Easily one of the most likeable characters of the Bond series, Octopussy‘s Vijay, played by tennis player Vijay Amritraj, is a British agent undercover at Kamal Khan’s sports club as a tennis pro. He dresses appropriately for a man at a country club in a navy worsted double-breasted blazer, beige trousers and a day cravat.
Vijay’s blazer has six buttons in the traditional configuration of two to button. The buttons have a low stance. The shanked buttons are brass, each engraved with a pair of tennis rackets fitting for the character. The blazer is likely English ready-to-wear, cut with straight shoulders, roped sleeve heads, a lean chest and a suppressed waist. It has long double vents, three buttons on the cuffs and flapped pockets.
The beige wool flannel trousers are cut with a straight leg and likely a flat front. Vijay’s white poplin shirt has a point collar, rounded single-button cuffs and a placket stitched 3/8″ from the edge. The placket identifies this as an English shirt. Under the shirt, Vijay wears a textured silk day cravat in grey with 1/4″ red stripes widely spaced.
Vijay’s shoes are black leather horse-bit slips, which Roger Moore wears in his 1970s Bond films but not in Octopussy. The stunt driver of the Tuk Tuk taxi, however, wears light brown trainers that fasten with two velcro straps.
Excellent outfit – nothing “old-mannish” about it. How I miss those days…
Nice outfit. Is the jacket perhaps a bit short?
It’s a little short, but not too short. Considering Vijay is 6’4″ it must be difficult for him to find ready-to-wear jackets that are long enough.
Problem here is that Vijay’s height is all in his legs, a very typical Indian physique. The jacket fits him well but he has the torso of a man 3-4 inches shorter than him. It therefore looks disproportionate.
I like this ensemble too, I think it’s a great look for the sporting gentleman/country club/Hamptonite-type. Maybe it’s a bit too Thurston Howell for today, but I like the look. When did dressing like a gentleman fall out of fashion??
On a side note, I wonder why, considering the numerous occasions on which Bond has engaged in sport or other games, he hasn’t ever played tennis in any of the films. For that matter, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Bond engage in any sports other than swimming, though it looks like he may be hitting the slopes once again in SPECTRE.
I’m not sure tennis is Bond’s game. Golf has the Fleming and Connery approval, it’d be nice to see Daniel putting his balls in some holes in a Bond film. So to speak.
Bond played tennis in Devil May Care, which, spoiler alert, is a rigged game.
Like the golf was in Goldfinger.
And the bridge in Moonraker.
And the backgammon in Octopussy.
So, in spite of it being a rather tired pastiche of a Bond novel that reuses plot points from loads of others, you do get to at least appreciate him playing tennis.
For some reason I can’t picture Craig’s Bond golfing…Although I would love to see Bond return to the links.
Matt, it might interest you to know that the colours of Vijay’s day cravat are the colours of the International Lawn Tennis Clubs (IC). Quite appropriate given his background!
http://www.ictennis.net/AbouttheIC/ICConstitution.aspx
Excellent find!