Costume designer Lindy Hemming, a veteran of five previous James Bond adventures, collaborated with director Campbell and Craig to get just the right look for the newest 007.
In addition to addressing the director and star’s desire for a more realistic, less stylized wardrobe for Bond, Hemming says the clothes Craig wears throughout the course of the film reflect the arc of his character. “In the script, Bond has to go through many down and dirty undercover experiences. At the beginning of the film he’s undercover, so he has to blend in with his background. The result is that he doesn’t look like the traditional Bond at all. But as soon as he goes off to the Bahamas, we see him dress up more. He becomes more elegant, and, by the time he appears at the Casino, he’s wearing his tuxedo, which is the established Bond look. As he becomes more comfortable with his 007 status, he dresses more stylishly.”
Hemming also took heed of Craig’s off-set style of dressing when designing Bond’s costumes. “Daniel is interested in clothes, and he dresses really well. He wanted to go with the classic look, but keep it looking real rather than costumed. For example, for the evening suit, he was happy to go with Brioni, the Italian design company we’ve used on the last four films, because he knows and likes their style. But, because of Daniel’s more muscular physique, the evening suit is a new shape, so he looks modern in it. It’s fashionable to wear suits at the moment, so it doesn’t look anachronistic, and Daniel likes the tailored look.”
One outfit likely to attract attention is the short, form-fitting swimsuit Bond wears when he emerges from the sea outside Solange and Dimitrios’ Bahamian home. The scene pays lighthearted homage to unforgettable moments from two previous Bond films, explains Hemming. “We’ve obviously done that scene slightly tongue-in-cheek, following the Ursula Andress and Halle Berry bikini scenes in Dr. No and Die Another Day. Daniel’s wearing brief swimming trunks, which are very fashionable now, and are a much more European look than the baggy things that everyone has been wearing for ages. Not every man would suit these, but Daniel looks fantastic, so I think the audience will love it.”
Of course, audiences are likely to pay at least as much attention to the attire gracing the film’s female characters, and Lindy Hemming takes care to dress the actresses in appropriately glamorous style. “Ideally I’d like to design all the dresses and have them made, but physically that’s not possible. So I thought we needed to involve high-fashion designers to get a buzz going about the clothes.”
On dressing Vesper, the Treasury official who becomes the first real love of Bond’s life, Hemming says, “Eva’s a gift to dress. She’s got a fantastic figure and she loves clothes. We decided to go a little bit retro, with nods to old movies, especially in her first two suits, which we wanted to remind people of Katharine Hepburn’s look. One suit is Armani, and the other I designed. Italian designer Roberto Cavalli was very helpful. We looked at his collection, from which he gave us a lot of evening wear, and discussed what we wanted for her first dress at the Casino. Roberto made the purple evening dress for us in a hurry, and I had to send an assistant to his factory to ensure it all went to plan and on time.
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