What else do you collect?

My thoughts...no, but, seriously...watch straps.

Ok, time to own up to my other collection. Warning - long rambling post! One of the things I like the most about watches, is that you actually get to wear them as part of your every day life. That is carried over in my other 'passion' - 'James Bond Clothing'! This is not collecting the actual clothes worn in the films, but as near as is possible, the same clothes. This interest has really gathered pace since Daniel Craig started playing bond, and the wardrobe department got more creative to fit his character. More often than not, the clothes worn in the films are just regular clothes you can buy in the high street. Sometimes they are picked by Craig himself, based on what he wears outside the office. They can range from ultra high end Tom Ford pieces, to basics from cheap brands such as Zara. Often a lot of 'detective work' has to go into pinning down exactly which clothes are being worn and where you can get them. Enthusiasts are having fun at the moment piecing together the outfits from the upcoming Spectre movie, where a few items have still not yet been correctly identified. As soon as they are, things tend to sell out very quickly. Sometimes the clothing brands take advantage of the association and make re-runs to cash in, but not always - some don't even know or care that their clothes are being used, and even seem to have some disdain for it ! For examples of both attitudes - in Spectre, Craig wears a blue suede jacket from John Varvatos - this was identified from the movie trailers just as the jackets were being cleared out for the summer sales, and were thus hoovered up quickly last month. They are impossible to find now, and are trading at double the sale price on EBay, however JV has planned to issue more to coincide with the release of the movie in the fall. Many of the items from the last movie, Skyfall have now become very iconic. Probably the hardest to track down was the shirt that Bond wears when he is 'enjoying death' on the beach in Turkey. It turned out that this was actually a shirt from a previous season of budget retailer Zara's youth collection! It hadn't been a success, and after going on sale, hundreds of them were returned to the manufacturer and destroyed! By the time the film came out, it was almost impossible to find, and any examples that popped up were trading in the $500-700 range (for a kids shirt that was on sale at $11!)... Zara were contacted to ask for a re-run, but they didn't give a hoot. An enthusiast ended up sourcing the same material, and getting shirts made for those that wanted them, but that took two years.... I should point out that unlike for watches, reproductions and budget versions are perfectly acceptable. Aside from the sourcing difficulties, not everyone can drop 4k on a Tom Ford jacket or something like that. In fact there is a whole sub-division of 'frugal bond' clothing where people try to replicate the look for as little money as possible. At this point some of you must think I'm 🤨 but here you go.... This is not about 'thinking we are Bond' but it's surprising how good it feels to bring a little of that secret (agent) glamour into your every day life!

Here are some pics...

Sunspel T-shirt from Venice scenes in Casino Royale (this color didn't exist and was made on Craig's suggestion)


Sunspel polo shirt from the Bermuda scenes in CR


N Peal sweater from the Lodge Scene ( movie climax ) in Skyfall



Barbour jacket from the same scenes - note, this is an original limited edition Japanese designer piece. It has been altered around the collar to remove the hood zip in order to become 'screen accurate' as was done for Craig in the movie. Unfortunately the bottom button hole placement shows that it is a 'second edition' so not 100% screen accurate - Craig's bottom button is an inch or so higher 😵‍💫. Due to the popularity of this jacket, Barbour did a re-edition, without the hood, which can be bought as part of the regular range now (called the Commander)...


Adidas Gazelle trainers from when he has to re-train in Skyfall



Complete(ish) 'Enjoying Death' outfit - distressed Levi's leather jacket, copy of Zara shirt, Top-Man chinos ( yes Bond wears Top-Man .... UK readers should get a chuckle out of that!). To complete the outfit I should have Zara desert boots, but I didn't like them 😟 so I wear Crockett and Jones instead ( another Bond associated brand)...



Billy Reid pea coat from the skyscraper fight scene in Skyfall



And finally, complete outfit from Spectre - NPeal grey cashmere Turtleneck, JV Blue suede cafe racer jacket, stand in trousers for now (J Crew, look the same as the ones from the Spectre poster, which we think are Tom Ford but nobody is 100% sure yet) and Sanders Chukka boots.



Oh and these just arrived ... Danner boots from the snow scenes filmed in Solden


These are just part of the collection - feel free to ping me if you want any further info on any of this!

If this ends up like my watch collecting 🥰

Are you up for a pic in some of the Bond gear?

Me.

Expensive as a watch collection? No way. Still, a great but inexpensive"watchdog", right? Best of both worlds. Tell me his name is Doogal, because that's a Doogal if ever I saw one.

You just blew my mind!

Ha, I will just leave that to the imagination for now! 🙄

Just realised I have accumulated these over the years from my smoking days. Now I think I might want the Ronson or was it a Cartier (or whatever it was) that Connery as Bond used to light his Rolex watch face.

Are you a 10? Looks like there's one on Amazon right now - Gazelle 2

It's hard to tell on screen, but the 'correct' ones are black/grey apparently - I just preferred the blue ones 😲

Inexpensive ? At around £250GBP a paw and running costs that make watch servicing pale in to insignificance not a purchase to be taken lightly. If my good lady had her way we would have a full pack of the wee rascals 😀