Tag Archives: Country

The Barbour Jacket

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Barbour

Skyfall‘s costume designer Jany Temime introduced a British icon to the Bond series: the Barbour jacket. Barbour is famous for its waxed cotton jackets, which are both waterproof and stylish. Bernhard Roetzel praises the Barbour in his book Gentleman: A Timeless Guide to Fashion:

This jacket protects you from bad weather, but it also protects you from the risk of being improperly dressed. And it’s true: if you are not sure what to put on you can always fall back on the Barbour – as long as it’s not too warm, that is.

And Roetzel means that literally, even going as far to say it is better to wear a Barbour and a sweater than a poorly-fitting dinner suit. Perhaps costume designers in the past may have thought the Barbour is too recognisable or too snobbish for Bond, but it’s an appropriate jacket for Bond to wear in a casual country setting.

Barbour

Bond’s Barbour jacket in Skyfall is a limited edition by To Ki To, designed by Tokihito Yoshida, in olive waxed cotton, cut similarly to a lounge coat. It has three large buttons on the front, with the top button placed further apart. Further up the lapels there is a tab and smaller button (which has been removed), but the tab is held back with a button under the lapel. If the tab were extended, the button that Bond uses to hold it back would be used to secure a throat latch to the chest. The throat latch would also attach to buttons on either side of the collar, which have also been removed. There is also another small button that closes the top of the lapels. The shoulders have patches of a different, greener material. The front of the jacket has two flapped bellows pockets on the hips, with the bellows made from the same material as the shoulder patches. There is also a flapped, inset breast pocket, and the back of the jacket has vertical zip pockets on the sides of the skirt.  The jacket comes with a hood, but since the hood is not worn the zip and buttons that the hood attaches to has been removed. The sleeve openings are finished with a stripe of brown leather binding. A lot has been removed from the original jacket to streamline it to just Bond’s needs.

Underneath the Barbour Bond wears a cashmere round neck jumper by N.Peal in “Blue Wave,” with a brown scarf tucked in to the jumper. And under the jumper Bond wears an off-white, long-sleeve henley shirt. His trousers are dark brown cords—the Conduane Iggy Jeans from All Saints. He wing-tip boots are the Crockett & Jones Islay model in Dark Brown Scotch Grain.

Barbour, N.Peal and Crockett & Jones are all taking advantage of the Bond connection to their products. For the rest of the items, I thanks the collectors at ajb007 for their research. More images will come following the Blu-ray release.

Goldfinger’s Shawl-Collar Suit

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Goldfinger's Suit

As we all know, Auric Goldfinger loves gold and he loves to wear it. He wears gold cufflinks, a gold watch and a gold ring. Gold clothing would be a bit garish, so he chooses a mostly brown and yellow wardrobe. And it’s a wardrobe that flatters his autumn complexion. Gert Frobe’s peachy skin and red-blonde hair is best flattered by muted, but rich, warm colours that are perfect for the current autumn season out in the country. Goldfinger’s checked suit that he wears in England and Switzerland is the perfect example. The tweed cloth has a golden brown ground with a grid of black and green, intersected by a red overcheck.

Goldfinger's Suit

The suit jacket is a button one with a shawl collar, a 1960′s fashion that didn’t quite catch on. The shawl collar comes from Goldfinger’s love for smoking jackets and denotes a bespoke pedigree. The jacket has jetted pockets, three buttons on the cuffs and no vent. The jacket has softly padded shoulders, roped sleeveheads and a draped chest, which gives the illusion of a waist. The cut with its properly placed button stance is a very flattering look for Goldfinger. We can’t see much of the trousers so we can’t tell if there are pleats, but they have a full cut, have plain bottoms, sit above the waist and are most likely supported by braces. That’s the only way trousers will stay up on a corpulent figure and the most flattering look on his body.

Bond and Goldfinger

Bond and Goldfinger both are wearing brown, but notice how Goldfinger’s rich brown clothing flatters his warm complexion whilst Connery’s muted brown clothing flatters his cool complexion.

