HOW TO DRESS LIKE THE IMPECCABLE ROGER MOORE
Following the actor’s death, Stephen Doig looks at how he became a British style icon…
In the great pantheon of Bond, it takes a bold figure to stand out amongst the myriad actors who have played the spy. Roger Moore, who passed away this week at 89, was one of the greats, not just for his icy stare or that throaty growl of a voice, but for being responsible for some of 007’s most iconic looks – and in turn, influencing the world of menswear beyond measure. There’s a reason that the white tuxedo jacket remains a lynchpin of evening attire; Moore and his stablemate Sean Connery’s donning of this classic piece remains a deft example of the rigours of exceptional tailoring.
It helped that Moore revelled in the stylistic elements of Bond; he’d previously designed his own wardrobe in TV series The Persuaders.
Moore was no stranger to Savile Row suiting either, bringing on board his personal tailors Douglas Hayward and Cyril Castle to update
Bond’s tailoring contingent, as well as introducing Mr Bond to the storied Italian house Brioni. What followed were jackets with broad peak lapels – 1970s in their aesthetic but just as statuesque today as they were in films like Live & Let
Die and The Spy Who Loved Me.
A lightweight suit he wears in The Man with the Golden Gun became a perennial of his off-duty wardrobe too; he knew the power of an impeccable suit off screen as well as on. His reign in the franchise also emphasised Bond’s identity as an exotic adventurer, taking up the safari jacket that Yves Saint Laurent had popularised a decade earlier.
Part of his style prowess came because he looked as at ease in a fresh, neat polo shirt as he did in the full kit and caboodle of formal tailoring. Of course, it helped that Moore himself was no slacker in the looks department; he had worked as a model before becoming an actor.
His was a classically British, glacially patrician kind of style; impeccably manicured 1930s sideswept style hair (images of him in black and white could be straight from an MGM movie), a jaw made for celluloid and a frame that carried a suit with aplomb.
If there are tenets to take away from the impeccable Mr Moore as Bond and beyond, it’s to ensure your suit is pin-sharp and tailored to your proportions – and venturing further than standard black or navy. Many of his more iconic suits are in greys, sand or pale blue tones; an ideal tack to take as temperatures soar this week.
And, in less structured mode, a safari jacket oozes a certain explorer charm, while a polo neck is a sleek alternative to a standard sweater (his black version – strapped with a gun holster in Live and Let Die predates any Milk Tray Man high jinks).
And when it comes to after-dark martinis shaken a certain way, never underestimate the power of a sharp white tuxedo.