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Sharing a glass of bubbly in Chantilly with Tania Roberts.
BOND ON STYLE
Once upon a time, heroes wore chainmail and armour, rode around on horses and sat down to an opulent banquet using their bare hands to tear apart their food. That wouldn’t do for Jimmy Bond – the quintessential well-dressed English spy who epitomizes style. Old Jimbo has become something of a style icon and the phrase ‘living the Bond lifestyle’ conjures up images of the very best things life has to offer by way of sharp clothes, expensive champagnes, fast cars, beautiful women, speed boats and fine dining.
The famous vodka Martini, so often stirred instead of being shaken. Although I never ordered one in any of my seven films, here I am with one – though not, I hasten to add, served in a proper Martini glass.
Mention the ‘Bond lifestyle’ and images of casinos, fast cars, speedboats and beautiful girls all come to mind, as is so brilliantly illustrated in this competition flyer from 1989.
Bond preferred Polish or Russian vodka at a time when the only brand available in the West would have been Stolichnaya. Besides his famous ‘Martini, shaken, not stirred’, Jim often drank a shot of straight vodka, served with a pinch of black pepper. This was not for the flavour, he explained, ‘but because it caused the impurities in cheap vodka to sink to the bottom’. Though I fear that trick wouldn’t have improved the Siamese vodka he downed in the film You Only Live Twice!
Variation on a theme – Daniel Craig enjoys a Vesper Martini with Eva Green – aka Vesper – in Casino Royale. When Vesper asks Bond if he named the drink after her because of the bitter aftertaste, 007 replies that he named it for her, ‘because once you have tasted it, you won’t drink anything else.’
Bond and vodka have gone hand in hand since Dr. No, when the titular villain handed 007 a ‘Martini, shaken not stirred’. This fleeting moment in the film literally changed the way Martini drinkers made their cocktails from then on, shifting from the traditional gin to a vodka-based drink and popularizing the vodka Martini the world over.
I myself prefer a gin Martini and, in all my years of travelling, believe the best is served in the bar of Maison Pic, in Valence, France. How do they prepare it?
First, the ingredients. My gin of choice is Tanqueray and vermouth has to be Noilly Prat.
Take the glass or cocktail shaker you are using and, for two sensible-sized Martinis, fill ¼ of each glass with Noilly Prat. Swill it around and then discard it. Next, top the glasses up with gin, drop in a zest of lemon, and place the glasses in a freezer or ice-cold fridge until you are – or should I say she is – ready.
Both Pierce and Timothy were partial to a Martini – but Timothy appears to be mixing his drinks in this shot.
MARTINI IS NOT THE ONLY DRINK …
Bond appreciates other drinks, too. For instance, when, in my first 007 film, I walked into a Harlem bar, it wasn’t a vodka Martini I asked for. Far from it. I requested ‘bourbon and water, please – no ice’. In GoldenEye Jim drinks a bourbon – Jack Daniel’s – with M, while in The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day he also enjoys drinking Talisker whisky. M pours Bond a glass of Talisker in The World Is Not Enough, into which Bond puts ice – something not at all recommended by the distiller – but his fingers, wet from the ice, exude a fizzing substance, which leads him to realize a bomb had been planted in Sir Robert King’s money, money that he’d just been handling. Good old Jim.
But Bond is perhaps more closely associated with the finest champagne – be it served in bed with a delicious girl, in an underwater escape pod or on the way back from the Arctic Circle in a submarine. Most famously Bollinger and Dom Perignon have featured in the movies, though I must admit I have a fondness for Taittinger and am not opposed to Moët & Chandon either.
You can’t have a vodka Martini without vodka. Jim preferred Russian. I’m not averse to it, or taking part in a bit of product placement – as seen here in A View To A Kill.
Bollinger champagnes used in the movies:
Live and Let Die: Bollinger
Moonraker: Bollinger RD ’69
A View To A Kill: Bollinger ’75
Licence To Kill: Bollinger RD ’75
The Living Daylights: Bollinger …
GoldenEye: Bollinger Grande Année 1988
Tomorrow Never Dies: Bollinger Grande Année 1989
The World Is Not Enough: Bollinger Grande Année 1990
Die Another Day: Bollinger ’61
Casino Royale: Bollinger Grande Année 1990
Dom Pérignon champagnes used in the movies:
Dr. No: Dom Pérignon ’55 (Bond says he prefers the ’53)
Goldfinger: Dom Pérignon ’53
Thunderball: Dom Pérignon ’55
You Only Live Twice: Dom Pérignon ’59
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: Dom Pérignon ’57
The Man With The Golden Gun: Dom Pérignon ‘64 (Bond says he prefers the ’62)
The Spy Who Loved Me: Bond mentions a Dom Pérignon ’52
Man cannot live by bourbon or champagne alone, however, and so there are also some fine wines served and consumed throughout Jim’s adventures, along with some less memorable ones – Phuyuck anyone?
