The wardrobe of Quantum of Solace

People have always been interested in James Bond's style, but Casino Royale took many people by surprise, myself included. Suddenly, the wardrobe was more accessible than it had ever been before, maybe not in terms of cost, but in the fact you could actually wear this stuff and feel like James Bond, without parading around in a tuxedo, or even a Brioni suit.

There were a lot of mysteries surrounding exactly what was what in the Casino Royale wardrobe and it took a lot of effort by some very fine and determined people to get to the bottom of it.

This time I wanted to, in some small way, help with this and get in early so that shirt, that jacket etc, were not so hard to track down.

The Hunt
When I started, I had no idea that I'd be writing this article about it, it was an enquiry to two companies that started it all. Firstly, I called Sunspel in Nottingham, England, really wonderful people who were more than happy to help. They told me that they had supplied more Polo shirts and well as grey and black T-shirts to the production..
More on those Polos later...

Inspired by this I got in touch with Sony Ericssons publicity department to find out what mobile phone James Bond was using this time around. Again, they couldn't be more helpful. Out of that came confirmation that not only would Daniel Craig would be using the C902 in titanium silver, but Mr White would have W910 and M would be using the G700.

By this time, I was really ready to make something of this and got in touch with the very wonderful Bond Lifestyle website, asking if, maybe, he would be interested in publishing an article, written by myself on the wardrobe of Quantum of Solace. 
The answer was a big yes I'm happy to say.

A phone call to Sophie Harley jewellers about buying a love knot necklace for my wife led to something interesting, the fact that they had provided a second one for use in Quantum of Solace. Not for use in any flashback sequence, but to be worn by the girlfriend of Vesper Lynds ex-lover.

I was starting to run out of people to call, so needed more information. Photos were slowly leaking onto the internet and I needed to know what these things were.

I already knew Bonds Phone, his watch, the Omega 42mm Planet Ocean with bracelet and some other bits and pieces, but it wasn't enough.

Louise Frogley
I picked up the phone one afternoon and made a call to Eon Productions, asking if I may interview the Costume designer, Louise Frogley, they asked me to email them with who I was and what I wanted, not long after I was contacted by a wonderful lady at Sony Publicity who was extremely helpful, but told me to wait until mid -September, as they didn't want anything appearing until nearer release.

A long few weeks followed, but when the time came, I was expecting the worst, I was told that yes, that was fine - within certain guidelines.

I was over the moon, an interview with Louise Frogley was just the thing needed for this article.

Louise asked me to get in touch with her direct so we could begin.

I must say at this point that Louise is such a nice woman who really knows her stuff, it was very kind of her to help me with this project. She is one of the most helpful people I came in contact with.

Before the actual interview was to take place, we exchanged several emails as I was keen to know what was actually used, not just for Daniel Craig, but also for the girls and the villains.

Then things changed drastically, I received a frantic email from Sony asking me not to contact Louise until EON had okayed the interview, odd as I was under the impression that they had already. Then a jaw dropping further email from Sony, the word from EON was that I was not to proceed with my interview. I was upset, angry and confused. It could only have been a positive thing for the film. Sony could not give me a reason. I thanked them for their help so far and that was that.

However... those early emails provided a wealth of information that I shall list here. 
Some of it is a bit vague, some of it is spot on.

The wardrobe
Louise wanted to keep Daniel's casual wear almost like a uniform. So for example, the most published photos are in the blue jacket and jeans. All the casual outfits are a variation on this.

Boots
The boots - these are the Ryder III model in dark brown suede with rubber sole (as shown by the photo of Craig, Forster and Mathieu Almaric - you can see the circles on the sole) in by Church's shoes. Plus, Daniel Craig has been seen wearing the lighter coloured Maracca suede in various photo shoots for some magazines.

The Church's Ryder III brown desert boots are the ONLY ones he sports in Quantum of Solace.

For more formal shoes, Church's again provided the following models - Shannon black polished binder, as well as the Philip. - Special thanks to Simon Ruzgar for detailed information on the formal shoes)

Pants and shirts
One area of conjecture were the 'white' jeans worn by Daniel in the motorbike sequence. These are in fact - as told to me by Louise and David Zaritsky - Levi's 307 STA-PREST trousers (almost a chino style trouser) in cream. There was, apparently, a similar pair in Khaki used as well. These may well be the ones worn with the white Tom Ford shirt and Tom Ford shawl collared cardigan in navy blue. These trousers were worn with cross hatched black leather belt with silver buckle by Prada.

Worn with this outfit, was a Tom Ford Polo, in the style of the Sunspel and also a black zip up jacket by Y-3 - the exact jacket has yet to be identified, and of course the Brown Church desert boots.

The aforementioned outfit with the blue jacket consisted of a Tom Ford navy blue Baracuta style jacket, Tom Ford Polo shirt and dark blue jeans by 7 for all mankind in Mercer. The polos, although very similar in style to the Sunspel shirts are, once again Tom Ford.

The sunglasses have been a source of much debate, but once again, they are indeed Tom Ford. It would appear the same as the Oliver Peoples in all but a few minor differences, namely on the arms and the front bar.

One big mystery, that needs solving is the third casual jacket worn by Bond, this was by Prada, but as we've yet to see a picture of this, we can't even begin looking properly.

James Bonds formal wear from his midnight blue tuxedo to his sharp day suits are pretty cut and dried from the ankles up, it's all Tom Ford, getting them is another matter.

Hardly any of it is available off the shelf. The ties were specially made for the movie in a tiny repeating motif. Tom Fords assistants provided fabrics for Ms Frogley to look at and they were custom made from that. The suits were made from a rare fabric, similar to what was used for Sean Connerys suits in the sixties. Hard to find and very expensive. The shirts *may* be already available, but the screen used ones would have been tailored to Daniels specs.

The suits were worn without a belt and used side adjusters.

Bond girls and villains
With regards the girls and villains - Camille (Olga Kurylenko) was dressed in Jasper Conran and Prada. With shoes by Manolo Blahnik (correction: this should be shoes by Gina).

Agent Fields' cocktail dress was also by Prada.

Mathieu Almaric (Dominic Greene) wore mainly Yohji Yamamoto (Y-3), whilst his accomplace Elvis (Anatole Taubman) wore Gucci with jewellery by Chrome Hearts.

Once Quantum of Solace is out, I'm sure there will be more to hunt down. The hunt is part of the fun.

Special thanks to the following for their help advice and support - Sony Publicity, Louise Frogley, Daniel Fox at Church's shoes - Jermyn St London, Sony Ericsson publicity, Eon productions, Sunspel and of course Simon Ruzgar & David Zaritsky - without whom...

Now, where's my credit card...

© 2008 Duncan Campbell