Tagged: Clothes by Brioni
The World Is Not Enough: Pierce Brosnan’s Midnight Brioni Tuxedo as Bond
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in The World is Not Enough (1999).
Photo by Keith Hamshere/Sygma via Getty Images.
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, sophisticated English spy
Baku and Istanbul, December 1999
Film: The World Is Not Enough
Release Date: November 8, 1999
Director: Michael Apted
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Tailored by: Brioni
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
On the 00-7th of November, today’s post celebrates Pierce Brosnan’s third and penultimate movie as James Bond—The World Is Not Enough—which premiered 25 years ago tomorrow on November 8, 1999 at the Fox Bruin Theater in Los Angeles.
With most of Ian Fleming’s original material already adapted by the end of Timothy Dalton’s tenure, Brosnan’s Bond films relied on original storylines with nods to earlier works in the franchise. In the case of The World Is Not Enough, this applies to the title itself—the English translation of the Bond family coat of arms (“Orbis non sufficit”) mentioned in the novel and film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Bruce Feirstein crafted the original screenplay for The World Is Not Enough, centered around Bond’s assignment to protect heiress Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) from Renard (Robert Carlyle), an international terrorist who had kidnapped her years earlier. As the stakes of his mission grow, he recruits the help of an old enemy-turned-friend Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane) and the improbably named—and improbably cast—nuclear physicist Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards).
A hallmark of the Bond franchise are its aspirational sequences that highlight both the danger and elevated lifestyle of James Bond’s missions, exemplified in The World Is Not Enough as he strides into a swanky casino in an exotic locale, clad as usual in an impeccable tuxedo with a Walther holstered under his arm and a dry martini in his hand. After a Bollinger-soaked romantic interlude with an impossibly beautiful woman, Bond’s back on the trail of his dangerous foe, who only narrowly escapes as Bond saves the life of yet another impossibly beautiful woman following a gunfight. Continue reading
La Dolce Vita: Marcello’s White Party Suit
Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini in La Dolce Vita (1960)
Vitals
Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, playboy gossip journalist-turned-publicity agent
Fregene, Italy, Summer 1959
Film: La Dolce Vita
Release Date: February 5, 1960
Director: Federico Fellini
Costume Designer: Piero Gherardi
Tailor: Brioni
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
No, no one’s leaving. It’s a long way ’til dawn.
The seventh and final “episode” of Fellini’s divine comedy La Dolce Vita catches up with our sleek protagonist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastroianni), erstwhile chronicler of Roman nightlife, as he and a group of friends descend upon his friend Riccardo’s beach house in Fregene, about 25 miles west of Rome on the Tyrrhenian coast. Continue reading
La Dolce Vita: Mastroianni’s Black Suit
Marcello Mastroianni and Anita Ekberg in La Dolce Vita (1960)
Vitals
Marcello Mastroianni as Marcello Rubini, playboy gossip journalist
Rome, Spring 1959
Film: La Dolce Vita
Release Date: February 5, 1960
Director: Federico Fellini
Costume Designer: Piero Gherardi
Tailor: Brioni
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
The two headlining stars of Fellini’s classic La Dolce Vita would have celebrated their birthdays this week—Marcello Mastroianni tomorrow (September 28, 1924) and Anita Ekberg the following day (September 29, 1931)—and watching these two Libras glide together through the Trevi Fountain at daybreak has become one of the most enduring images of Italian cinema.
Tomorrow Never Dies: 007’s Navy Suit and Cashmere Coat
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, British government agent
London to Hamburg, April 1997
Film: Tomorrow Never Dies
Release Date: December 6, 1997
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
Who else but the Irish actor Pierce Brosnan would be best to feature on the 00-7th o’ March?
Following a thrilling pre-credits sequence, James Bond gets in some much needed R&R in the arms of a beautiful Danish language tutor when duty calls… in the form of Miss Moneypenny. Bond begrudgingly departs his cunning linguistics session (yes, I know) when MI6 summons him for an urgent briefing and sends him off to a springtime mission in Germany.
The scene is quintessential Bond: an elegant suit, a snazzy new car, a useful gadget… and enough product placement to guarantee the future of the series. Continue reading
Bond in Brioni – The Navy Suit in GoldenEye
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, armed with an AKS-74U, in GoldenEye (1995)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, sophisticated British secret agent
St. Petersburg, Russia, April 1995
Film: GoldenEye
Release Date: November 13, 1995
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
I’ve been featuring a number of looks from the James Bond series lately, but I would hate to let that get in the way of the 00-7th of March! Since we’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this month, it seems obvious to me that we should also be celebrating the Irish actor who delivered his own brand of debonair charm to the role of 007.