In Goldfinger, Bond shows off his sommelier skills to M when brandy is served: ‘I’d say it was a thirty-year-old fined and indifferently blended, with an overdose of bon bois.’
In Japan for You Only Live Twice Jim displays his appreciation of the local rice wine drink when Tiger Tanaka offers him the choice of a vodka Martini or sake. ‘Oh no, I like sake, especially when it’s served at the correct temperature, 98.4 Fahreneit, like this is.’ Hang fire, Jimmy!
Product placement is a big part of the Bond PR machine.
My wife Kristina and I discovered the true joy of sake when we were in Japan and Korea, where it is, in fact, served cold. There are two basic types of sake: Futsū-shu, which is termed ‘ordinary’ sake, and Tokutei meishō-shu, which is ‘special-designation’ sake. Futsū-shu is the equivalent of table wine and accounts for the majority of sake produced, whereas Tokutei meishō-shu denotes the premium sakes, distinguished by the degree to which the rice has been polished and the added percentage of brewer’s alcohol or the absence of such additives.
I became a bit of an aficionado, as you can tell. And Jimmy, I have to tell you, hot sake is usually only served as a winter drink, and high-grade sake is never served hot because the flavours and aromas are lost.
Shirley Eaton enjoys a glass of champers with Sean Connery in Goldfinger. Dom Pérignon ’53 I believe?
A couple of films later, in Diamonds Are Forever, it is sherry that becomes the talking point of a meal. Bond, M and Sir Donald Munger (played by my old friend Laurence Naismith, from The Persuaders!) are being served the Spanish fortified wine.
‘Pity about your liver, sir, it’s an unusually fine solera. Fifty-one I believe,’ says our hero.
‘There is no year for sherry, 007,’ replies M.
Not to be outdone, Jim retorts, ‘I was referring to the original vintage on which the sherry is based: 1851, unless I’m mistaken?’
Of course he wasn’t and a decent knowledge of wines can – literally – save your life. Look at how Red Grant gave himself away in From Russia With Love by ordering red wine with fish. Unthinkable! (But possible!)
Phuyuck – I’ll take a case for Christmas.
At the climax of Diamonds Are Forever, posing as stewards, the limp-wristed Wint and Kidd give themselves away similarly when they offer Bond a Mouton Rothschild ’55. The steward uses a gas ejector to remove the cork – they were all the fashion at one point, even on aeroplanes, until the pressurized gas within caused huge problems with exploding champagne bottles at 30,000 feet – and gives it to Bond, who smells the cork and also gets a whiff of the steward’s strong (and familiar) cologne, and realizes it’s the bad guy.
With Barbara Bach, or Barbara ‘Back-to-Front’ as I called her, in The Spy Who Loved Me. I’m probably thinking of two good reasons to serve champagne.
Steward: ‘A fine selection, if I may say.’
Bond: ‘I’ll be the judge of that … The wine is quite excellent, although for such a grand meal I had rather expected a claret.’
Steward: ‘Of course. Unfortunately, our cellar’s rather poorly stocked with clarets.’
Bond: ‘Mouton Rothschild is a claret.’
They never learn, these ill-educated hoodlums, do they?
Of course, not all villains are ignorant about wine. Take my old adversary Francisco Scaramanga. He had a rather well-stocked wine cellar. When at dinner, Bond remarked on the wine, ‘Excellent – slightly reminiscent of a ’34 Mouton.’
Scaramanga replied, ‘Then I must add it to my cellar!’
Leaving claret aside, I myself prefer a chilled bottle of Sancerre nowadays, a wine I discovered a few years ago when a group of us hired a mini-van to explore the chateaux of the Loire Valley. There, I tasted the wonderful bone-dry, highly aromatic wine with its intense flavours of peaches and gooseberries. The reason we restrict our choice largely to white wines is because, unfortunately, my wife develops terrible migraines if she consumes any red wine or a Chardonnay. Personally, I think a headache is sometimes worthwhile.