Goldfinger wears a pale yellow shirt with a short, rounded point collar and double cuffs. His narrow tie is brown satin silk. He wears black derby shoes or boots. The hat is a medium brown trilby, with a very narrow brim and tapered crown, and it appears to be suede.

Goldfinger's Suit

The Saint: Pleated Back Sports Coat

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In the 5th series of The Saint, Roger Moore wears a unique sports coat with a pleated back, tailored by Cyril Castle. This outfit in particular is seen in the episode “The Convenient Monster.” The fabric is a grey and cream tweed herringbone. The 3-button sports coat has natural shoulders and a crooked cut, which puts more fabric to the front of the coat in front of the neck point showing less shirt and raising the collar. Moore buttons the top 2 buttons, which serves to keep him warm outdoors in Scotland. A heavy tweed jacket is always best in a 3- or 4-button front that buttons to the top because they are meant to be worn outdoors in cold weather or indoors in old, drafty homes.

Notice the pleats above and below the belt

The back has a belt and two pleats above and below the waist on each side, with no vents. The jacket is detailed with swelled edges, 1-button barrel cuffs and four flapped pockets. The two hip pockets are slanted down and the two breast pockets are slanted up. The flaps are narrow to match the narrow lapels. The double, flapped breast pockets and belted and pleated back place this coat in the sporting tradition, though the lack of a vent means this coat is not meant for riding.

Tan Cavalry Twill

The ecru shirt has a spread collar and double cuffs. Moore wears an olive satin tie, tied in a four-in-hand knot. Moore’s trousers are tan cavalry twill, which is a heavy fabric characterized by double twill wales. Moore wears black socks and black slip-on shoes with elastic gussets, though black is at odds with the rest of the outfit where earth tones dominate. But black shoes are neutral and can be worn with anything, despite them not being the most stylish option.

Brown Tweed on One Side

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Octopussy opens with Bond in a brown tweed 3-button sports coat tailored by Douglas Hayward with natural shoulders and a low button stance. It has slanted pockets with a ticket pocket and double vents in the back. We are lead to believe this coat is reversible, and when Bond removes the coat and turns it inside out we see the green army fabric and patch pockets on the other side.

Underneath the jacket Bond wears a yellow poloneck, or a dickey, if you will, which is easily removable. Bond’s trousers are olive green twill, matching the reverse side of his coat, with a plain front and plain hems. He wears the trousers with a dark brown belt that has a brass buckle and matches his dark brown boots. Bond’s flat cap is brown tweed matching the sports coat, but it’s also reversible to match the uniform. Later in week I will write more about the military uniform that Bond hides underneath the sports coat.

The reverse side is shown, though the shape isn’t consistent with the uniform seen when Moore puts it on.

Sir James Bond: Edwardian Tweed

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The 1967 Casino Royale spoof features many James Bonds, though the original Bond (know knighted) is played by David Niven. Niven wears a sports suit tailored by Benson, Perry & Whitley, of 9 Cork Street, London, who was also Ian Fleming’s tailor. The overall style has an Edwardian button four front, which came back into high fashion for a time during the 1960s. Some people in the fashion industry, such as Hardy Amies, thought the old style came back to stay, and in turn would inspire a button five suit to become popular. But suits ultimately went in the opposite direction, with the button two model prevailing. For a time in the 1960s button one suits were also popular, as evidenced by other spies such as John Steed and Maxwell Smart (who also wore button four suits).

David Niven’s suit is made from an olive and brown Glen Urquhart check tweed with a red overcheck and trimmed with light brown leather elbow patches and shoulder patches for shooting. Apart from the button four front (of which Niven buttons the top 3), this suit also has the Edwardian touch of gauntlet (turnback) cuffs, which fasten with 2 buttons. Other details include beige horn buttons and hacking pockets with a ticket pocket. What brings the suit coat out of the Edwardian era into the 1960s is the fashionably shorter length.

