Although in the novels, Fleming doesn’t give Bond much in the way of sartorial elegance (he describes his ‘dark-blue single-breasted suit, white shirt, thin black knitted silk tie, black casuals’), his cinematic incarnation is much more stylish.
Bond’s original onscreen look was down to Terence Young, the director of Dr No, who brought in his own tailor, Anthony Sinclair of Conduit Street, and shirtmaker, Turnbull & Asser. It’s said that Sinclair asked Sean Connery to wear his suits continuously for a few days, even sleeping in them, to make him less self-conscious when wearing them.
Initially, Cyril Castle designed Roger Moore’s suits and Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr were so impressed that they visited his shop whenever they were in London. Washington Tremblett provided most of his shirts and his shoes were always by Ferragamo.
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Brioni dressed Bond from GoldenEye to Casino Royale, then Tom Ford took over for Quantum of Solace. They provide many suits for each film-duplicates are needed as Bond must look impeccable at all times regardless of what’s happening and his clothes do have to survive a lot (one of the most popular scenes in the Skyfall trailer is of Bond landing in a wrecked train car and shucking his cuffs). During filming of Quantum, Craig is said to have ruined 40 suits: ‘It really is a crime. It makes me weep every time. They’re great suits.’
In Bond on Bond, Sir Roger Moore reckons that to get the Daniel Craig look in Casino Royale you would need:
* Formal suits and eveningwear by Brioni. His tuxedo alone was said to be worth £6,000
* Turnbull & Asser made the formal shirts-handmade, of course-and ties
* John Lobb provided many of the shoes from its ready-to-wear collection
* Want those famous trunks? Get them at La Perla, who made the Grigoperla to costume designer Lindy Hemming’s own designs. The actual trunks worn by Daniel Craig will be auctioned at Christie’s along with other Bond memorabilia to mark Global James Bond Day.
* Sunspel made most of the casualwear, including polo shirts, pullovers, T-shirts and underwear
* Omega supplied two styles of wristwatch: the Planet Ocean on a black rubber strap (2900.50.91) and the Seamaster on the stainless-steel strap (2220.80)
* Persol made the sunglasses, model nos 2244 and 2720
* Converse Jack Purcell OTP ankle boots were worn during the opening crane-fight sequence
* Armani made the leather jacket
* Gieves & Hawkes supplied the white braces (with gold clips) seen in the casino sequences
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