The Navy Check Suit in Montenegro Casino Royale

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Charcoal-Blue-Suit

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.

Charcoal-Blue-Suit-2

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.

Charcoal-Blue-Suit-3

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.

44 COMMENTS

  1. 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

  2. I always thought, Bond would wear shirts made by Turnbull and Asser of London, subsequently the collar looks like the classic T&A one…

  3. ^^ 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.

  4. 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?

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. No mention that his sleeves are a bit long and don't show any shirt cuff? You're getting senile, Matt. ;)

  9. One of my favorite suits in the series, and I love those Persol sunglasses, they are the best I've ever owned.

  10. Charcoal Blue? Is there such thing as a midnight grey suit? I saw someone wearing what appeared to be a midnight grey suit.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. 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.

  14. 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 !

  15. 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

  16. Matt, is this glen plaid’s scale similar to the plaid of the North by Northwest suit ? Or is it bigger ?

  17. 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.

  18. 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.

  19. Could you please do a small diagram of the checked pattern ? I never noticed it, not even in the sleeve close-up shot.

  20. 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 ?

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