Home › Bond Movies › Skyfall
Reporting For Duty
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Categories
007's Dress Code - Appropriate or Not?
Fellow Agents,
I'm a huge DC fan and CR is my second favourite Bond movie behind FRWL and after a disappointing QS, I'm extremely optimistic that "Skyfall" will top them all. I have complete faith in Sam Mendes.
That said, I'm becoming increasingly concerned about Bond's wardrobe and his style, or lack of it.
In the last two outings and in the clips from "Skyfall", poor DC is looking increasingly trussed in his madmanesque suiting and his on screen down time kit is also a little hit and miss.
Frankly, I don't think Tom Ford and the current stylist are getting it remotely correct and when I look at how achingly cool and assassin appropriate Clooney looked throughout "The American". I can't help but feel that our hero deserves better and I, for one would urge a rethink.
Am I alone?
Regards,
Bentley.
I'm a huge DC fan and CR is my second favourite Bond movie behind FRWL and after a disappointing QS, I'm extremely optimistic that "Skyfall" will top them all. I have complete faith in Sam Mendes.
That said, I'm becoming increasingly concerned about Bond's wardrobe and his style, or lack of it.
In the last two outings and in the clips from "Skyfall", poor DC is looking increasingly trussed in his madmanesque suiting and his on screen down time kit is also a little hit and miss.
Frankly, I don't think Tom Ford and the current stylist are getting it remotely correct and when I look at how achingly cool and assassin appropriate Clooney looked throughout "The American". I can't help but feel that our hero deserves better and I, for one would urge a rethink.
Am I alone?
Regards,
Bentley.
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
I'm also a bit perturbed that in practically every action scene he seems to be sporting CIA/Roman Abramovitchs bodyguard earpiece which doesn't sit well with me. Bond shouldnt be discussing things with HQ all the time - we've had enough of that in CR and QOS.
There may be good reasons for it in the plot but for me Bond should by and large always be on his own.
He DOES wear a dinner jacket!
That earpiece is only from one segment of the film, in London! Obviously some kind of Intel operation is in progress. This is the 21st century you know, modern comms like that are pretty standard. Of course Bond should be talking to his superiors, he isn't a rogue agent.
Madmenesque? As in classic styled tailoring, which is very much the way suits are designed right now. If anything, his suits are more like Sean Connerys than any other incumbent.
Not just London. I saw a pic of him in Istanbul wearing it. I don't like the earpiece because I don't want Judi Dench or anyone else talking to Bond all the time during the exciting action scenes. Plus, the earpiece is too big, looks out of place. The CR one was better, much smaller and low key.
So yeah, the only thing that bothers me from what I've seen so far is Istanbul. Wearing a proper suit on a hot sunny day and runnning around with a big earpiece sticking out? He'll look a bit out of place, and spies are meant to blend in.
As for his down time - this more then anything else is up to our personal taste. I thought everything after the short blue shirt in QOS was a let down. Thick jacket in the heat of the desert? :(( Ridiculous..CR was perfect IMO...so this one needs to get it right again - even though I doubt, there will be much of it anyway :(
I thought that the suits in CR and QoS were a little *too* conservative - there's a case to be made in CR as Vesper comments about how Bond wears a type of suit because he thinks it the type he's *supposed* to wear. I like the style of suits we're seeing in SF - they're stylish with being overly trendy. I mean, I've been wearing that cut of suit for about 4 years now and younger, more cutting edge men have been wearing that style for quite a bit longer. It's percolated up to mainstream now (maybe not in some more conservative areas of certain countries, perhaps) so I think that it's very appropriate for Bond.
Agents,
TheWizardOflce is correct regarding the "Abramovitch" style earpiece - it is a stylistic distraction. Particularly when the technology has been superseded!
But my main point pertains to stylistic cohesion. The clothes don't look like they belong to one man - if I revert to the masterclass given in "The American", Clooney's kit looked like it had belonged to an international assassin, who had a few dollars stashed away in his Swiss numbered account and who had a rugged, understated, classy style but who dressed for action or, at least the possibility of it.
I think most of the clothes were by Zegna who, along with Loro Piana and Brunnello Cucinelli are the masters of this look.
Bond, by comparison , looks like he is running around in a suit that belongs to an estate agent - sporting a pocket pochette is way too posey and cuff links with a business suit are not good in a fight.
On the other hand, his casual kit just looks like it belongs to different people.
Frankly, I think they should have Anderson & Sheppard do his formal stuff and Zegna take care of his casual kit. That way, they'd crack it and build character.
Regards,
Bentley
Well said. There's also the fact that the films are wish fulfillment and part of that, along with the exotic cars and beautiful locations, is a killer wardrobe.
Regarding the earpiece as it's not fashion there's no point in discussing it - particularly as it may have a plot justification in the film.
