Perhaps next to the Queen, the most universally recognizable icon of the United Kingdom is James Bond. The country’s two most famous symbols, in fact, were the stars of the recent London Olympics opening with Daniel Craig as the British Secret Service agent escorting the Queen via helicopter and parachuting with her down to the Olympic stadium as the instantly recognizable Bond movie theme plays in the soundtrack. Even the signature introduction,“The name is Bond. . . James Bond” remains one of the most popular catch phrases from the movies ever since it was uttered in Dr. No, the 1962 film starring the super spy also known by his code name 007.
It has been 50 years and 22 films since that first movie and the image of the suave fictional secret agent in his impeccably tailored Savile Row suit remains one of the enduring fashion icons together with the Bond women who have been dressed by the world’s top designers from Givenchy and Alaïa to Versace and Prada.
“Designing 007,” a recently concluded exhibit at the Barbican Centre in London and doing a world tour starting in Toronto on Oct. 26, chronicles the creation and development of Bond style through tailoring and costumes, set and production design, automobiles, gadgets and special effects, graphic design and motion graphics, exotic locations, stunts and props. Wardrobe highlights include the Brioni suit that Pierce Brosnan wore to drive a tank in Goldeneye, Daniel Craig’s sensationally snug baby-blue swimming trunks from Casino Royale, Ursula Andress’ Dr. No bikini, and Madonna’s crocodile skin fencing outfit in Die Another Day. There is also the dazzling 140,000 pounds sterling diamond necklace and huge sapphire ring by David Morris designed for Teri Hatcher in Tomorrow Never Dies.
The exhibit opens with a wax figure of Sean Connery as Bond, leaning against his Aston Martin DB5 in a three-piece grey check suit designed by Anthony Sinclair. Sinclair was actually the Savile Row tailor of Terence Young, the first director of the movie series. Being an ex-Guards officer and Tank Commander during World War II, using his own tailor was a natural choice so as to correctly costume the actor as Commander Bond. Ian Fleming, the author of the Bond novels, who based the character of the spy on his own life and professional background, was also a commander in the British Naval Intelligence Division during the war.
Connery’s suit in Dr. No was in a style known as the “Conduit Cut,” with slim trousers and hacking jacket that was informed by the athletic physique of Sinclair’s clients, many of whom were former Guard Officers like Young. The Conduit Cut became a Bond signature and bestseller after Connery sported the bespoke style.
“Sinclair’s designs are the male equivalent of the Chanel suit,” says fashion historian and exhibit co-curator Bronwyn Cosgrave. “Its athletic cut inspired designers such as Hedi Slimane, Tom Ford and Thom Browne.” His sharply-cut tuxedo has been so closely identified with the screen star that it has come to be known as “The James Bond look.” The first time Bond ever appeared onscreen, it was actually the detail of the silk-lined cuff of his tuxedo that you see first before Connery’s face. Through the years, the different Bonds are impeccably well dressed since they play the role for several films, “allowing them to forge a relationship with their tailor,” according to Cosgrave.
To enter the exhibit proper, you go through a tunnel simulating the barrel of the secret agent’s gun which opens up into the Gold Room with a spectacular life-size replica of the famous gold-painted Jill Masterson (played by Shirley Eaton in Goldfinger), lying dead on a spinning circular bed. Probably one of cinema’s most memorable, this scene was the climax of Jill’s betrayal of her boss, Auric Goldfinger, who kills her by covering her in skin-suffocating gold-paint.
For the boys, there’s the Q Branch Room with all the amazing gadgets and special effects that have never failed to fascinate with every new Bond movie: Sean Connery’s exploding briefcase, Timothy Dalton’s Hasselblad rifle from Licence to Kill, Roger Moore’s Lotus Esprit that turns into a submarine. With every new outing, each film showcased the latest technology available. A pager and phone used inside the car in From Russia With Love may be something to scoff at now but they were technological marvels when they were seen in the movie 49 years ago. All these gadgets and special effects are also seen on video footage from the movies as well as interviews with the creative wizards like the late John Stears who talks about the moments before converting a brand-new Aston Martin DB5 for Goldfinger: “I had to go and have a drink first,” he explained, the way any normal person would “when tasked with setting upon such a ravishing automobile with a power-drill.” It was worth the sacrifice, of course, as the Aston became the most famous and widely covetable car in the world.
It’s pure glamour in the Casino Room, with a palette of dark purples progressing to black with a baccarat table as centerpiece, a huge chandelier of fibre optics, wall-to-wall mirrors and surrounded by the specially designed tuxedos and gowns like Tom Ford’s mohair and cashmere tuxedo for Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace (2008) and Roberto Cavalli’s canary yellow gown with Swarovski crystals for Ivana Milicevic playing Valenka, the girlfriend of Casino Royale’s villain Le Chiffre.
More frocks mesmerize at the Villains and Enigmas Room. Aside from Madonna’s fencing ensemble for her role of Verity in Die Another Day (2002), there’s the Ascot costume which Grace Jones wore playing May Day in A View to a Kill (1985). Designed by Azzedine Alaïa, the sculptured athleticized look that the designer is known for gave May Day a menacing physicality which inspired the actress whose character avenges Bond till the end. “I worked the silhouette,” recalls Jones, “so that you could see me coming — Here comes trouble!”
Viewing the different outfits of the Bond girls, we could not help but be absolutely amused by the names that Ian Fleming came up with. Some were obviously risqué like Pussy Galore (played by Honor Blackman, Goldfinger 1964), Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama, You Only Live Twice 1967), Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles, Moonraker 1979) and Octopussy (Maud Adams,1983). Some were descriptive and funny : Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood, Diamonds are Forever 1971) Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland, The Man with The Golden Gun 1974), Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike, Die Another Day 2002). Miss Taro (Zena Marshall, Dr. No 1962), the Chinese secretary, is just too hilarious — was she named after a dimsum?
The term “Bond Girl” may actually be outdated now. “The Bond girl is dead. She is history. It’s time for the Bond woman!” declares Bérénice Marlohe who plays Severine in the coming Bond movie Skyfall. Director Sam Mendes picked her because he wanted someone who exuded that old-fashioned sexuality in the style of Sophia Loren but who is not a girl, she had to be all woman. For her costumes, Jany Temime referenced film noir, using 1940s silhouettes with a modern spirit like those from L’Wren Scott’s FW collection. An evening dress in black satin is embellished with 60,000 Swarovski crystals while her jewelry is gothic-inspired by the London jeweler Stephen Webster. Definitely not a girl’s wardrobe.
What’s often overlooked but integral to the Bond style are the interiors, which match the modernist sophistication that the secret agent epitomizes. There’s Goldfinger’s ranch with the floor plane sliding away and tables rotating to reveal maps; Blofeld’s carved out empire hidden in a volcano in You Only Live Twice, with sharp steel architectural details, louvered walls and a monorail network; the Octopussy palace straight out of Alhambra with all its decadent opulence; the lair in The Man with the Golden Gun, a sleek combination of shiny materials, technology and concrete, opening up out of the rock. Many of these were set in the most pristine locales and the most exotic locations.
We were dreaming about them on the way out of the exhibit till we chanced upon the Martini Room with a specially designed bar. It was the perfect place to dream on and have the quintessential Bond cocktail — shaken, of course, not stirred!