Under the suit Niven wears a cream shirt with double cuffs and a colourful silk neckerchief. Niven’s braces are white with a bird print and have white braided ends. Removing his braces causes his trousers to drop, revealing his white boxer shorts. Outside the suit he wears a navy cape with a green collar and a forest green alpine hat with a rope band and feather.

The coat from this suit, though without the shoulder patches, was sold at Bonhams on 6 March 2007 for £240.

The Cheviot Tweed Suit

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Whilst in Scotland in The World is Not Enough, Bond wears a Cheviot tweed suit made by Brioni. This suit is charcoal (probably in a black and grey birdseye weave) with a blue windowpane, city colours on a country suit that work quite well. The suit coat has Brioni’s typical straight shoulder line, but the chest was cut with some drape unlike the usual clean-chested Brioni. The 3-button front has a low button stance and the lapels roll gently over the top button. The suit coat has double vents and 4-button cuffs, and slanted pockets with a ticket pocket complete the English country look. Bond wears his flat front trousers with a belt. These trousers appear to have plain bottoms hemmed with a guardsman slant. The heavier weight may explain the lack of Brosnan’s usual turn-ups.

Bond wears a white shirt from Turnbull & Asser with a spread collar and double cuffs. The tie is wool knit tie in black, since he just came from a funeral. Bond’s shoes are black Church’s Presley monks. Overall the outfit is a bit informal for a funeral, though the dark city colours and black shoes help. The overcoat Bond wears over this suit will be covered later.

Happy 84th Roger Moore!

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Today is Roger Moore’s 84th birthday and we will be looking at his classic riding ensemble from A View to a Kill. The outfit closely resembles Connery’s country outfit in Goldfinger. Moore wears a very similar 2-button brown barleycorn tweed sports coat, but this one does not have hacking pockets despite its intended equestrian use. But it does have a single vent, which is most practical on horseback.

Barleycorn weave

If you look closely at the lapels you’ll see that they are not typical notch lapels. This type of angled notch lapel is known as cran Necker and often found in Parisian tailoring. Whilst this sports coat was still most likely made by Moore’s regular tailor, Douglas Hayward, he might have made it this way since Bond is wearing the coat in France.

Notice the cran Necker notch lapels

Bond goes for a beige shirt, with a spread collar, placket front and 1-button cuffs. His tie is a yellow wool knit, tied in a Prince Albert knot that gives it the long shape. His trousers are dark brown jodhpurs, which tuck inside his tall black riding boots.

Completing the ensemble are a brown velvet riding helmet and gloves in beige cord and brown leather. This outfit is the last Bond wears as his alias St. John Smythe.

The Half Norfolk Jacket

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Diamonds Are Forever brought Bond into the 1970s with some new styles. Suits in the 70s saw a revival of 1930s style, most notably in wider lapels and wider trouser legs. Whilst Roger Moore is most remembered for his numerous sports coats, Sean Connery wore three in Diamonds Are Forever. The first is a 3-button half Norfolk sports coat in a brown and black herringbone tweed, and this is the first time we see Connery wearing a 3-button coat. This coat takes after 30′s sports coats with its belted back. The deep double vents update the style to the 1970s. It appears that this sports coat lacks breast pocket, though I can’t promise you that it isn’t there. The hip pockets are patch pockets with flaps and bellows for a larger capacity. It also has the sporting detail of leather buttons. The sleeves have a two-button cuff.


The style of this sports coat is called “half Norfolk” because it incorporates elements of a Norfolk jacket. Whilst a Norfolk jacket has a full belt, a half Norfolk jacket has a belt only across the back. The bellows pockets on this sports coat are like those typically found on a Norfolk jacket.

A close-up reveals the brown and black herringbone pattern. The blue shoulder holster is visible inside the jacket.

Bond wears the half Norfolk jacket with black plain-front trousers with a plain hem. Underneath the sports coat Bond wears a black long-sleeve Polo shirt. Bond’s socks are black and his shoes are black ankle boots.

Notice the odd dog-ear collar shape on the sports coat. Does anyone know the technical term for this collar style?