Sean Connery’s white dinner jacket in Goldfinger is just as iconic as the black dinner suit that introduced Bond in Dr. No, and there’s no better choice of clothing for an evening in the tropics. The dinner jacket isn’t exactly white but rather an off white. Wool can never be a perfect white and tends to yellow over time. This dinner jacket is most likely made in a tropical wool; it doesn’t make sense to make a white dinner jacket in anything heavier. The quintessential white dinner jacket has a shawl collar but in Goldfinger Bond’s dinner jacket has the equally acceptable peak lapels. The lapels are self-faced; a white dinner jacket should not have silk facings like on a black dinner jacket. The jacket closes at the front with 1-button and has 4 buttons on each cuff, all in shiny white mother of pearl. The lower pockets are jetted without flaps and the back is without vents. The trousers are midnight blue with double forward pleats and Daks tops. Like in Dr. No, Bond foregoes the cummerbund.
A really unique part of this outfit is the shirt fabric, a white with a white satin stripe (close-up below). The shirt has a pleated front, spread collar and double cuffs. Bond wears an identical shirt later in the movie with a black dinner suit. The batwing-shaped bow tie is black satin silk.
And don’t forget the red carnation in the lapel. The stem sits in the buttonhole in the lapel and is held in place by a loop sewn behind the lapel.
Will there be any discussion of Mr. Bond's footwear? Besides the aforementioned brown suede chukkas, of course.
Shoes will mostly be mentioned in passing, but I'll try to write a few features on the important ones.
You mentioned midnight blue trousers… with side silk strip? or without?
Anon 2, I can't be certain if there is a stripe down the side, which is why I didn't write it. The shots of the trousers aren't very clear, but I would guess that there is a stripe. So I can't tell you for sure.
Interesting, the white dinner jacket. Connery wears one again for some Las Vegas night scenes in Diamonds are Forever and Roger Moore follows on with a double breasted version in Man With the Golden Gun (in keeping with a numbwer of other double breasted suits and blazer he wears in this movie). It returns again and back to the single breasted number in Octopussy (with peak lapels) and A View to A Kill (with notch lapels). Since then it has never been seen.
I am surprised Brosnan didn't manage it but maybe it's just seen as a bit unfashionable now?? I wore one on my honeymoon last year and got some favourable comments.
Would be interested to hear other fan's opinions on this one.
I'll be posting more white dinner jackets by the time summer comes around. So far, whenever Brosnan or Craig has worn a dinner jacket it has been in a temperate climate so they never had the occasion to wear a white dinner jacket. Brosnan might have been able to pull it off in Monte Carlo in GoldenEye, but I don't know how the British feel about wearing white dinner jackets there. Perhaps later on I'll post some of Brosnan's white dinner jackets from Remington Steele, he looked great in them. Mexico in LTK might count as a missed opportunity, but the whole movie was a missed opportunity.
Is it acceptable to wear a low cut waistcoat with a White dinner jacket?
A black low-cut waistcoat is great with a white dinner jacket. Pierce Brosnan did it occasionally on Remington Steele. The cummerbund is the other alternative.
Is a white dinner jacket with a white (pique) waistcoat acceptable/proper?
I don’t believe so. A white waistcoat (and the stiff collar that accompanies it) is too formal for a white dinner jacket. You can wear a black low-cut waistcoat or a cummerbund. And the shirt should have a soft turn-down collar.
Talking about shoes, is it acceptable to wear, either Oxford or Wing Tipped laced black shoes with Ivory One button Dinner Jacket and Black slacks with a satin strip running down the sides?
Wing-tip shoes should never be worn with black tie. Black patent leather plain-toe oxfords or pumps are ideal, but regular black cap-toe oxfords can work as well.
How would you compare this to the Indiana Jones look in the opening scenes of Temple of Doom? Indy’s outfit is strongly influenced by this (down to the red carnation), but the dinner jacket seems whiter.
It might be a little whiter. Indiana Jones’ dinner jacket has the peak lapels and red carnation in common, but everything else is much different. The carnation is a nice tribute, but the similarities end there. The outfit overall is more inspired by the 1930s than it is by James Bond. It’s true to it’s time, with the more formal shirt borrowed from white tie, a waistcoat and wide lapels.
Man this jacket is a true beauty and a staple for every man! how much do these jackets cost? and midnight navy trousers, i always thought they were black. i guess you could go either way. would a white dinner jacket like this be appropriate for a wedding and its reception?
Is it not a faux pas to wear a wristwatch with formalwear?
I guess I’ll never know.
A sports watch like Bond wears? Yes. A thin, dressy watch? Depends on who you ask.
Isn’t the button stance even lower as Connery’s two-button jackets’ ones ? Or is it just the high gorge that create this impression ?
It looks about the same. You’re right about the lapels, though it’s the peak lapel that really extends the line. When you compare the button stance to Roger Moore’s white dinner jackets in Octopussy and A View to a Kill, Connery’s is noticeably higher.
Thank you for this website. I do enjoy it.
With Goldfinger, though, I would be interested in your advice on the correct way to wear a duck on one’s head, as Connery does in the pretitle sequence.
Regards
Matt, you didn’t precise, but I guess natural shoulders as usual ? Their width looks certainly impressive !…