Tag Archives: Double-Breasted

The Olive Suit

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Olive-Suit-2

In The Man with the Golden Gun, Roger Moore wears a more adventurous wardrobe than he did in Live and Let Die. For one of the furthest suits from what Sean Connery had established as the classic Bond look, Moore wears a dark olive, double-breasted suit cut by Cyril Castle. The suit has very closely-spaced lighter pinstripes with wider-spaced red chalkstripes. The jacket has six buttons on the front with two to button, double vents, slightly slanted pockets with flaps, and flared link-button cuffs. The trousers have a darted front and flared leg.

Olive-Suit

The shirt is a white and gold bengal stripe in a twill weave, made by Frank Foster. The shirt has a spread collar, placket front and and two-button cocktail cuffs. The tie is light olive shantung silk, tied in a four-in-hand knot. Even though the outfit is in all earth tones, Moore wears black shoes. But because this suit is worn after dark, black shoes are appropriate, and they don’t clash when not in daylight.

Rolex

Bond’s Rolex Submariner with a close-up of the striped suit and shirt cloths

Moore’s Unused Dinner Jacket

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Live-and-Let-Die-Dinner-Jacket

As part of Live and Let Die promotions, Roger Moore’s photo was taken as Bond in a dinner jacket, yet this outfit didn’t make it to the film. Not wearing a dinner jacket in Live and Let Die was one of the many ways used to distinguish Moore from his predecessors. Cyril Castle made this black dinner jacket in the same six-button double-breasted with two to button style as the double-breasted suit Moore wears at the end of the film. It has softly-padded shoulders, slanted pockets with fancy braided jetting, satin silk peak lapels, and satin silk-covered buttons. The dinner jacket also has Cyril Castle’s flared, link-button cuffs, which are seen on all of the suits in Live and Let Die.

The shirt repeats George Lazenby’s now very dated style with a ruffled front. The lack of such flamboyant clothing that made it into Live and Let Die is more in character for Bond. The shirt is likely made by Turnbull & Asser, in a way to tie Moore’s clothing in with Bond’s already established shirtmaker. It has a spread collar, and its double cuffs have the buttonholes very close to the fold—something which Turnbull & Asser is known for. Moore wears a wide black bow tie and a white handkerchief puffed in his breast pocket.

Douglas Hayward

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Douglas Hayward Shop

Since 1968, Douglas Hayward has been at 95 Mount Street in Mayfair. The shop is at ground level and Hayward lived upstairs. Though Hayward himself passed away in 2008, cutters Ritchie Charlton and Campbell Carey continue the shop today. Though they originally came from Kilgour, they now cut their suits in Douglas Hayward’s style. Carey described the Hayward cut as “typically a West End London-looking jacket, a soft but natural-looking shoulder line, a square gorge—a signature look of Hayward.” The gorge is the seam where the collar meets the lapel, and Hayward’s jackets keep that line straight. Carey described the construction as “nothing too robust.” They use a softer canvas than Savile Row so the suit is less of a coat of armour. Hayward’s suits have more of a relaxed look overall.

The shop has its ready-to-wear clothes in front and the bespoke measuring and fitting is done in the back, pictured below. The shop has a modern feel but with many traditional touches. They also swapped Hayward’s upstairs flat for more basement workspace.

Douglas Hayward is most well known to James Bond fans as Roger Moore’s tailor in the 1980′s Bond films, and Moore is still a customer of the firm today. Though he doesn’t spend much time in England anymore, he stopped by Hayward around Christmas time to bespeak an overcoat. Moore’s measurements were written as 43 1/2″ chest, 36″ waist and 41 1/2″ seat. Those aren’t his measurements today, but likely his measurements during his Bond tenure. Michael Caine, one of Douglas Hayward’s most well-known customers as well as a close friend of the man, still comes in as well.

Roger Moore’s pattern for an overcoat. All patterns are kept folded up in envelopes.

Hayward has a ready-to-wear line that started two years ago featuring button 1, 2 and 3 jackets and blazers as well as double breasted models, all in classic Hayward style with a low button stance. The double-breasted suits have 4 buttons with 1 to button. The ready-to-wear shoulder has more structure than the bespoke suits and was described to me as “a cross between the Italian and Savile Row style.” They have Hayward’s classic “square gorge” and the front dart doesn’t continue through the body for an easy fit. Their line of shirts includes ones with cocktail cuffs, though their cocktail cuffs have sharp corners as opposed to the classic rounded corner. They have a good selection of classic ties, including grenadines.

A blazer from Hayward’s ready-to-wear collection

I was also told that Douglas Hayward was supposed to tailor suits for Sean Connery for the Bond films, but “they had a bit of a fallout.”

