Daniel Craig in Layer Cake (2004).
Vitals
Daniel Craig as an unnamed London drug dealer (the credits call him “XXXX”)
London, Summer 2004
Film: Layer Cake
Release Date: October 1, 2004
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Costume Designer: Stephanie Collie
Background
The outset of Layer Cake introduces its unnamed central character, a shrewd, young drug dealer played by Daniel Craig with a level of stoic cool that argues the film as a potential “audition” of sorts for Craig eventually taking the 007 mantle.
To drive the Bond point home, Craig’s character meets with fellow villains to announce his retirement at the Stoke Poges Golf Club, the venerable setting for Bond’s iconic golf match against Auric Goldfinger forty years earlier.
The 007 connection ends there as Dan – credited as XXXX – heads to a nightclub to broker an ecstasy deal with a couple of Liverpudlian pill slingers. While there, he runs into an ambitious but obnoxious gangster named Q Sidney (Ben Whishaw) and his knockout girlfriend Tammy (Sienna Miller). An additional layer of intrigue comes from the fact that the moronic Sidney’s uncle is “The Duke”, a cowboy gangster who got poor XXXX in trouble with some ruthless Serbs.
What’d He Wear?
Although sport coats and suit jackets worn with jeans aren’t a universally loved combination in the sartorial community, Daniel Craig’s vibrant rust-colored jacket in Layer Cake has had many online forums buzzing with people trying to track down information about it. Plus, his nightclub outfit is far less douchey than the sea of Ed Hardy and Tapout t-shirts one unfortunately finds in most clubs these days.
Dan brings some class to the London clubhopping crowd.
Like the navy blue pinstripe suit jacket he wears elsewhere in Layer Cake, XXXX’s rust brown chalkstripe jacket is worn with a white shirt and jeans for a casual twist on the usual sport coat look. It’s certainly not something James Bond would wear; the bold brown chalkstripe jacket is more evocative of the striped suit that Robert Redford wore for “date night” as Johnny Hooker in The Sting.
Matt Spaiser at The Suits of James Bond deduced that the navy pinstripe coat was an orphaned suit jacket, but the sporty look of the brown striped jacket leads me to believe it is likely a designer sport coat meant to capitalize on the then-stylish trend of a business suit jacket with jeans. For the sake of this post and based on its usage, I’ll refer to the brown jacket as a sport coat.
The sport coat is rust brown with a bold white chalkstripe, manufactured from a sporty fabric that takes on an iridescent sheen in different light, reflecting blue outside and red under the lights of the club. It is single-breasted with notch lapels that roll to the top of the 2-button stance.
The jacket has a comfortable fit – especially when compared to Craig’s jackets in Skyfall eight years later – with a suppressed waist and long double vents. The shoulders are straight with roped sleeveheads and 3-button cuffs at the end of each sleeve. Flapped hip pockets sit straight along the waistline, and the welted breast pocket offers XXXX a quick and convenient way to pocket Tammy’s phone number at the club.
Proof that Bond never was one to listen to much that Q had to say.
Other than the coat, the rest of XXXX’s outfit is the same as we see with the navy suit jacket. He wears the same white long-sleeve shirt with its large 2-button spread collar, front placket, and 2-button cuffs.
He also wears the same medium-dark wash Levi’s jeans with a wide brown textured leather belt. The belt has three staggered roles of holes along the back and a large brass double-prong buckle in the front.
Dan knows how to be discreet even if his potential bedmates don’t.
Craig’s leather R.M. Williams “Henley” Chelsea boots appropriately match the brown leather belt while also nicely drawing out the brown in the jacket. The color of the boots, according to R.M. Williams, is actually a dark shade of brown called “chestnut” for the brand’s purposes.
Craig’s wristwatch throughout Layer Cake – often believed to be a Rolex DateJust – is stainless with a black dial on a steel link bracelet.
How to Get the Look
Daniel Craig’s Layer Cake style is consistent for a young go-getter who ably balances style with the shrewdness that allows him to fly under the radar when needed.
- Rust brown chalkstripe single-breasted 2-button sport coat with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, flapped straight hip pockets, 3-button cuffs, and long double vents
- White long-sleeve shirt with tall 2-button spread collar, front placket, and 2-button cuffs
- Medium-dark blue Levi’s denim jeans
- Wide brown textured leather belt with large brass double-prong buckle
- Dark brown (“chestnut”) leather R.M. Williams “Henley” Chelsea boots with brown elastic side gussets
- Rolex Datejust wristwatch with stainless case/bracelet and black dial
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movie
The Quote
Life is so fucking good, I can taste it in my spit.