Vitals

Daniel Craig as James Bond, British government agent

Morocco, November 2015

Film: Spectre
Release Date: October 25, 2015
Director: Sam Mendes
Costume Designer: Jany Temime

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

For Ian Fleming’s upcoming birthday on May 28, BAMF Style is taking a look at a navy suit worn by Daniel Craig in Spectre… the closest approach to Fleming’s outlined sartorial vision for James Bond’s business dress since Sean Connery in You Only Live Twice (link).

Through the course of his Bond books, Fleming had often stipulated a dark blue suit of tropical weight worsted or serge, worn with a white short-sleeved shirt, black knit tie, and black moccasin slip-ons. The filmmakers discarded the exact details (like Fleming’s preferred short-sleeve shirts) but adapted the outfit’s simplicity into the agent’s on-screen style.

More than 60 years after Fleming drafted his first manuscript for Casino Royale on a typewriter in Jamaica, Daniel Craig’s James Bond allows himself to be lured into a trap set by his oldest enemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), who reveals himself to be “the author of all your pain.”

What’d He Wear?

In the grand tradition of Bond villains dating back to Dr. No, Blofeld lays out a luxurious tailored suit for 007 to wear while in captivity. Much has been written about this navy sharkskin wool suit, which was also featured on much of the film’s promotional artwork, including an excellent post at The Suits of James Bond where Matt Spaiser digitally “corrects” the tight fit.

Blofeld shows quite the depth of his knowledge of Bond by providing for him the same “O’Connor” model as several other Tom Ford suits that Bond wears in Spectre. The simple and elegant combination of a solid navy suit, white shirt, and dark tie is likely Fleming-inspired… but the ill-fitting tightness is straight out of Jany Temime’s tenure as the franchise costume director.

The “back-to-the-roots” sartorial approach is augmented by the sharkskin suiting, a lighter weight wool softly woven in two tones of blue yarn to deliver a vivid shine accentuated by an action-packed afternoon under the Moroccan sun. (It’s a much different look than the admittedly more desert-suitable brown linen jacket and odd trousers he wore for his arrival.)

The single-breasted navy sharkskin suit jacket has a 3-roll-2 button front as the notch lapels roll over the top button, presenting like a two-button jacket. The lapels themselves are narrow with high gorges and a long, double-stitched buttonhole on the left lapel. The shoulders are narrow with roped sleeveheads.

Bond wears a white pocket square (Blofeld thinks of everything!) in the jacket’s curved “barchetta” breast pocket. The jacket also has straight flapped hip pockets, a single back vent, and functioning four-button cuffs that Bond wears with the lowest button undone.

Oy, these trousers!

The low rise and high break work together to create a shrunken pant that looks rather ridiculous both with and without the jacket. When the jacket is buttoned, the waistband’s positioning a few inches below the jacket’s buttoning point reveals an unsightly white “triangle” of shirt fabric. The cuffed bottoms break high over the tops of his shoes.

Fit aside, the trousers are detailed elegantly with buckle-tab side adjusters in lieu of a belt or braces. The squared waistband extends across the fly for a hidden hook closure, disrupting the gig line.

Each side pocket is placed along its respective side seam as it gently curves toward the front of the trousers, and both jetted back pockets close with a button.

It’s a shame that the suit fits so poorly, as I rather enjoy the shirt and tie worn beneath it. The shirt is one of the standard Tom Ford dress shirts in white cotton poplin that Craig wears throughout Spectre, furnished with a point collar, front placket, and double side darts on the back.

The double (French) cuffs are worn with cuff links, also from Tom Ford, that coordinate with the outfit’s simplicity. They are silver discs with blue enamel-filled centers that call out the navy tones of the suit and tie.

The dark navy silk tie, also from Tom Ford, is a few shades darker than the solid navy tie Craig wore with his blue Prince of Wales check suit in the opening scene. At 3″ wide, the tie is a slight wider than the narrow lapels of his suit.

The Bond franchise’s newfound association with Crockett & Jones, which began in the previous film with Skyfall, paid off during this scene in Spectre when Craig’s black calf Norwich model derbies get plenty of screen time once he’s hooked up to Blofeld’s torture device. The angle showcases not only the straight toe cap and the five-eyelet open lacing, but also the Dainite studded rubber soles. They are the same type of shoes that he wore with the blue Prince of Wales check suit, and he again wears them with solid black socks.

More information about Bond’s Crockett & Jones Norwich derby shoes can be found at James Bond Lifestyle.

