Navy Single-Breasted Overcoat

Posted on 22 March 2013 by Matt Spaiser

With his charcoal serge suit in Die Another Day, Pierce Brosnan wears his second overcoat in the film. It is a navy full-length, single-breasted, button-three coat from Brioni. It has slanted flap pockets with a ticket pocket and four-button cuffs. Though we don’t see it from the back is most likely has a deep single vent. A navy overcoat may be the most versatile coat in a man’s wardrobe, and it looks great day or night. Bond has worn many navy overcoats throughout the series, starting with George Lazenby’s double-breasted three-quarter coat. But this is only the second time Bond wears a scarf in the series, the first being Bond’s masquerade as Sir Hilary Bray in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Here it’s solid grey, and he wears it draped around the neck.

Winter Clothes in Shanghai

Posted on 16 February 2013 by Matt Spaiser

James Bond wears a navy pea coat for the second time in the series in Skyfall, after first wearing a pea coat in the opening scene of Casino Royale. It’s surprising that Bond never wore a pea coat before Daniel Craig took over since it’s a natural choice of casual coats for a naval man. The peacoat has six buttons on the front but Bond only fastens the middle button, it would appear because the coat is too tight to fasten the other buttons. Bond’s pea coat deviates from tradition with peak lapels rather than being able to button to the neck. There are four pockets on the front: two slash pockets on the chest and two horizontal flap pockets on the hips. Behind the collar and underneath the pocket flaps the coat is trimmed with brown leather. And rather than having the typical black plastic peacoat buttons with anchors this coat has dark brown horn buttons, which are more civilian and more elegant.

Underneath the pea coat Bond wears a white shirt with a spread collar, plain front and single-button cuffs with rounded corners. The back is darted for a closer fit. The black silk tie has a texture woven with floats that somewhat mimics the look of a grenadine garza fina. Over the shirt and tie Bond wears a black wool V-neck jumper. Bond folds back the cuff of the jumper’s sleeve to elegantly reveal a little bit of white shirt cuff. Bond has never worn a tie with a casual outfit before, typically wearing an open-neck shirt under his jumpers. The jumper over a tie is a very school-boy look and it appears that costume designer Jany Temime brought that look over from her work on the Harry Potter films. The flat-front wool trousers are in a black and light grey sharkskin weave. They are cut with a long rise to the waist and have many Savile Row-type details, like an extended waistband with a hook closure, button-tab waist adjusters, a coin pocket on the front under the waistband, and only one rear button-through pocket on the right. The black 2-eyelet chukka boots are the Crockett & Jones Tetbury model. He also wears black unlined leather gloves.

Thanks to the Bond collectors at ajb007.co.uk, the sources for all these items have been identified. The peacoat is from Billy Reid, the shirt and tie are from COS, the jumper is from John Smedley, the trousers are from Acne and the gloves are from Dents.

The Saint: Funeral Suit and Coat

Posted on 18 January 2013 by Matt Spaiser

Roger Moore’s Simon Templar is well-dressed to a funeral in the Series 6 episode of The Saint, “Legacy for the Saint.” To keep warm in the cemetery he wears a charcoal grey car coat. The coat’s length is a few inches above the knee but is still considerably longer than a suit jacket so it can be worn over it. A car coat is shorter than the typical overcoat to make it easier when entering and exiting a car. Topcoats are often shorter as well, but they are also lighter and Moore’s coat is not. We don’t see much of the coat in “Legacy for the Saint,” but it makes another brief appearance in “The Time to Die.” The coat is cut with natural shoulders, buttons three, and has 3 buttons on the cuffs and a single vent.

The Saint in a charcoal car coat

Under the coat Moore wears a three-piece suit made by Cyril Castle in charcoal with a very narrow-spaced light grey stripe. The suit coat has softly-padded shoulders, a draped chest and nipped waist typical of Castle’s tailoring, and like all of Moore’s single-breasted suits in The Saint this one buttons three. The suit coat is characteristic of the 1960′s Neo-Edwardian style, with narrow notched lapels, slanted flap pockets, double vents and single-button gauntlet cuffs. The length of the jacket is slightly shorter than the typical length, though not nearly as short as fashionable jackets today. The waistcoat buttons six with notch lapels and a straight bottom. And in his waistcoat pockets he wears a pocket watch with a fob chain. The trousers have a flat front with plain hems.

Moore’s ecru Frank Foster shirt has a spread collar, plain front and cocktail cuffs, and this is the first episode we see Moore wearing cocktail cuffs. The turnback of the cocktail cuffs in The Saint has a much wider spread compared to the cuffs he wears later in the Bond films. They have some similarities to the Turnbull & Asser cuffs Sean Connery wore, but these lay flatter, as Foster prefers.

Though Moore does not often wear black, the funeral setting of the episode makes this the time to include black into the outfit. Moore wears a narrow, black satin silk tie and a black silk pocket handkerchief folded with two points. A black suit for a funeral is not necessary, and for someone who isn’t an immediate family member of the deceased a black suit can come off as excessively somber. Templar wears the perfect amount of black for attending a friend’s wedding. And the shoes are black as well, of course.

