Category Archives: Moonraker

Arrival in Rio

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Moonraker Cream Suit

In Moonraker, Bond wears a cream suit for his arrival in Rio de Janeiro. The suit is made by costumier Bermans instead of Moore’s usual tailor at the time, Angelo Roma, but it’s more or less a copy of Angelo’s clean Roman silhouette, with strong shoulders and roped sleeveheads with a close cut through the body. The composition of the cloth is a mystery to me, but I suspect it could be partial polyester. It’s one of the few suits that Moore wears that isn’t made of a luxurious cloth. The shoulders are a little wider compared to Angelo’s suits. The jacket is a button 2 with mother of pearl buttons. There are double vents, slanted pockets and 3 buttons on the cuffs—as opposed to 4 buttons on Moore’s other suits. The suit trousers have a wide leg with a slight flare.

Moonraker Cream Suit

Moore wears a Frank Foster shirt in light brown, maybe in a hairline stripe with white, that complements Moore’s complexion very well. It has a long point collar, front placket and tab cuffs. This is the only time in the series that Moore wears a suit without a tie, but the casual nature of the suit allows for this. The is also the only time Moore wears a puffed pocket handkerchief, perhaps to make up for the absence of a tie. It’s the same colour as the shirt, and it looks to be the same exact cloth, so the one time Moore wears something in his breast pocket he does a poor job by wearing an exact match. The only time a pocket handkerchief can match anything exactly is if both the shirt and handkerchief are white. Moore’s shoes are dark brown horse bit slip-ons, probably from Ferragamo.

Moonraker Cream Suit

An example of this suit was sold at Bonhams in Knightsbridge on 17 November 2005 for £9,600. The suit at auction had light brown buttons instead of mother of pearl.

Safari Suit in the Iguazu

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If there is one place appropriate to wear safari clothing it has to be the jungle. In Moonraker, Bond wears a beige cotton drill safari suit that’s quite traditional, at least above the knee. The safari shirt/jacket has a 5-button front, including the collar button, and Bond buttons the bottom three. It has four patch pockets with flaps and box pleats, deep side vents, 1-button cuffs and shoulder straps. A fitted cut is the biggest difference this safari jacket has from the traditional safari jacket, which has a straight cut and a belt instead. This safari jacket shows little of the 1970′s trends.

The matching trousers are full-cut with a slightly flared leg, the only concession in this outfit to the 1970s. They are worn with a tan, brown and white striped web belt with a D-ring buckle. The only thing really inappropriate with this outfit are the beige slip-on shoes. Waxed leather boots probably would have been a better choice.

The Roman/Military/Equestrian Shoulder

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Though not all the same, the Roman shoulder, military shoulder and equestrian shoulder are all strongly structured shoulders with a straight line and more generous padding. Though the shoulders may be built up, they aren’t necessarily stiff. The width and amount of padding vary depending on the tailor and depending on the current trends. Characterised by a clean, strong silhouette, the Roman style has its origins in the military and equestrian style on Savile Row. H. Huntsman is a good example of a Savile Row tailor who makes an equestrian style. Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have all worn this style in the Bond films.

Most of Roger Moore’s suits in The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker come from Angelo Roma. These suits have narrow, straight shoulders with roped sleeveheads.

Timothy Dalton wears suits in Licence to Kill with the straight, oversized shoulders that were popular at the time. Though his suit is more characteristic of something from a Milan fashion house, the idea of a straight, built-up shoulder is the same.

Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have both worn suits from Brioni, the most famous Roman tailor. Brioni’s shoulders are very similar to what Angelo made for Roger Moore, though they tend to be wider. When Brosnan started the role in 1995, Brioni’s shoulders were wider and more built up, following the 1990s trends, and by The World is Not Enough had a more classic look (see the top image).

Black Half-Zip Shirt

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Bond wears an all black outfit for two nighttime excursions in Moonraker. The shirt is unique for it’s zip that goes halfway down the chest. The zip fastening is black and has a fine tooth. The shirt has a point collar (the same point collar that Frank Foster made for the rest of Moore’s shirts), a patch breasted pocket and 1-button mitre cuffs with smoked mother of pearl buttons sewn with black thread. The material of the shirt is most likely a soft polyester.

