In a brief scene in Die Another Day in Cuba, James Bond wears a white linen, long-sleeve camp shirt. White is the dressiest colour for shirts, but when made of linen in a casual style it’s great for dressing down in hot weather because white is best at reflecting the heat of the sun. Long sleeves may seem impractical to wear in the heat, but they protect the skin from the sun when outdoors during the day. For the evening, long sleeves make this a slightly dressier shirt than if it had short sleeves. Nevertheless, Bond rolls the sleeves up his forearm for a more casual look. The shirt has an open breast pocket on the left, which is a great place to keep sunglasses.
The shirt has a type of collar known as the “Lido” or “Cooper” (after Gary Cooper) collar that is similar to a camp collar. The top piece of fabric continues down into the inside front of the shirt for a seamless look when the top front of the shirt rolls over, whilst the underside continues from the front of the shirt’s body. The front edge of the shirt has quarter-inch stitching that goes up into the collar. When there is no placket, a shirt ordinarily has no stitching on the front edge for a cleaner look. But since the top side of the collar extends down to the inside front of the shirt, the quarter-inch stitching visually continues the collar into the shirt body, and it holds the shirt together as well. Unlike how Sean Connery’s camp collars in Thunderball lay flat, Brosnan’s camp collar is designed to stand up and roll over. Also unlike Connery’s camp collars, Brosnan’s camp collars have a button and buttonhole at the top.
The shirt is the only part of the outfit we can see, and we can’t even tell if Bond tucks the shirt in or leaves it out. Bond is likely wearing dark linen trousers and brown suede chukka boots like what he wore earlier in the film with the less sophisticated blue floral shirt.
That’s a beautifully made shirt. I ordinarily don’t like camp collars but I like the construction of this one. Similar to the polo that Craig wears when breaking into M’s flat in CR, I like the fact that it has a bit of height to it.
Having just taken my linen shirts out of storage last night, I was amazed at the variety of weights and weaves to them. I wonder if this one has some cotton mixed with the linen? It seems “crisper” than most 100% linen shirts, although that could be an effect of the weight of the fabric.
Matt, what are your thoughts on the “heaviness” of different linens? Is there a trade-off between how well the fabric breathes and how much it wrinkles? If so, is it a large difference or not enough to be concerned about?
P.S. Great quality screencaps. Much easier to see the details in these than in some of the previous ones.
It’s possible this shirt has cotton mixed it, but it could look crisp due to a heavier weight. Pierce Brosnan also probably wasn’t wearing the shirt for long before he filmed the scene. At heavier weights linen still breathes well, and it looks better too. But how much it breathes depends on how open the weave is. Herringbone linen, like Brosnan’s suit in The World Is Not Enough, isn’t very open, but it wrinkles in a nicer way than a plain weave does.
Matt I would love to see some suits/outfits from Pierce Brosnan’s new movie The November Man on the site. I am a huge bond fan and love your site. It is my go to for dressing guidelines and ideas. If you haven’t made it to see The November Man yet I recommend it. Most Bond fans will enjoy it and it’s as close to a new Bond Film as we are going to get this year. Keep up the good work. Regards, Michael from New Jersey
What types of cuffs are used?