Bratislava Suit and Coat

Posted on 27 December 2012 by Matt Spaiser

In the Bratislava winter in The Living Daylights, Timothy Dalton recalls classic James Bond suits with his medium grey flannel suit. It’s a shame we don’t see more of this suit since it’s one of the best-fitting suits in the series, from the little we see of it. It’s clearly not the same as the rest of the Benjamin Simon suits that Dalton wears throughout the film and probably is from a different brand. What really stands out are the narrow, natural shoulders that really flatter Dalton’s build. We don’t see much of the suit, but the jacket is probably a button two. The jacket also has wide lapels, but with a classic gorge compared to the low gorge on Licence to Kill‘s wide lapels. A publicity still reveals that this suit’s trousers have double reverse pleats instead of the classic English forward pleats that the rest of his suits have. Dalton wears the trousers with a black belt.

Dalton wears a white shirt with a spread collar, barrel cuffs and a placket front. His tie is solid navy and tied in a four-in-hand knot. His shoes are black. Over the suit, Dalton wears a dark navy, full-length overcoat. The overcoat has a 1980′s low gorge and low button stance, probably with three buttons. The low button stance exposes more of the chest, and the low gorge means that folding over the lapels won’t cover the neck, making the coat not as effective at keeping out the cold as it could be. But still, the coat fits well. It has a vent, flapped pockets and three buttons on the cuffs. Though the clothes are not bespoke, they are some of Dalton’s more impressive clothes of the film due to their decent fit and classic Bondian style.

Blofeld in Astrakhan Fur

Posted on 25 December 2012 by Matt Spaiser

On Christmas Eve morning in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Blofeld greets the girls outside wearing a British warm in light brown herringbone wool with a collar and lapels faced in light brown astrakhan fur. An astrakan-trimmed coat is a bit over-the-top for James Bond, but it is perfect for a villain, for whom nothing is ever too extreme. The British warm is a double-breasted, knee length overcoat. It usually has six buttons with three to button, as Blofeld’s does, though the fancy lapels and collar are not typical of a British warm. Blofeld’s coat has slanted pockets with large flaps on the front. Blofeld wears an astrakhan hat that matches the coat’s collar and lapels, and he also wears brown gloves.

The clothes Blofeld wears underneath the British warm appear to be the same as what he wears later during the battle at Piz Gloria. The brown zip-front jacket is made by Bogner, probably of an insulating synthetic material designed for skiing in. It has a short stand-up collar, vertical zip pockets on the front, a brown stripe on the sides and elasticised cuffs. Blofeld’s brown breeches match the jacket and are most likely made by Bogner as well. The legs extend a couple inches below the knee and tighten with a buckle. Underneath the jacket Blofeld wears a white mock polo neck jumper. He wears long, thick brown socks and brown suede-effect, rubber-soled ankle boots. The boots are most likely not real suede if the intent is to wear them in snow.

Bond stopped Blofeld’s plot and the world had a happy Christmas. I wish you all a happy Christmas.

Navy Overcoat in Saint Petersburg

Posted on 11 December 2012 by Matt Spaiser

Bond arrives in Saint Petersburg, Russia in GoldenEye wearing a navy overcoat—probably made by Brioni—over his charcoal windowpane suit. The full-length overcoat buttons three, with buttonholes visible on the front. The buttons are fairly low on the front, which isn’t very practical for an overcoat designed to keep someone warm. But since Bond wears the coat open he clearly isn’t too cold. The coat has a deep vent, flapped pockets and 3 buttons on the cuffs. Bond also wears dark brown leather gloves with the overcoat.

Black Tie Outerwear

Posted on 5 October 2012 by Matt Spaiser

As many of you know, today is the 50th anniversary of the release of Dr. No as well as Global James Bond Day. The first outfit I wrote about when I started this blog two years ago was Bond’s first dinner suit in Dr. No (now with additional information added to the article), but I merely touched on the outerwear comprised of a navy melton Chesterfield coat and a black homburg. The Chesterfield is a rather dressy coat, appropriate with black tie, black lounge (stroller) and dressier lounge suits (dark worsteds). It tends to look out of place even over a sports coat. Chesterfield coats are typically made in dark colours like navy, charcoal and black, in a milled melton cloth or a herringbone weave. It’s a longer coat that hits below the knee, and it’s a fitted coat that is darted and shaped through the waist. The length and heavy weight make it a very warm coat. Single-breasted models, like what Sean Connery wears, have a fly front with 3 covered buttons. This coat has notch lapels, a long vent down the back, jetted hip pockets and a welted breast pocket. Connery’s coat has a black velvet collar, a formal as well as a practical element; the collar will wear out before most other parts of the coat, and replacing black velvet is easy compared to finding matching wool. However, a Chesterfield coat does not need to have a velvet collar nor does a velvet make a coat a Chesterfield.

The first hat of the series Bond throws on the coat tree at the office is a black homburg, a hat which occupies the same formality spectrum as the Chesterfield coat. A homburg is best worn with black tie, black lounge and dressier lounge suits. The homburg is identified by its dented crown (without a pinch) and a stiff, bound brim turned up all the way around. Bond’s hat has a thicker black grosgrain ribbon than his trilby. With black tie less worn today, formal outerwear is even less commonly worn. However, as suits and dinner suits are being made of increasingly lightweight cloths, the Chesterfield coat is even more relevant for cold weather today. Die Another Day saw a missed opportunity for another Chesterfield. Whilst everyone else was wearing some sort of overcoat, Pierce Brosnan seemed unusually comfortable in snow-covered Iceland without one.

Royal Navy Greatcoat

Posted on 24 February 2012 by Matt Spaiser

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 Suits of James Bond

Tag Archives: Outerwear