Deconstructing Bond’s look
Why you are all wrong about James Bond and his suits.
There are many assumptions that we make as a fandom; that James bond likes, fast cars, fast women, and impeccably tailored bespoke suits. But how true is that of Daniel Craig’s Bond? Does Craig’s bond wear bespoke? Does his Bond even like wearing suits?
The answers supported by on-screen evidence might surprise you.
Does Craig’s Bond wear bespoke tailoring?
The answer is an empathic No. Craig’s Bond’s designer of choice is an unusual one for Bonds, Tom Ford an American designer, whom he wears almost exclusively especially when it comes to tailoring. This replaces the British and European designers or Bonds past. Here’s the kicker though Tom Ford doesn’t have a bespoke tailoring service. They have a made to measure service but that’s a very different kettle of fish.
A made to measure suit will be chosen from a set off the peg designs and a pattern cutter will alter the standard pattern for that suit to your measurements so if you need longer sleeves or trousers they will do that for you but that’s very different from bespoke.
Bespoke suits are made from the ground up for the individual wearing them. They are designed and cut completely to there specifications. Do you want a three-button suit rather than two? Double-breasted rather than single, peaked lapels rather than notch a bespoke tailor can do that all for you.
The making process is often very different too. Much of sewing for bespoke suits is done by hand, by skilled craftspeople in a workroom, rather than machinists in a factory. The bespoke suit is fitted to the wearer’s body and all its idiosyncrasies. If you have one shoulder high than the other they will fix that rounded shoulders and a stoop they will fix that too.
If you want to see what Bespoke British Tailoring looks like and how it differs from Bond’s, look at the suits Gareth Mallory wears they are by Off Savile Row Tailors Timothy Everest who also made the suits for Hynx and Blofeld in Spectre. The suits Mallory wears have a cut that is elegant and timeless and discretely form-fitting rather than Bond’s hipper tighter suits.
In my opinion, Craig’s suits although tailored are probably off the peg and then altered by a tailor after purchase and possibly not by the in house tailors. I say this because the way he wears his suits is over tailored in a way that Tom Ford runway suits aren’t suggesting he had them done himself.
Now let’s talk about that fit in the picture above is from spectre and James is wearing a suit that doesn’t fit him AT ALL as a trained tailor/costume maker this suit makes me cringe it completely doesn’t fit him and it looks like the suit is wearing him rather than the other way around. Notice the way the fabric of the suit strains to fit his waist and the chest gapes open and doesn’t lie flat. You can see the same thing happening in the suit below.
Go back to the picture of Mallory and see how a suit is supposed to fit notice how it caresses his figure and the sleeves fall gently from the shoulder.
Does Craig’s Bond even like wearing Suits?
In my opinion, He does not. Let’s look at what Craig’s Bond actually wears on Screen. I counted all the outfits in his movies and here are the statistics:
Unlike past Bond’s we can see Craig’s Bond favours casual clothing. Of the sixty outfits, he wears on screen 55% aren’t suits. In his first outing Casino Royale, that percentage is a huge 70%. Which isn’t what you expect from Bond is it.
So why do I think the design team have gone in this direction? Because Craig’s Bond has from the start been is trying to distance the stiff upper lip old England Bond of the past. Craig’s bond doesn’t give a damn for tradition he only plays a following the rules, he is a maverick. They are also trying to be less formulaic, more modern, and grittier it’s worth noting that the only film Bond wears substantially more suits than casual clothing is Spectre which was trying to return to the Bonds of the past.
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