James Bond is introduced in Dr. No wearing a midnight blue one-button, shawl-collar tuxedo by Anthony Sinclair with silk turnback "gauntlet" cuffs. Midnight blue is a favorite of English tailors for evening wear, which looks richer, if not blacker than black, under artificial light. Bond's preference for wearing neither a waistcoat nor a cummerbund with black tie begins in Dr. No.
The classic combination of navy blazer and gray flannel pants was also a favorite outfit of Connery's Bond. With swelled edges, patch pockets and double vents, it has more than just metal buttons to set it apart from the average navy suit jacket.
One of Bond's favorite suits is the gray flannel. With a classic English cut, Sean Connery's two-button suit tailored by Anthony Sinclair would look just as good today as it did in 1960. Connery wears the suit with a light blue shirt, navy grenadine tie and the ever-cool brown felt trilby.
Sean Connery's charcoal flannel Anthony Sinclair suit at the start of Thunderball delves a little further into 1960s fashions with a straight-hemmed waistcoat. But the cut is the same classic two-button jacket with forward-pleated trousers. Because of the funereal setting, Bond appropriately wears a somber black grenadine tie.
Have you ever considered wearing a silk suit? Sean Connery wears a charcoal gray dupioni silk suit in From Russia With Love, with his favorite light blue shirt and navy grenadine tie. The suit has Connery's typical narrow-lapelled, two-button natural shoulder jacket with narrow lapels, and trousers with forward pleats and button-tab side adjusters.
Essential for country pursuits is the hacking jacket, which is characterized by slanted pockets and a deep single vent. Bond's jacket is in brown barleycorn tweed, worn with a light brown knitted silk tie, fawn cavalry twill trousers and brown suede shoes.
Sean Connery's midnight blue tuxedo surely is a blend of wool and mohair. Mohair wears cool, so it helps Bond bear the heat in the Bahamas. The shirt is a simple white-on-white stripe with a spread collar and no fancy details except for Connery's usual cocktail cuffs.
For tropical black tie, the white dinner jacket with black trousers is a must. Connery's dinner jacket in Goldfinger is a classic one-button with peak lapels. White mother-of-pearl buttons give it an extra tropical -- but elegant -- touch.
One-button suits were very popular in the 1960s, but this blue suit in You Only Live Twice is the only one Sean Connery wears. A blue that's a little lighter than navy is great for warm weather when a light-colored suit would be too informal.
Everyone's favorite suit of the Bond series is the plaid three-piece Sean Connery wears in Goldfinger. The plaid is very subtle in gray and white, almost looking solid, and it pairs nicely with a white shirt and navy silk knit tie. Essential to a three-piece suit is a properly proportioned vest and high-waisted trousers.
George Lazenby brought an increased fashion awareness to Bond with more rakish outfits in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Pairing his cream linen suit with a pink shirt and navy knit tie is a stylish choice for the warm climate.
Lazenby was the first Bond to wear most formal style of tuxedo, the one-button peak lapel. His tuxedo is in an elegant midnight blue, but he unfortunately wears it with a trendy ruffled shirt that looks awfully dated.
The black and white Glen Urquhart plaid suit is less formal than the standard navy and charcoal, but it looks just as sharp. Bond wears it with a light blue shirt and navy grenadine tie.
Roger Moore takes the white dinner jacket to another level in The Man With the Golden Gun by wearing it in dupioni silk. It's six-button double-breasted, with mother-of-pearl buttons, and it has elegant turnback cuffs like Sean Connery's tuxedo in Dr. No. Because it's the 1970s, Moore wears a rather large bowtie, and his black trousers have a slightly flared leg.
Again, don't be distracted by the dated lapels and flared trouser legs, because otherwise, this suit by Angelo Roma isn't much different from a Brioni. The fabric may not be discreet, but this two-button suit is made from a luxurious elephant gray dupioni silk.
Bond wears a navy velvet dinner jacket in Diamonds Are Forever. It's a great choice for a private dinner, and Connery wears it with a light blue poplin shirt, black silk bowtie and black trousers with a satin stripe down each leg.
When Sean Connery returned to the Bond series in 1971 with Diamonds Are Forever, his Anthony Sinclair suits had the same cut as his 1960s suits, except now the lapels and pocket flaps were wider and the trouser pleats are replaced by darts. This is a black three-piece suit, and Connery wears it for what a black suit is traditionally worn for: mourning. The severity of the black suit and tie is tempered with an ecru shirt.
Roger Moore returned to softer English tailoring in For Your Eyes Only with Mayfair tailor Douglas Hayward. This charcoal flannel three-button suit has a low button stance, but it's otherwise a classic suit. He wears it with a charcoal tie and a blue and white bengal stripe shirt with contrasting white collar and cuff.
Over his navy chalkstripe three-piece suit, George Lazenby wears a three-quarter length, double-breasted overcoat that's like a combination between a British Warm and a peacoat. It has six buttons with large peacoat-like collar and lapels. He wears it with a navy trilby and black leather driving gloves.
Though George Lazenby wears some flashy clothes in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, his business suits are very traditional. This navy herringbone three-piece suit has a three-button jacket and six-button vest, and Lazenby wears it with a white shirt and navy knit tie.