I was actually underwhelmed by Clooney's wardrobe in The American (although I loved the film). Zegna to me tilts between really bland (in which case, you could use any designer) or "overdesigned". Or to quote my girlfriend, douche-y:
http://store.zegna.com/ZEGNA/search/Polos___t-shirts/man/season/main/tskay/C0CCACDC/c/cat_952/gender/U
Interestingly enough, their suits are even tighter and shorter than Tom Ford's in SF!
http://store.zegna.com/ZEGNA/search/Suits/man/season/main/tskay/C0CCACDC/c/cat_927/gender/U
As for Anderson and Sheppard a quick look at their website shows cuts of suits, material, and patterns that look old-fashioned and stodgy. The type of suits a super-conservative, older man would wear, not a stylish man in his prime. I could see the Bond of CR wearing them as they would fit with Vesper's comment of "You think that people actually dress like that" but beyond that, no.
I'm afraid that checking out designer sites will only show you their cat walk collections that are designed to be "mood indicators" with the e-commerce departments selling a small selection of fail safes.
Bond would never parade around like a "trussed up mod" from Take That.
On the suit front, it would have to be bespoke and A&S are the masters. In fact, it's the house that Tom Ford salutes.
His casual wardrobe has to be selected for style and the rigours of his profession. Something that the stylists did perfectly for Clooney in "The American". He looked cool and understated - just as Cary Grant and Steve McQueen did in their day. In fact, Matt Damon got it right in "Inception" as did Connery in the first three - it's a timeless thing.
Frankly, we don't want our hero to look like he is an estate agent or a junior banker that is trying too hard.
Style forever, fashion never!
Regards,
Bentley
I think that you're forgetting that, since CR they've been trying to install a degree of realism into the series and, presumably, this includes the wardrobe department.
You are right about the scenes, but take into consideration, that DESPITE them, the last two films still go down as "more realistic" Now think about, what that says about the other 20 films? I suppose, we can only speak about different levels of realism or fantasy.
Dear battleshipgreygt,
Despite your "monica" indicating that you are a man of great distinction I can't agree withe your assertion that Bond's "Skyfall" suit is a 2012 take on the Connery look ,as personified by the great Sinclair's "Conduit Cut"?
Frankly there is a world of difference between Sinclair's beautifully tailored work and the Pee Wee Herman, "Honey I Shrunk The Kids" look that is permeating the lower echelons of menswear.
It's not complicated, if they don't want to go to A&S, that's fine, there are others out there but he should have the best.
Regarding his barnet, here I do agree that it's looking a little dodgy.It could be linked to the plot. Maybe he's been tortured and scalping was part of the process.
If however, it's just another styling error, albeit it's too late to save him for this outing, next time around he should go to Brent Pankhurst in London. He'll see him right.
Regards,
Bentley
And this I think points out the crux of these discussions. Style, like an opinion, is neither correct or incorrect. Some people will try to tell you that there are some opinions which are incorrect, but like style it's something personal to each of us.
I'm surprised at some people's insistence that the Skyfall suits we're seeing are associated with the very young or with people of limited means. Maybe it's different in Canada but I suspect not as fashion is far more global now. As I mentioned before I've been wearing that style of suit for 3 years now (actually, closer to 4) and have gotten lots of praise, especially from women. This usually occurs not from the "lower classes" but upper middle class and above - lawyers, bankers, higher management types. I don't think that these people are "wrong" to like those suits that I wear, it's just an indication that they think it's a great style (and much more common now as it's bled over to the mainstream).
As for Zegna, a client of mine wears it almost exclusively so I'm well aware of what it looks like in "the real world" and I still feel that it's not very "Bond" - IMHO, of course. :-)
I wasn't disputing that the Craig era isn't realistic or are as unrealistic as the movies before it. My overall point that I made in my initial post was that there are elements in the Bond films, regardless of how realistic the producers want make them that are just flat out absurd and that's part of the charm and uniqueness of the Bond films.
So Bond's color choice in his attire is unrealistic? Okay...
Well, when one considers that Bond is of sound mind and apparently has access to a varied wardrobe, it does question the practicality of his choice of clothing when he's running around in the day time time, under the hot sun in dark clothing i.e. jeans, shirt AND jacket in the middle of a desert.
So far Bond has always been dressed brilliantly, even Craig. But he does look a bit of a chav next to Connery in his first 5 007 movies. O:-)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1FR86vx24fU/TxB-yFGwEmI/AAAAAAAACM0/EeJxxRPKwA8/s1600/bond-clown.png
Do you know who made the jacket and bow tie?
I suspect Tom Ford.
Regards,
Bentley
I agree. Both Sean and Dan are in my mind when I think of perfect Bond attire. They both fit out their suits/casual wear so well. I love the polos Dan wears, as I adore polos myself and where them a lot. Bond's Sunspel polos in CR and QoS, the white dress shirt and black long sleeve shirt he wears in Nassua in CR, and Sean's clothing in TB are amongst Bond's best casual clothing selections.
Ford's suits for Craig are great imo.
Fellow Agents,
I'm back from my Skyfall viewing and have to be agent enough to eat my own Fedora!
DC's wardrobe was superb. Both his casual, formal and evening attire were beyond reproach and Jany Temime did a fabulous job on the whole cast.
Simply marvellous.
All 00's should go out immediately and buy the whole rig.
Regards,
Bentley