You can visit Hayward’s website at DouglasHayward.co.uk

Double-Breasted White Dinner Jacket

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Roger Moore wears his first of three white dinner jackets in The Man with the Golden Gun. And this dinner jacket is very close to being white, though it’s still not quite there. And fitting for the Asian setting, this dinner jacket is made from a slubby but luxurious dupioni silk. The cut is Cyril Castle’s classic double-breasted 6 button with 2 to button and has a narrower wrap. The shoulders narrow and gently padded. The jacket has double vents and the pockets are slanted and jetted. The cuffs button 1 with a turnback detail and don’t have the link button feature that Roger Moore wears on his other suits in the film. The black trousers are flared with a flat front and a black satin stripe down each leg.

Instead of the usual white shirt, Moore wears a cream dress shirt by Frank Foster. It’s unclear whether he is wearing that colour shirt to make a fashion statement, or simply because it flatters his complexion better than a stark white. The voile shirt has a pleated front with standard mother of pearl buttons and 2-button cocktail cuffs. Moore wears a wide, black satin bow tie to match the wide lapels. Though the bow tie looks dated, wide lapels on a double-breasted jacket don’t so much since they are typically wider than single-breasted lapels anyway. Moore’s dress shoes are black patent slip-ons with a strap and clasp detail.

Royal Navy Greatcoat

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In The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond wears a naval greatcoat over his naval uniform. The full-length greatcoat has a double-breasted front that buttons to the top with 10 shanked metal buttons, and Bond leaves the top buttons open. Shoulder straps hold Bond’s Commander rank insignia. The deep navy coat is most likely made of wool melton. It’s a heavy coat that keeps out the wind on the seas and keeps warm everywhere. Bond also wears a Royal Navy peaked cap with a white cover, a back band and a black peak with a row of oak leaves.

The naval uniform Bond wears underneath can be seen here.

The Black Overcoat

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Similar to the vicuña-coloured overcoat that Bond wore in Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond wears a black double-breasted overcoat to a funeral two years later in The World is Not Enough. Last week we looked at the tweed suit Bond wears under the overcoat. This overcoat has a six button front with two to button and peaked lapels with a buttonhole in each. The pockets are jetted without flaps, or with the flaps tucked in. Black is an appropriate colour to wear to a funeral, and in Bond’s case it gives more solemnity to make up for the less formal tweed suit underneath. The black coat goes well with the grey suit, but grey suits and black evening wear are all that a black overcoat like this can match (excluding casual wear).

Hamburg Overcoat

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Bond’s choice of bronze and blue tie made sense after he donned a vicuna-coloured overcoat over his blue birdseye suit for his arrival in Hamburg, Germany. The overcoat is more than just an afterthought. Typically one doesn’t coordinate his overcoat with the tie, but costume designer Lindy Hemming saw the overcoat as an integral part of the outfit. The full-length cashmere coat is tailored by Brioni. The coat has a 6-button double-breasted front with 2 to button. The lapels are peaked with a buttonhole in each, the pockets are straight with flaps, and the cuffs have 4 buttons.

The Persuaders: The Striped Blazer

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In the last of Roger Moore’s many television programmes, The Persuaders!, Moore took an extra role in designing the wardrobe of his character Lord Brett Sinclair. Moore was, at the time, the director of cloth merchant Pearson + Foster, which made suitings for both him and Tony Curtis in The Persuaders!. As a result, Moore wore some of the most unique and interesting fabrics of his career at this time. These bold fabrics were quite appropriate for an English lord and playboy, though too over-the-top for James Bond. Moore’s tailor from The Saint, Cyril Castle, still tailored the clothing. The example here is a double-breasted blazer in a bold, original pattern of wide maroon and green stripes with dark brown/green pinstripes. The fabric is influenced by striped boating blazers, which are usually single-breasted with more contrast in the stripes. The images here are from the second episode, “The Gold Napoleon,” though Moore wore this blazer many times throughout the series in the South of France.

The 6-button blazer in the traditional 2-to-button configuration has crested silver buttons. The wrap (front overlap) is narrower than the typical double-breasted jacket, and the top vestigial buttons are also placed in closer than what is typical. It is cut with soft shoulders, a clean chest, a nipped waist and a long, flared skirt with deep double vents. The blazer has 1-button gauntlet cuffs (with a rounded turnback) and slanted pockets.

Notice Moore’s gauntlet cuffs
In “The Gold Napoleon,” Moore wears the blazer with golden beige wool trousers with plain bottoms and frogmouth pockets. The shirt by Frank Foster is made of a pale lavender poplin with a spread collar and button-down turnback cuffs, which will be discussed in more detail at a later date. The tie is green leaves on a silver ground, tied in a four-in-hand knot. Moore match his trousers with beige socks and wears light brown slip-ons.