Roger Moore set himself apart from previous Bonds by occasionally wearing double-breasted suits. This gray dupioni silk suit is a classic six-button with two to button. Cyril Castle's double-breasted suits are unique due to the narrower wrap, or overlap in front.
Roger Moore's clothing may have earned a bad reputation, but his navy chesterfield coat is a beautiful piece by his tailor, Cyril Castle. It's a three-quarter-length double-breasted coat with a black velvet collar.
In The Spy Who Loved Me, Bond's clothing started to reflect 1970s fashions more than they had before. Lapels and trouser legs are wider, and Moore has started using an Italian tailor called Angelo Roma. This tan cotton two-button sports coat that has many safari jacket details, which are cool, if still outdated.
Bond's marine blue suit in The Man With the Golden Gun is an elegant choice for an evening out. This suit is most likely a blend of wool and mohair, which gives it a little sheen. In a blue much lighter than navy, mohair is a great choice for warm weather suiting.
Though this suit from Moonraker has very wide lapels and flared trousers, in brown donegal tweed it's a classic country suit. The flapped breast pocket, slanted pockets and ticket pocket are all classic country details, and the brown knitted wool tie is the perfect complement.
The light gray tweed jacket is a versatile sports coat, with the casual details of swelled edges, patch pockets and a single vent. Bond's two-button jacket made by Douglas Hayward with natural shoulders and an elegant low button stance. In A View to a Kill, Bond wears it with charcoal flannel trousers, a blue oxford shirt and a plaid tie.
James Bond is a commander in the Royal Navy, so the combination of a double-breasted navy blazer and white trousers doesn't seem inappropriate when he's at sea. Like a naval uniform, Bond's blazer has six buttons, with all rows to button.
GoldenEye marks the first time Bond wears a vest with his tuxedo. The vest harmonizes well with the formal peak lapel jacket made by Brioni. Pierce Brosnan wears a proper black tie vest: black and low-cut, with four buttons and lapels.
Pierce Brosnan's Bond liked to wear three-piece suits, like this gray three-button Brioni suit in GoldenEye. The suit actually has a subtle blue windowpane, which matches the blue shirt.
Bond continues to combine blue and brown with this outfit in The World Is Not Enough. The tie is a herringbone pattern of blue and brown, which picks up the blue and brown threads subtly woven in the charcoal suit.
Light brown is a very elegant color for overcoats, like the double-breasted coat Bond wears in Tomorrow Never Dies. Like many of Pierce Brosnan's outfits, this one shows how well brown and blue can work together. Underneath the coat Bond wears a navy birdseye three-piece suit and a navy and bronze tie, anchored by a neutral ecru shirt.
Again, Bond wears his warm-weather suit without a tie. This three-button suit is in cream-colored herringbone linen, and Bond wears it with an open-neck French blue royal oxford shirt.
Timothy Dalton was not the most stylish Bond, but he wears his beige gabardine two-button suit well in The Living Daylights. The open-neck cream shirt fits the casual nature of a warm-weather gabardine suit.
When a tuxedo is too formal but the occasion is still very dressy, this three-button-two, midnight blue suit in mohair tonic from Tom Ford is an elegant choice. Midnight blue is more formal than navy but has a lot more depth than black, especially with mohair's sheen. A white shirt and a shiny blue and white checkered tie complete the dressy evening look.
Solid medium gray is a boring color, but when it's made up of black and white threads in a sharkskin weave, the suit becomes much more interesting. Bond's three-button Tom Ford suit in Skyfall is fashionably too tight and too short, creating an unflattering look, but the sharkskin fabric still looks great though all the action.
Bond again wears a midnight blue one-button, shawl collar tuxedo in Skyfall. This time he goes without the gauntlet cuffs but he sticks with the cummerbund for a classic look. He wears a pique-front shirt with studs and a black grosgrain bow that's a mismatch with the satin collar.
Daniel Craig also wears his linen suits without a tie. Though in the film we only see it in black and white, this suit is navy, and Bond wears it casually with a light blue short-sleeve shirt and brown suede chukka boots.
The last three-piece suit Bond has worn to date is this navy pinstripe suit from Brioni in Casino Royale. It's a classic three-button with a six-button vest and flat-front trousers. The tie's small blue-and-white pattern goes nicely on top of the sky blue shirt.
Minimalism prevails with Bond's one-button, peak-lapel tuxedo from Brioni in Casino Royale. The Turnbull & Asser white waffle-weave shirt has a fly front: The placket has an extra layer that covers the buttons. As has been Bond tradition, Bond wears neither a cummerbund nor a vest, but Craig revives Timothy Dalton's traditional practice of wearing white braces to hold up his trousers.
Daniel Craig's midnight blue Tom Ford tuxedo in Quantum of Solace is practically a copy of Sean Connery's in Dr. No, with a one-button shawl collar jacket with silk gauntlet cuffs. The pleated shirt and diamond-ended bowtie also copy the Dr. No look. But unlike Connery, Craig follows the rules of black tie and wears a cummerbund.
For over fifty years James Bond has been setting black tie trends and keeping the suit cool. From Sean Connery's plaid suits and grenadine ties to Daniel Craig's pared-down tuxedos and tab collars, James Bond's wardrobe through every decade is an inspiration to the well-dressed man.
Read more at thesuitsofjamesbond.com
Read more at thesuitsofjamesbond.com