Reproducing the cinema 007’s original suits

The original Anthony Sinclair (right) fits Sean Connery

Anthony Sinclair, the Savile Row tailoring house named after the man who supplied Sean Connery with his original 007 suits a half century ago, is reproducing two of the suits for an exhibit in London in July.

A STORY IN THE CURRENT ISSUE OF BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK MAGAZINE quotes David Mason, the creative director at Anthony Sinclair, about the effort. Also, you, too, can dress like the original film 007. Anthony Sinclair offers an “off-the-rack” version of the suits for 750 British pounds, or a tailored one starting at 2,000 pounds, according to the article.

The Anthony Sinclair Web site describes how the original Sinclair developed a look known as the Conduit Cut beginning in the late 1950s, named after Conduit Street where he was based. The Web site says, “The style is timeless, and as fresh today as it was when 007 first stepped onto the screen in 1962. When Sinclair retired, his shears were handed down to his apprentice, Richard W. Paine, who continues to work for the company today, maintaining the standard of exemplary quality and style set by the master.”

The Anthony Sinclair tailoring house also has a Conduit Cut weblog. An entry on APRIL 15 describes the origins of the effort to reproduce the 007 suits:

To help celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the Bond films, the Barbican in London is hosting an exhibition entitled, “Designing 007: Fifty Years of Bond Style”. However, most of the clothes made for the first actor, Sean Connery, have long disappeared, and so EON, the film’s producers, have approached Anthony Sinclair to request faithful reproductions of some of the pieces originally made by the company, including the famous evening suit worn by Connery in his first appearance as James Bond in the 1962 film, “Dr. No”. The records of production of these suits have also vanished from Sinclair’s archives, consequently the specifications for the remakes are being put together piece by piece, with the help of the exhibition’s curators, starting with the cloth.

The blog has had additional entries on APRIL 28, MAY 7 and MAY 19 concerning the work performed to come up with the 007 suit reproductions. The blog entries include some Bond film history, including how George Lazenby and Roger Moore were fitted by different tailors for their Bond films.

The John Cork-directed documentary Inside On Her Majesty’s Secret Service noted how Lazenby bought a suit by Sinclair to audition for the role. “Whilst this would have ensured that he looked the part for the screen test, it was as close as Sinclair’s tailoring got to the film production,” the Conduit Cut weblog says. The last Bond film featuring Sinclair suits was 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever, according to the weblog.