UP IN SMOKE
Bond also smokes in the novels, his preference being Morland Specials with their three gold rings, of which he consumes three or more packs a day. He tries other brands on his travels, most notably Shinsei in You Only Live Twice. ‘He took a cigarette and lit it. It burned rapidly with something of the effect of a slow-burning firework … it was good and sharp on the lungs with ninety per cent proof spirits. He let the smoke out in a quiet hiss and smiled.’
It was Red Grant’s choice of wine that gave him away as a baddie in From Russia With Love. Red wine with fish? Honestly!
I didn’t smoke cigarettes in my Bond films, as Sean and George had before me, and indeed as Timothy did after me. I gave up cigarettes in 1971 when, just before commencing work on The Persuaders!, I, along with my producing partner Bob Baker and script editor Terry Nation, visited Tony Curtis in LA. Tony was head of the anti-smoking lobby (though strangely did not include cannabis in his campaign!) and when, at his home for a meeting, we all lit up, Tony showed me a book with a rather curious photo on the front. It was a cancerous lung. It put me off smoking cigarettes for life, though I must admit I did still smoke cigars into the 1980s.
In the bad old days, I smoked Davidoffs, though, contrary to popular myth, they were not supplied as part of my contract. I had to buy them.
Contrary to popular myth, it was not part of my Bond contract that I had to be supplied with cigars. Yes, I smoked them on set, but I bought my own – much to the delight of our assistant director Derek Cracknell. Whenever he saw me light up between takes, Derek would call, ‘Roger, they’re ready for you!’ and would offer to hold my cigar for me. Whenever I returned, saying they weren’t ready, I’d find Derek sitting in a chair puffing away on my Davidoff.
SARTORIAL SIMPLICITY
William Shakespeare wrote ‘clothes maketh the man’. If that was the case for the literary James Bond, then I think we’d be a little disappointed in ‘the man’, to be honest. Contrary to popular thinking, while Ian Fleming had an eye for Savile Row quality, he rarely shopped there, preferring instead the ‘off-Row’ prices of Benson, Perry and Whitley in Cork Street, just a couple of roads along from the Row. He’d have three suits made at a time, for the princely sum of 58 guineas each.
Sean at his Savile Row tailors, being outfitted for his Bond debut … and the finished result.
It was reported by Mr Whitley of said establishment that ‘Mr Fleming wore his suits until they were in threads’, and, ‘He dressed for comfort not for style’. This attitude clearly extended to his hero, as in the books Bond’s clothes don’t vary a great deal. His look was probably best described in Fleming’s last novel, The Man With The Golden Gun, where he described Jim’s ‘dark-blue single-breasted suit, white shirt, thin black knitted silk tie, black casuals’ as his ‘usual rig’.
Sean Connery cuts a fine figure in his Conduit Cut suit. His elegantly attired co-star Pedro Armendáriz was terminally ill during filming of From Russia With Love, though kept it a secret and completed the film in order to provide income for his family. He took his own life in hospital shortly afterwards.
In Moonraker Fleming had Bond wearing a ‘heavy white silk shirt, dark blue trousers of navy serge, dark blue socks and well polished moccasin shoes … put on a black knitted silk tie and his jacket …’ in readiness for an evening at Blades Club. It was sartorial simplicity.
That didn’t stop him noticing other people’s wardrobes, though. In the same novel Fleming wrote: ‘Bond concluded his inspection with Drax’s clothes, which were expensive and in excellent taste, a dark blue pinstripe in lightweight flannel, double-breasted with turn back cuffs, a heavy white silk shirt with a stiff collar, an unobtrusive tie with a small grey and white check, modest cufflinks, which looked like Cartier, and a plain gold Patek Phillippe watch with a black leather strap.’
Despite all of the descriptive detail Fleming wove into his adventures, Bond’s wardrobe was by and large indistinct. No shirt maker was ever mentioned; no tailor ever credited. One thing we did garner was he liked ‘single-breasted dinner jackets’ and a ‘heavy silk evening shirt’ when it was time to enjoy the ‘solid, studied comfort of card rooms and casinos’, but that’s about as much as Fleming ever enlightened us about his hero’s tastes in attire. The films are a very different case.
Hey, George! That’s how I got into movies.
JIMBO COMES ALIVE
Bond’s on-screen look is credited to Terence Young, the director of Dr. No. He brought in his own tailor, Anthony Sinclair of Conduit Street, and shirt maker Turnbull & Asser. Young wanted to achieve the look of a well-dressed man, but one who didn’t particularly stand out from the crowd. Sean was not particularly used to wearing suits, and in order for him to feel totally at ease when filming began, Young asked that he wear suits around the clock, even to the extent of sometimes sleeping in them.
