The best and worst dressed Bonds

edited January 2015 in Bond Movies Posts: 1,778
Again Im sure that this has been brought up, virtually everything has, but I like hearing from fellow fans. Naturally styles have changes over the decades but which Bond actor do you think wore his threads the best? This doesn't just mean his tux. Everything from his suits to his casual wear to his robes. I actually had a dream last night that I was discussing this with Roger Moore over coffee. Please don't think Im crazy, its just the randomsy of sleep. In any event, here are mine.

The best- Daniel Craig
One of the many reasons I love Daniel Craig's Bond so much is that he can wear almost anything and make it work. He can look extremely sharp in his well tailored suits but at the same time look cool as ice sporting his sunspel polos and khakis. Before Craig I never thought a Bond actor could get away with wearing jeans or t-shirts but he proved me wrong. Some people might think that this is James Bond losing his class but what they’ve done is make Bond more presentable in the real world. I never once felt that a man like Pierce Brosnan’s Bond could exist. But I do feel that Daniel Craig’s Bond could and I think that that’s one of the many reasons people have gravitated to him so much. He’s Bond closer to reality. Needless to say I’ve stolen many of Craig’s looks from his films and I always get complimented.

The worst- Timothy Dalton
It breaks my heart to say this as Dalton has always been one of my favorite Bonds, he’s my third favorite, but they really took a step down in dressing him as James Bond. Ofcourse this could have just been the 80s but a lot of his wardrobe choices did him no favors in the style department. For instance, much of his clothes in The Living Daylights are too baggy as if they’re trying to hide that Dalton is fat which couldn’t have been further from the truth. It just always seemed like he bought his clothes a size too large. Examples are the tan windbreaker he wears on the Tangiers chase and the leather jacket he wears in Vienna and in the Aston Martin. Personally I feel that baggy clothes are more for kids or teenagers not James Bond, no matter how expensive. Another instance for me is the Navy Blue suit he wears at the airport and Felix’s house in License to Kill. It’s not as baggy but it doesn’t fit him as if it were tailored for him and looks kinda wrinkly. It looks more like he bought it at a men’s warehouse than having it measured for him by his Saville Row tailor. His suits only look a hundred times better than mine. James Bond’s suits should look a thousand times better than mine. One exception is the Tan Suit he wears while confronting Puskin. I’ll admit Dalton looks sharp as a tac in that outfit. And ofcourse he always looked great and extremely classy and suave in a tux. Anyway none of this takes away from my enjoyment of Dalton as Bond. I adore both of his movies and rank them highly. I’ll take Dalton over Brosnan or Lazenby any day. Afterall he is my profile pic.
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Comments

  • OnlyManWhoCanOnlyManWhoCan Greater London
    Posts: 202
    Good call on Craig, but Roger Moore's wardrobe had to be the worst. Some of the stuff he wears is simply embarrassing. (I admit that he wasn't helped by spending most of his tenure in the 70s, which is a decade that hasn't exactly aged well).

    Perhaps somebody clever could photoshop Roger Moore's head onto some modern clothes?
  • edited July 2011 Posts: 4,813
    Tough call on who was the best dressed... since every actor wore the trendiest stuff at the time. That said I'm going to have to say Daniel Craig by default. Also, cause I went out and bought a few items from his movies!
    The worst? As much as I like him, I'll have to say Lazenby. I mean, every damn thing he wore in that movie was a COSTUME. Wonder if that's the real reason he quit! (Kidding)
    Roger comes in a close second.... but at least he could rock the tuxedo/business suit.
  • Hmm, tough choice. One of the problems is how the times we live in affect how we view clothes from other time periods. When I was a kid first watching the old Bond films (early 80's) all the other guys I knew thought Connery was "a loser" because he wore stupid clothes and bryclreme in his hair. Now that look is retro and cool. We always think of what is current as looking good and what was in the recent past as looking horrible.

    Being a teen who was very conscious of his appearance (which is part of being a teen) in the mid-late 80s I can tell you that Dalton's clothes were thought to be really cool, especially his tan windbreaker outfit in Tangiers. And although there were some mistakes in LTK (his suits looked like they were "off the rack" the navy blue wrinkled suit mentioned above was supposed to be a bit baggy and wrinkled - if memory serves it was linen.

