Woman of Straw: The Dinner Suit

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Woman-of-Straw-Dinner-Suit

Like most of the clothes in Woman of Straw, Sean Connery’s black dinner suit closely resembles its counterpart in Goldfinger. But this time the dinner suits are different. Both have notched lapels, a single-button fastening and no vents. The biggest difference is that the lapels on this dinner jacket are narrower than the lapels in Goldfinger. This dinner jacket also adds gauntlet cuffs like Connery previously wore in Dr. No and From Russia With Love. Connery wears it for the same type of occasion as he does in Goldfinger: a small, private dinner. Just like the older men Bond has dinner with in Goldfinger, the older Ralph Richardson in this scene wears a shawl collar dinner jacket.

Woman-of-Straw-Dinner-Suit-2

The dress shirt has a spread collar, small pleats on the front, mother of pearl buttons down the placket and double cuffs. It closely resembles the dress shirt that Connery wears in From Russia with Love. Connery wears it with a narrow black bow tie and a white linen pocket handkerchief folded with a single point. If he is wearing a waist covering, it can’t be seen.

Woman-of-Straw-Dinner-Suit-3

38 COMMENTS

  1. Seeing Connery outside of his Bond attire is always going to be something of a mixed bag…because Connery isn’t always going to play the distinguished gentleman. However, I could this a highlight and even seems to be American-influenced…as this doesn’t seem to be quite as contoured as his typical Bond-garment. Curious was this a MTM or an OTR?

    • Look closer at his Bond tailoring. It’s not so contoured either, but it still has more shape than an American suit. Anthony Sinclair cut Connery’s suits with less waist suppression to make his athletic figure look more elegant. I’m almost certain that this is the same black dinner suit that he wears in Goldfinger.

      • I’m curious, how does less waist suppression make someone’s figure more “elegant”? I would have thought that showing that someone is athletic would look better and more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

      • A typical athletic figure has an 8″ drop. Connery had a 13″ drop, and if the waist of the jacket reflected that the lines would be too severe and not very elegant. It would more likely end up looking rather feminine.

  2. The suit looks good. I just watched the film last month and quite enjoyed it. I think it’s unfair to say Connery is a mixed bag. He was a film star long before we had celebrities on the TV 24/7 and could literally find out their clothing choices day by day. For the most part you have to go wardrobe from film to film, which ultimately is up to the designer and costuming people far less than the star.

    Perhaps Matt you could do a feature or two on outfits worn on the talk shows (Letterman, Carson, Leno…) of the bonds and see who really does dress the best.

      • Poor old Sir Sean won’t be on any more talk shows. I had wondered why I hadn’t seen him on anything until I heard recently that he was diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2010.

      • Having now just “Googled” around it seems that these reports of his illness were as they say “greatly exaggerated”!

      • It will be interesting to see the evolution of how people dressed on talk shows. My completely uneducated guess is that the 70s and 90s would be the times when men dressed most casually on those shows…

  3. But the Connery and Moore’s suits for Bond movies remained of propety of the actors?
    In other words,Conney plays the “Woman of straw” with his own
    wardrobe, with many suits cut for Goldfinger?

  4. This is terrific. I am not a big fan of the concept of notch lapels on a tuxedo, but two of the best of the Bond series have notch lapels – this one (assuming it is the same one as in Goldfinger) and Roger’s in Octopussy https://www.bondsuits.com/?p=2083%5D

    Both used in, as Matt has pointed out, intimate dinner settings.

    Also, Matt are you going to cover Roger’s tux from Moonraker? Is it the same one as in Spy?

    • Matt, a quick question; do you think the shirt Moore is wearing with the “Octopussy” notch lapel dinner suit ( I agree with the others that this and the “FYEO” version are probably the nicest of his Bond black dinner suits) is a pale cream/ecru rather than white? I notice you don’t mention its colour in the original posting? In comparison to Connery’s definite white here for example, it looks different.

      • True, Matt. It’s maybe more flattering for many complexions than pure white. The shirt worn with the white silk dinner jacket in TMWTGG worked perfectly as does this one.

      • David,

        It would be an interesting question as to which black tie of each actor the people here prefer (perhaps with two eras for Moore) and which was the worst, and why. I am sure a spirited debate for the latter between 1971, 1989 and 2012 would ensue.

      • Indeed Christian. A good idea and I’ve no doubt, from past evidence, that the debate would be indeed “spirited”! ;)
        For me, the 1981 and 1983 versions are pretty much perfect.

  5. Matt, this business about Connery’s 13″ drop is nonsense. In Dr No, when Connery was at his physical peak, he measured 44″ in the chest and 36″ waist as measured by Turnbull and Asser for his shirts. That’s an 8″ drop, athletic but not Steve Reeves. Not even Muhammad Ali in his fighting prime had a drop of 13″.

    • I totally agree with your observation, and suggesting Connery may have had 13” drop is pretty dramatic, under any set of circumstances. This business of a 13” drop reminds me of how Hollywood would exaggerate actor’s actual measurements….Like the myth about James Garner being over 6’3”!?!

      Connery was stocky built, and only got stockier as the Bond’s went on. Connery never had anything more dramatic than a 6”-8” drop during his early Bond years. By the time YOLT, DAF, or NSNA rolled around he was probably hovering at a 4” drop…

      • Spot on, Ryan, although I wouldn’t call Connery stocky. Craig maybe. Agree that Connery would have been struggling to make the standard drop 6 in his later days.

  6. Well, this dinner suit and the black one of Octopussy are probably the best examples of a notched lapel dinner suit I have ever seen. The kind of shirt worn with it is also very important. The whole ensemble look clean, well cut, and sophisticated.
    About Connery’s dinner suit in Goldfinger, I have the feeling it could not be the same. The lapels on this suit seem a little narrower. Plus there seem to be a blue cast to this suit. Could it be midnight blue ?

    I too agree about Shaun’s proposition about TV shows with enthusiasm. And it would be even better perhaps if somebody could find (sorry, I am the wrong guy for the job, I wish I could) shows or awards ceremonies where several Bond actors are together – I don’t think they have ever been alltogether in a show, although I read that at the 2013 Oscars ceremony, with the movie Skyfall released, there was an attempt of that, but it failed.

    About George Lazenby’s suit -there’s a well-known picture here :
    http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121104173014/jamesbond/images/thumb/b/b4/George_Lazenby_%28OHMSS_Promotional_Still%29.jpg/674px-George_Lazenby_%28OHMSS_Promotional_Still%29.jpg

    It looks like it’s the same cut of the button-two suits of the movie. Like the Glen Urquhart suit for example. But I too have read something about Lazenby and Sinclair : he was told to have one suit made by Sinclair for his cast as Bond, this one. So, mystery remains…

    Didn’t you ask Mr. Paine about it when you were in London, Matt ? ;)

    • You’re right about the Goldfinger lapels being wider. It’s difficult to tell if this is midnight or black, but the colours are so off that it’s hard to say.

      Mr. Paine wouldn’t know anyway since he was working for Cyril Castle at the time Lazenby was Bond. He started at Sinclair after Connery was no longer Bond.

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