Tagged: From Russia WIth Love
From Russia With Love – Kerim Bey’s Beige Suit
Pedro Armendáriz as Kerim Bey in From Russia With Love (1963)
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Pedro Armendáriz as Ali Kerim Bey, gregarious MI6 station chief
Istanbul, Turkey, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Kerim Bey, the gregarious head of MI6’s Station T (T for Turkey), is one of the more memorable characters from the early films of the James Bond franchise. A proudly streetwise counter to the taciturn and sophisticated agent 007, the two got on like gangbusters. It’s tragic that Kerim was designated by Ian Fleming as the story’s “sacrificial lamb” as it would have been satisfying to follow his interactions with Bond across multiple adventures à la Felix Leiter or even René Mathis, who actually returned in Fleming’s novel version of From Russia With Love, though Armendáriz’s death would have prevented this anyway. Today’s 00-7th of May post is a tribute to this charismatic character. Continue reading
From Russia With Love – Red Grant on the Orient Express
Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love (1963)
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Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant, lethal SPECTRE assassin
The Orient Express, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Background
Two years ago on the 00-7th of October, I wrote about the gray wool suit that Sean Connery’s James Bond wore in From Russia With Love during his brutal fight with SPECTRE assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) aboard the Orient Express. Today’s post features Grant’s suit – also gray wool but in a heavier suiting mixed with brown yarns for a warm, fall-friendly outfit – in addition to the watch and weapons that are the tools of Grant’s unsavory trade. Continue reading
From Russia With Love – Red Grant’s Gray Check Suit
Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love (1963)
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Robert Shaw as Donald “Red” Grant, lethal SPECTRE assassin
Istanbul, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Background
Robert Shaw set the Bond franchise standard as the dangerous Donald “Red” Grant in From Russia With Love, one of the most memorable antagonists in the series.
Grant is arguably the archetype for subsequent villains that followed his laconic, icy blond example like Vargas in Thunderball, Necros in The Living Daylights, and Stamper in Tomorrow Never Dies, though none could ever match Robert Shaw’s truly menacing presence on screen. Continue reading
Iconic Alternatives – 5 Favorite Bond Looks
I’m honored to have been contributed to an article posted today at Iconic Alternatives, featuring my top five favorite outfits from the James Bond 007 series. Iconic Alternatives did all the hard work of tracking down fashionable and affordable options of suits, formalwear, and casual wear worn by Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Daniel Craig in From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, The Man with the Golden Gun, Casino Royale, and Skyfall.
Check it out here if you want to find out my five favorite outfits from the Bond series and affordable alternatives as researched by the pros at Iconic Alternatives. The entire site is a great resource for tracking down individual items to help you dress like the world’s sharpest secret agent.
Image credit: Iconic Alternatives
Did I include any of your favorite James Bond outfits? Feel free to share your favorites or clothing that you’ve found on your own that reflects 007!
From Russia With Love – Bond’s Istanbul Suits, Pt. 5: Gray Pick
Sean Connery as James Bond in From Russia With Love (1963).
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Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary super spy
The Orient Express, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
For the 00-7th of October, I want to focus on a nice fall suit while also marking a milestone for this blog; this post marks the first 007 film where each of James Bond’s on screen outfits has been exhaustively analyzed by BAMF Style! Very appropriate too, given that From Russia With Love is my favorite Bond flick and – perhaps coincidence, perhaps not – also features some of my favorite movie suits. (I’m in good company; Sean Connery has also stated that From Russia With Love is his personal favorite 007 adventure.) Continue reading
From Russia With Love – Bond’s Gingham Shirt and Swim Trunks
Eunice Gayson and Sean Connery as Sylvia Trench and James Bond, respectively, in From Russia With Love (1963).
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Sean Connery as James Bond, British suave government agent and lothario
Berkshire, England, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
I’m spending this week with family for a beach vacation, so I wanted to take a look at what James Bond would wear for his own seaside holiday outing.
The first appearance of 007—the real 007—in From Russia With Love finds Bond “reviewing an old case” in Berkshire in the form of Sylvia Trench, a casual fling that he first encountered while gambling at Le Cercle in Dr. No.
Punting man: It’s great sport, this punting!
Bond: (making out with Sylvia) I couldn’t agree with him more.
Sylvia: I may even give up golf for it.
From Russia With Love – Bond’s Dark Navy Office Suit
Sean Connery as James Bond in From Russia With Love (1963).
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary lothario
London, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Bond: Suppose when she meets me in the flesh, I don’t come up to expectations?
M: Just see that you do.
Most office meetings don’t involve a boss slyly encouraging an employee to have sex at all costs (at least, nowhere that I’ve worked), but that’s the world of James Bond for you. Bond attends this somewhat salacious briefing while wearing an intersection of Ian Fleming’s vision for James Bond and the classic image established by Terence Young, Anthony Sinclair, and Sean Connery for the early films in the series. Continue reading
From Russia With Love – Impostor Bond’s Tuxedo
Sean Connery as James Bond (or is he?) in From Russia With Love (1963).
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Sean Connery as an impostor James Bond
SPECTRE Island, Spring 1963
(“SPECTRE Island” is actually Heatherden Hall at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.)
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
Dressing up as James Bond for Halloween this year or just celebrating the new release of Spectre? You’re certainly not the first to don a 007 costume; even within the series itself, an anonymous SPECTRE bait henchman sported a classic midnight blue tuxedo for his unnecessarily detailed Bond guise during the pre-credits sequence of From Russia With Love.
This sequence provides some interesting cultural context; formalwear was nowhere nearly as prominent in Ian Fleming’s literary Bond adventures as it would become in the films, yet the opening scene of the second film seems to recognize and lampshade the fact that the audience will know this is James Bond because we’re seeing Sean Connery in a dinner suit. Continue reading
From Russia With Love – Bond’s Istanbul Suits, Pt. 4: Glen Plaid
Sean Connery behind the scenes in Turkey during his second outing as James Bond, From Russia With Love, in 1963.
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and legendary super spy
Turkey, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
For the 007th of the 7th month of the year, BAMF Style is focusing on James Bond’s 7th suit worn in From Russia With Love, a black and gray Glen plaid check suit. Bond had worn a different Glen Urquhart suit earlier in the film when visiting Kerim Bey in his office, but this suit can be differentiated by details in the tailoring.
At this point in the story, Bond has finally “met” Tatiana Romanova, the enigmatic bait in SPECTRE’s plan to ruin him and smear the British Secret Service. Bond is quite certain that he has Tania right where he wants her, but his charismatic MI6 contact Kerim Bey seems sure of the opposite… Continue reading
From Russia With Love – Bond’s Istanbul Suits, Pt. 3: Charcoal Flannel
Sean Connery as James Bond in From Russia With Love (1963).
Vitals
Sean Connery as James Bond, British government agent and spy
Turkey, Spring 1963
Film: From Russia With Love
Release Date: October 10, 1963
Director: Terence Young
Costume Designer: Jocelyn Rickards
Tailor: Anthony Sinclair
Background
For the 007th of May, I’ll be picking up where I left off in my examination of the From Russia With Love suits.
At this point in the film, Bond has just spent his second day in Istanbul, exploring a series of underground catacombs with Kerim Bey, the charismatic MI6 Station Chief. For that daytime excursion, he wore a Glen Urquhart suit. That evening, Kerim invites Bond to dine with him and his gypsy friends. Assuming that it’s Spring (I forget how I came to this conclusion, but I like it), where the temperature in Istanbul can dip into the low-40s, Bond opts to wear something a little heavier with a flannel suit. Continue reading