In his inaugural outing, GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan’s Bond is relaxing in the pool of his St. Petersburg hotel when he is cornered by the alluring assassin Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen). Bond gets the upper hand – among other parts – and convinces Xenia to introduce him to the mysterious syndicate behind the disappearance of a missing satellite. Continue reading
Bond’s Unique Charcoal Striped “No Cigar” Suit
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in The World is Not Enough (1999)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, sophisticated British secret agent
London, November 1999
Film: The World is Not Enough
Release Date: November 8, 1999
Director: Michael Apted
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
February 27 is National Cigar Day according to some, and – while it may not be recognized universally – it’s always nice to have an extra reason to relax with your favorite cigar.
Like Roger Moore before him, Pierce Brosnan eschewed the cigarettes favored by the literary (and, at one point, cinematic) James Bond in favor of cigars. Both actors preferred cigars in real life as well, and it’s been recorded that Moore frequently received several thousand pounds worth of Montecristo cigars during his outings as 007.
In The World is Not Enough, Brosnan’s Bond returns from his action-packed trip to Bilbao for what should be a quiet day at the office that begins, as usual, by casually flirting with Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond). Continue reading
Bond Style – Day Cravat and Navy Sweater in GoldenEye
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in GoldenEye (1995).
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, British government secret agent
Monte Carlo, April 1995
Film: GoldenEye
Release Date: November 13, 1995
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
BAMF Style is taking another look at James Bond for the 00-7th of April… well-established to be a “spring month” in GoldenEye.
Set nine years after GoldenEye‘s attention-grabbing intro in Russia, we catch up with 007 seemingly enjoying some leisure time while racing his vintage Aston Martin DB5 around Monaco’s winding mountain roads alongside a prim and nervous MI6 evaluator (whose name is Caroline, not that it matters.) While Bond is already a relatively unsafe driver while escorting the poor woman, he escalates their “pleasant drive in the country” when he catches the eye of a dangerous brunette in a sharp red Ferrari in what becomes a more light-hearted version of Bond meeting Tracy in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Continue reading
Bond Style — A Double-Breasted Blazer in GoldenEye
Pierce Brosnan and Famke Janssen in GoldenEye (1995)
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, British government secret agent
Monte Carlo, April 1995
Film: GoldenEye
Release Date: November 13, 1995
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
In London, April’s a spring month. The same is true in Monte Carlo, the “international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth” (according to The New Encyclopædia Britannica‘s 15th Edition), where April temperatures remain steady in the mid-50s°F range. Already sophisticated, Bond fits in nicely with this world of the elite as he tracks Xenia Onatopp, the Georgian femme fatale with connections to the Janus crime syndicate.
After Xenia’s night of passion gives new meaning to the term “thunder thighs”, Bond sneaks aboard the yacht where Xenia hosted her deadly tryst. Once he discovers the dead Royal Canadian Navy admiral (named “Chuck” rather than Charles?), Bond realizes Janus’s plan to steal the prototype Tiger helicopter. He takes off across the harbor, but it’s too late; Xenia has already escaped with the stolen helicopter. Foiled again! Continue reading
Bond’s Gray Suit and Gray BMW in Hamburg
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) next to his BMW 750iL sedan.
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, British government agent
Hamburg, Germany, April 1997… specifically Saturday, April 12, 1997
Film: Tomorrow Never Dies
Release Date: December 6, 1997
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
Tomorrow Never Dies, Pierce Brosnan’s second outing as Bond, also carried a few notable firsts. It was the first film produced after the death of longtime Bond producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, and it was the first film to not use any traditional Fleming title or plot elements; Licence to Kill had borrowed heavily from both Live and Let Die and “The Hildebrand Rarity”, and GoldenEye – though an original story – was the name of Ian Fleming’s home.
Thus, without two of its most influential auteurs’ assistance, Tomorrow Never Dies was left to its own devices – pun intended – and marked a significantly different direction for the series. Continue reading
Bond in Brioni – The GoldenEye Charcoal Windowpane 3-Piece Suit
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in GoldenEye (1995).
Vitals
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, sophisticated British secret agent
London, England to St. Petersburg, Russia, April 1995
Film: GoldenEye
Release Date: November 13, 1995
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Lindy Hemming
Background
Obviously, I’ve been watching GoldenEye lately. For what many Bond fans – including myself – consider the finest of the Pierce Brosnan era, GoldenEye marked a re-emphasis on style after the grittier Dalton films. Continue reading
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