At the outset of the scene, Bond shows up wearing a pair of Tom Ford Henry Vintage Wayfarer FT0248 sunglasses with “Havana” tortoise and dark metal browline-style frames and gray lenses (color code 52A). As of May 2017, you could still pick up a similar pair for less than $200 on Amazon. You can also always read more at James Bond Lifestyle.

Thankfully, these are the same pair that he wore when he was picked up by Blofeld’s henchmen, as it would be simply too much to believe that Blofeld sprung to outfit Bond with designer sunglasses in addition to a pair of £390 shoes.

One of the most heralded product tie-ins with Spectre was Bond’s watch, a steel Omega Seamaster 300 chronometer on a true NATO strap designed to be reminiscent of the striped strap that Sean Connery wore with his Rolex Submariner in Goldfinger and Thunderball. The watch, powered by Omega’s Master Co-Axial calibre 8400 movement, has a 41mm brushed and polished stainless steel case. The bi-directional black ceramic bezel is marked at each hour from 1 to 0 (0 instead of 12) and coordinates with the black dial housed under the sapphire crystal.

The five-striped nylon strap alternates in black and gray like a true NATO strap and can be purchased separately from Omega in two different widths. Of course, that could be costly, so retailers like CheapestNatoStraps put their money where their mouth is with a wide variety of straps available for around $7.95, including the classic black-and-gray Spectre stripe model (link). You can also find affordable strap alternatives on Amazon.

In addition to the standard 233.32.41.21.01.001 Seamaster (link), Omega’s site has a page dedicated to the SPECTRE Limited Edition model (link).

The Omega Seamaster 300 SPECTRE Limited Edition was sold in a limited number of 7,007 pieces (of course) and is still marketed for $7,500 on Omega’s site. You can read more about it at James Bond Lifestyle.

The Gun

Despite traditional elements like the navy suit a la Fleming and the return of Blofeld, Bond isn’t fighting off baddies with his usual Walther PPK as his weapon of choice. Instead, he manages to get his hands on a SA vz. 58 Compact assault carbine, made by Czech Small Arms.

This isn’t the first time James Bond has wielded a member of the SA vz.5 8 weapons family. In Octopussy, the late Roger Moore scored some extra cool points for his Bond when he too disarmed a guard of his rifle—that time, a full-size SA vz. 58 V—and fired at Kamal Khan’s henchmen while sliding down a banister (check it out!).

The SA vz. 58 was designed in 1956 and entered service by the end of the decade, produced by Česká zbrojovka Uherský Brod. Though it shares the 7.62x39mm cartridge and some cosmetic similarities with the AK-47 and its variants, it’s a much different weapon that shares no interchangeable parts with the Kalashnikov series. The fixed stock (SA vz. 58 P) and folding stock (SA vz. 58 V) full-length models both weigh in around 6.4 pounds with 15.4″ barrels.

The SA vz. 58 Carbine and SA vz. 58 Compact are shorter-barreled variants made by Czech Small Arms (rather than Česká zbrojovka) that shorten the barrel down to 11.8″ on the Carbine model and 7.5″ on the Compact model. Both still use 30-round magazines like the full-size SA vz. 58 rifles, but can also be chambered for the 5.56x45mm NATO cartridge in addition to the 7.62mm. In Spectre, Bond appears to wield a 7.5″-barreled Compact model chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO.

How to Get the Look

Fit issues aside, Daniel Craig’s Bond sports an elegant two-color ensemble that recalls elements of Ian Fleming’s sartorial formula for his face-off against a classic enemy.

• Navy blue “sharkskin” woven pick wool Tom Ford “O’Connor” tailored suit:
  • Single-breasted 3-roll-2 button suit jacket with narrow notch lapels, curved “barchetta” breast pocket, slanted flapped hip pockets, 4-button functional cuffs, and single vent
  • Flat front medium-low rise trousers with extended front waist tab, slide-buckle side adjusters, curved on-seam side pockets, button-through jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs with short break
• White cotton poplin Tom Ford dress shirt with point collar, front placket, back side darts, and double/French cuffs
  • Blue-filled silver disc Tom Ford cuff links
• Dark navy silk Tom Ford tie
• Black calf Crockett & Jones “Norwich” 5-eyelet cap-toe derby shoes with Dainite studded rubber soles
• Black dress socks
• Omega Seamaster 300 SPECTRE Limited Edition (233.32.41.21.01.001) stainless steel wristwatch with black dial (and “lollipop” seconds hand) on black-and-gray striped NATO strap

Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie.

The Quote

Tempus fugit.

Footnote

This appears to be the same suit that Daniel Craig wears for the “gunbarrel sequence” at the beginning of Spectre.