    For Best Dressed I'd say either Craig (because everything he wears looks good) or Brosnan. Brosnan didn't have any glaring mistakes and was in fact called "The most nattily attired Bond" in an article I read around the time of TWINE.

    For worst I'd have to say Moore. Connery has some fashion failures (blue terrycloth poolsuit outfit in GF, anyone?) especially later in his run. But a lot of what Moore wore was very "un-Bond" (how do you get to the gun in your shoulder holster when wearing a double-breasted suit or coat?) none worse than wearing a jean (denim) jacket and wife-beater combo in LALD. Ouch.

    Great article on Connery's (early) style here:

    http://clothesonfilm.com/sean-connery-in-dr-no-the-template-for-007/17788/
  • Posts: 1,778
    @Thelordflasheart. You might be right about Dalton. Check out this article praising his style. I guess I just hate baggier clothes.
    http://uk.askmen.com/fashion/style_icon/18_style_icon.html

    In regards to Brosnan, yeah they played it safe with him. Most if not all of his suits were Italian, which in my opinion is such a cliche and uninspired thing for a "cool guy" to wear. It's really the perfect thing for the most cliched and uninspired Bond to wear. I suppose you can tell I didn't care for Brosnan at all.
  • OnlyManWhoCanOnlyManWhoCan Greater London
    edited July 2011 Posts: 202
    Great finds @Thelordflasheart and @DoubleOhhSeven!
    :-D
  • edited July 2011 Posts: 562
    Best Dressed: Sean Connery - Timeless suits, pure class, and undeniable style.

    Worst Dressed: Timothy Dalton - Well, it was the '80s...
  • Posts: 1,778
    Very funny DaltonCraig007. Yeah they seemed to love to stick Moore in as many costumes as they could think of.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited July 2011 Posts: 13,978
    Best: Dalton - Everything from the traditional Dinner Jacket (which has a rather nifty function in TLD), to the combat fatigues, suits, leather jacket and street clothes. All practical for their locations, all very nice.
    Worst: Connery - His used car salesman get-up, tweed jacket (otherwise it's ok, but it's not a look he can pull off), that creepy towel thing, dungarees and too many different coloured wigs.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    Best dressed Connery/Craig. I hated that dark jacket and the tight beige trouser outfit Craig wore in Haiti.

    Worst dressed, Moore.
  • Artemis81Artemis81 In Christmas Land
    edited July 2011 Posts: 543
    Funny, I read this thread yesterday and today while looking through Esquire that features DC, they had a link for this: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/james-bond-clothes-070611
    They managed to say nice things about all Bonds (well except for Lazenby) and their fashion.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    http://bondclothes.blogspot.com/

    That's a great look at Bond's clothes in the films.

    As for best dressed Bond, Connery and Lazenby look the best.
  • Artemis81Artemis81 In Christmas Land
    Posts: 543
    http://bondclothes.blogspot.com/

    That's a great look at Bond's clothes in the films.

    As for best dressed Bond, Connery and Lazenby look the best.
    Nice find. They certainly go into a lot of detail regarding Bond's clothes.

  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    From “A Rough Guide to Bond”…..

    Sean Connery

    The dinner jackets, the grey suits, the trilby and the causal wardrobe…. Effortlessly cool.

    George Lazenby

    The perfectly trimmed hair said “Dress me in something dull”, and the black outfit for the skiing did the trick (how’s one meant to escape from Blofeld’s hideaway, especially at night?!), but for the rest of the movie the wardrobe department said “frills, beige cravats, jodhpurs and orange shirts. And full highland dress….

    Roger Moore

    It was the 1970’s after all, but the safari suit was never going to be a lasting symbol of MI6 cool. Lots of powder blue and light beige in evidence and double breasted jackets which rather having lapels had a wingspan….

    Timothy Dalton

    As befits the era, Bond’s clothes are classic but rather bland….. His hair is somewhat informal too… looking as if it was needing a slight trim. Deducted several points too for exposing a bit too much chest.

    Pierce Brosnan

    Undeniably cool and eschewing fashion while going for high style…. A return to well cut and finely detailed glory.