Anthony Sinclair created the classic, pared-down look of Connery’s suits that came to be known as the ‘Conduit Cut’. They were lightweight, one hundred per cent wool in navy blue, shades of grey and a subtle Glen Urquhart check. They were slim-line, single-breasted, two-button outfits. The Conduit Cut featured in all of Sean’s early films, and changed only when Peter Hunt brought in his tailor, Dimi Major of Fulham, for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Peter Hunt and his costume designer Marjory Cornelius came up with a rather timeless three-piece suit for the London scenes, featuring wider lapels and pocket flaps, and more fashionable brighter styles for the overseas settings. It was a marked departure. Bond was now outfitted from a much wider-styled wardrobe, and that gave the feeling of a slightly more casual 007 for the late sixties.
This was one outfit I did not try to steal after production.
When I stepped into the role, I suggested that my long-time tailor, Cyril Castle (of Mayfair), with whom I had worked on The Saint and The Persuaders!, would give Jim a more contemporary look for the 1970s. Lots of modern colours, sports jackets and trousers became the new norm. The designs were fashionable, yet also elegant and comfortable. So much so that when Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr were in London they called to say they thought my clothes in The Man With The Golden Gun were very sharp – especially my dinner suits – then took themselves up to Cyril for new outfits.
After The Spy Who Loved Me I had, very reluctantly, left the UK due to the 87 per cent income-tax rate imposed by the then Labour government. Cubby also moved out and declared the next Bond film, Moonraker, would be shot in France. Initially, I based myself in Italy, at the family holiday home in Castiglione, and, in preparing for the next Bond film, realized it would be impossible for me to travel back and forward to London for wardrobe fittings. So I suggested to Cubby we could use my Italian tailor, Angelo Litricio. In the month of August it was a joy driving to Rome for fittings – the only sounds I heard on the two-hour journey were burglar alarms. Everyone was on holiday except the thieves!
With my dear friend Doug Hayward, who supplied my ‘Bond look’ for many years. I just hope he didn’t think I was becoming a big head.
Meanwhile, back in London, Douglas Hayward had fast established a reputation as a tailor to the stars – and many of my friends. Doug was a real character to say the least. His anecdotage and attitude were the source for the character Harry Pendel in John le Carré’s The Tailor of Panama; his charming manner was the model for his friend Michael Caine’s 1966 performance in Alfie. Doug’s celebrity client roster included Peter Sellers, Terence Stamp, Richard Burton, Alan Whicker, Michael Parkinson, Rex Harrison, Jackie Stewart and Michael Caine, among many others – whom he often visited in a second-hand Mini, packed full of material. He was so passionate about serving his clients that he’d go wherever they asked. That sounded perfect to me and, apart from becoming a dear friend, he also made all my subsequent suits, right up until his untimely death in 2008.
KEEP IT SIMPLE: MAKE IT CLASSIC
The 1970s were famous for flares and wide collars, and though my Bond’s look was contemporary, it was relatively restrained when you look at some of the more outrageous trends in menswear. In the early 1980s a more traditional style was introduced, with classic three-piece suits and blazers, coupled with casual coolness. I’ve been told – sometimes sneeringly – that nobody can carry off a safari suit quite like me.
At the time, Doug’s principle was, ‘Keep them as classic as possible, as I believe people will be watching Bond films in twenty years’ time … keep noticeable [current fashion] details, such as turnback cuffs, to a minimum. Fred Astaire could walk down the street today in a suit that was made for him in the 1930s and look fabulous. I have always borne that in mind when making clothes for films and I don’t think I have ever done work for a film I am now embarrassed by.’
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR. Pierce was style personified in uniform.
One of the perks of being the so-called star of a film is that you could legitimately steal – or should I say ‘request’ – items of wardrobe. After all, they are tailor-made for you, so who else can use them? On The Man With The Golden Gun I wore a particularly nice suit for what was to be the final scene.
‘Hmmm,’ I thought, ‘must ensure this doesn’t get dirty, I’d like this one.’ So I did my level best to keep the suit smart, un-creased and unblemished.
As the director called ‘Cut!’ I smiled widely, stroked my lapels and … a huge bucket of paste came down from above and completely ruined my lovely suit, not to mention my well-groomed hair. I looked up, and saw Cubby Broccoli wetting himself with laughter. He knew I had been admiring it!
