.
I understand. Could you point out to me a similar suiting on a cloth merchant website, or don’t you have enough info to do that ?
Could the check be similar to the charcoal suit in Goldeneye ?
It’s different than in GoldenEye.
Here’s a cloth with a similar effect, though I think Craig’s is a little less conventional: https://us.masonandsons.com/collections/anthony-sinclair-cloth-options/products/navy-blue-glen-check-cape-horn-suiting
can you provide a link to where I can purchase this suit?
There’s no way to purchase it online. You can visit Brioni, and they can make you an approximation of it.
Well, to be fair, Matt – Brioni website. But yeah, it won’t be just another add to cart and checkout.
I don’t see a way to get a suit like this one on their website. To get a bespoke suit from them you need to see them in person.