    I would say, Connery and Brosnan as the two best dressed 007’s.
  • Best dressed- Brosnan
    COOLEST dressed- Connery and Craig
    Worst- Big Roger
  • edited July 2011 Posts: 1,856
    ^ Big Roger??? :-?
  • Posts: 1,310
    Yeah, Moore had some pretty ugly outfits...look at A View to a Kill, the woman's park and those awful sunglasses....Moore's Bond seemed to dress 'with the times' more than any other Bond.
  • Posts: 1,856
    No i ment the name big roger
  • Posts: 4
    The worst : Dalton, it's obvious.
    The best : Pierce Brosnan. He's very "conscious clothes" like Roger Moore. But Moore was better dressed in "The Saint".
  • CatCat
    Posts: 25
    In my opinion,

    The best dressed Bond is Daniel Craig.



    There's no worst dressed Bond I think, because the Franchise puts in a lot of revenue to make any Bond look good.
  • Posts: 6
    Best dressed: Sean Connery

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    There's no doubt in my mind that Connery wears a suit like a god, as if the very existence of suits and tuxes is based on his body wearing them in DN, FRWL, GF... However, Connery's not the only one who gets dressed to kill. Here's my top 3:

    1 Sean Connery in the TB casino scenes.
    2 Timothy Dalton in the LTK casino scenes (forget about the haircut, folks!)
    3 Daniel Craig as he enters the casino in CR.

    As for the worst? Well, I suppose it would be too easy to rant on Moore's 70s outfits. So here goes:

    1 George Lazenby's in the OHMSS ski outfit.
    2 Pierce Brosnan in his naval suit in TND.
    3 Roger Moore in his LALD shirt with jeans outfit. http://media.photobucket.com/image/roger moore live and let die jeans/xshellofamanx/AffordableBond/Live-and-Let-Die_Roger-Moore_blue-jacket-and-vestbmp.jpg

    Let's call these my least favourite bits of clothing on the Bonds. It's not that I totally despise them or anything, far from that in fact.
  • DarthDimi - thanks for the screencap of Moore in his jean jacket/wife-beater combo (as we'd call it in North America). It really puts the lie to the idea that every Bond was a "classy dresser" until Craig showed up and ruined everything (which I don't agree with - I have no problem with him wearing a tee shirt).

    This reminds me of a Bond fan who despised Craig instantly when he first saw Casino Royale. His problem was that Craig was wearing casual clothes at the mongoose/cobra fight in Madagascar and got sweaty and dirty during the chase. This fan said that in a "real" Bond film, like the ones with Moore, Bond would have been there in a suit and would have finished the chase (after blowing up the embassy) looking immaculate without a hair out of place.

    Needless to say I have a radically different opinion than his.

  • Posts: 4,762
    I'd have to say that the best dressed Bonds are either Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan. Both of them look more stylish and cool in suits/tuxedos, and overall get the nicest clothes probably. Even though Roger Moore is my favorite Bond actor, he definately didn't look very Bond-ish in his clothes at all.
  • Posts: 1,778
    For everyone saying Brosnan was the best dressed, he definatly wore his suits very well, but he could never pull off a casual look. I mean just look at him in his blue casual shirt in Cuba in DAD, walking around with his pot belly. If I saw him in the in person I wouldn't think he looks cool.

    George Lazenby is another popular choice for worst dressed, mostly because of his colorful ensembles and kilt. The kilt doesn't count for me because he was in disguise. And yeah that orange and brown golf outfit was alittle too flashy. But he wins points with me because his suits really fit him well and looked top of the line. Same with Roger Moore.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    I found this interesting link:
    http://thesuitsofjamesbond.com/

    It gives a descriptive insight into a lot of suits and sports coats 007 has worn in the past adventures.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited May 2014 Posts: 13,355
    I found this interesting link:
    http://thesuitsofjamesbond.com/

    It gives a descriptive insight into a lot of suits and sports coats 007 has worn in the past adventures.

    It's a great site. I posted about it further up on this very page. The blogger is a member of these forums, or was when in launched in 2010. He posted about it and I've been following it since day one.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I think Brosnan was, by and large, extremely well dressed bar one exception - the black polo neck in DAD. That really brought out his pot-belly.
  • OnlyManWhoCanOnlyManWhoCan Greater London
    Posts: 202
    I found this interesting link:
    http://thesuitsofjamesbond.com/

    It gives a descriptive insight into a lot of suits and sports coats 007 has worn in the past adventures.

    Lovely find! Bond is one stylish chap!
  • ape clown arab safari suit need i say moore
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