The slightly flared trousers have a plain front with one pocket on the back right but none on the sides or front. Bond wears a black belt with a brass buckle, matching his black, leather-soled horse-bit slip-ons.

Horsebit Moccasins

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Black moccasins in Moonraker

Throughout the 1970s, Roger Moore often wore horsebit moccasins. The style was first created by Gucci in the 1960s and reached its highest popularity in the 1980s. Moore’s examples are most likely from Gucci. Whilst he did wear shoes by Ferragamo, it is unknown if any of his bit moccasins came from there. But by the 1980s Moore had given up horsebits for more conservative slip-ons. Moore wears his horsebit moccasins in black, dark brown, light brown and tobacco suede with his suits and sports coats. His shoes have leather soles and a taller heel.

 
Tobacco suede moccasins in The Spy Who Loved Me
Fleming’s Bond was known for wearing slip-ons with just about anything, and that aspect carried over to Moore’s Bond. However, Fleming and his James Bond character would likely dismiss the shiny horsebit as too flashy and vulgar if they ever saw such a shoe.

 
Light brown moccasins in The Spy Who Loved Me

The Moonraker Jumpsuit

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Bond disguises himself amongst Darx’s Moonraker personnel by donning a Moonraker jumpsuit. The yellow jumpsuit has thick black stripes down the shoulders, arms and legs and black cuffs. The jumpsuit zips down the front, and the forearms have a zip closure as well. The legs have cargo pockets with a snap-flap closure on the sides and at the bottom. The waist is belted, and two boxes sit on the front of the belt. The Moonraker logo sits on the left side of the chest.


The Moonraker boots are yellow with white soles. When piloting the Moonraker shuttle, Bond wears fitted yellow gloves and a black and yellow headset. The headset houses a microphone and covers the top of the head and the back of the head but leaves the crown exposed. I feel a little silly writing about a fake spacesuit, but if Bond wears it this blog will cover it, and nothing will ever be excluded. Look for the Octopussy clown costume in the future!

The Moonraker Blazer: Part II

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My last entry covered Roger Moore’s blazer worn in California in Moonraker. Bond wears the blazer again later in Venice, but with a different shirt, tie and trousers. The black horsebit slip-ons stayed the same. This time the shirt is ecru instead of blue, but also with a point collar, placket front and tab cuffs. The trousers are darker, more tan than beige. And the tie has an ottoman rib with wide stripes in light olive and magenta, a narrow stripe in purple, and stripes of ovals in pink. The stripes are in the American direction, which go from the right shoulder down to the left hip. In my opinion this is Roger Moore’s worst tie of his seven Bond films and amongst the worst ties of the series.

The California Tuxedo

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I’m not talking about a “Tuxedo” as in what Americans call a dinner suit. I’m talking about the outfit consisting of blue blazer and khakis, which is sometimes referred to as the “California Tuxedo.” It’s probably called such because its more formal than what most people will wear in the casual State of California. Bond appropriately wears this outfit on his arrival in California in Moonraker. The 2-button blazer is made in a deep navy blue wool hopsack. Hopsack is a basket weave, seen in the illustration below:


The blazer is cut with a clean chest and straight, narrow shoulders with a roped sleevehead. The wide lapels and the pocket flaps have swelled edges. The blazer has slanted pockets, long double vents and 4-button cuffs. The buttons are silver with 4 holes and sewn with a contrasting navy blue thread.


Typically the trousers worn as part of the “California Tuxedo” are chinos though Bond’s trousers are beige wool cavalry twill. Bond’s flat front trousers are worn with a black belt and the legs are cut with a slight flair. The sky blue poplin shirt has a tall and long point collar, placket front and tab cuffs, similar to all the other shirts Bond wears in Moonraker. The striped tie in navy, red, white and beige adds more to the American look with it’s stripes in the American direction. The subtlety of the stripes comes to life in the close-up shots. Bond’s shoes are black bit loafers. Though brown would have been a better choice with the beige trousers, the black keeps things a little more British.

The close-up shows the more intricate stripes on the tie
as well as the blazer’s hopsack texture.

This blazer is worn again in Venice, but the rest of the outfit is completely different. My next blog entry will cover that outfit.