You too could look like Bond – The Daniel Craig Bond look from Casino Royale
Brioni supplied the formal suits and evening wear
Turnbull and Asser are credited with supplying the formal shirts (handmade) and ties
John Lobb supplied many of the shoes from their ready-to-wear collection
La Perla made the blue ‘Grigoperla’ swimming trunks to costume designer Lindy Hemming’s own designs
Sunspel made most of the casual wear 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 & 2720
Converse Jack Purcell OTR ankle boots worn during the Madagascar crane fight sequence
Armani made the leather jacket.
Gieves & Hawkes supplied the white braces (with gold clips) from the Casino scenes
The Other Fellas and their tuxedos. Latterly, Tom Ford has designed Daniel Craig’s. When asked recently whether he still enjoyed taking home some of the costumes, Daniel said, ‘When I first did Bond, I was given all these amazing suits and suddenly I’ve got this huge wardrobe and I’m thinking, “Oh my God, what am I going to wear?” I’ve kind of flipped the other way now and if I could just wear jeans and T-shirts all the time I would.’
In the early 1980s the Daily Mail referred to me as one of Britain’s best-dressed men. How kind. It’s true to say I don’t feel particularly comfortable in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, and I rarely dress down when I’m out and about, except perhaps when on holiday.
If you opened my wardrobe today you’d find shirts made for me by the Swedish company Eton Shirts or perhaps a few from Frank Foster of Pall Mall. For Bond, incidentally, I had my shirts made occasionally by Turnbull and Asser but more often than not by Washington Tremlett. There’s also a variety of blazers – as my weight is sometimes a little erratic I have blazers of many sizes – some made to measure and a few ‘off the peg’. My shoes are always handmade by Ferragamo.
In fact, I introduced Ferragamo to the Bond films. A neighbour of mine in Italy was married to Salvatore Ferragamo’s eldest son, and I took her to a premiere of Live And Let Die, where she was horrified to see I was wearing Gucci shoes and belt. From then on Ferragamo supplied shoes, belts and luggage for the films.
THE GOING GOT TOUGH
After I hung up Jimmy’s tuxedo, Timothy Dalton took over, and his interpretation of Bond went back to the books with a more edgy, tougher style. His clothes were largely his own choice from ready-to-wear shops and, as a result, were much more casual and loose-fitting than ever before. Timothy went as far as to say he felt ‘more comfortable’ wearing the off-the-peg range than any of the designer suits supplied.
Here I am after my morning swim. Or is it Daniel Craig? We look so alike it’s difficult to tell.
Some say he looked a little ‘too ordinary’ for Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with not enough occasions for black tie and more formal outfits. But maybe they miss the point of being a spy in that he should blend into the background and the times.
‘I cut the wardrobe down by three-quarters. Bond was never flash or ostentatious. In fact, he really wore a uniform, a dark suit, navy blue. He was very navy blue. He wasn’t a wealthy man. He used his money to buy the best that he needed, but then he kept it,’ said Timothy in a 1989 interview in Rolling Stone magazine.
For his second film, Licence To Kill, costume designer Jodie Tillen, who came fresh from the TV series Miami Vice, suggested a few ideas, much to the chagrin of her new 007. ‘She wanted to put me in pastels,’ said Dalton in an interview with Garth Pearce. ‘Can you imagine? I thought, “No, we can’t have that.” The clothes say so much about Bond. He’s got a naval background, so he needs a strong, simple colour like dark blue.’
After Timothy’s departure, Brioni, an Italian fashion house founded in 1945, was invited to dress the next 007 – in the shape of Pierce Brosnan. With the ability to produce many copies of the same suit, and quickly, to ensure there are numerous intact ones available for action scenes, stunt doubles and so forth, Brioni offered to donate fifty suits for GoldenEye. Free of charge, I might add. You see, James Bond must look impeccable at all times. He isn’t allowed to get dirty, to sweat or tear his clothes. I remember being on location in India for Octopussy. I must have changed my shirt a dozen times one morning as, despite the heat, Jimmy could not have patches of perspiration on his outfit.
The association with Brioni continued into Daniel Craig’s first outing as 007, with them making his tuxedo (said to be worth £6,000 alone). However for Quantum of Solace designer Tom Ford took over tailoring duties. Daniel was reported to have ruined around forty bespoke suits during filming. ‘It really is a crime. It makes me weep every time. They’re great suits,’ he told the British press.
I just hope he managed to save a few for himself.
I’m not sure if blue towelling is still all the rage … Shirley Eaton and Sean looking ‘cool’ on set.