Bond 26 is nearly upon us. A new director (Denis Villeneuve) and writer (Steven Knight) have been signed. The Amazon empire, with its overflowing war chest, has took the helm. And now, a new, allegedly very young, Bond may soon be coronated.
Or at least that’s what the rumours are whispering. “Insiders say that the studio and producers are interested in casting a British actor under the age of 30,” reported Variety. The current list of front runners reportedly includes Tom Holland (29), Harris Dickinson (29), Jacob Elordi (28), and Timothée Chalamet (29). The obvious question is, of course, which of these Hollywood heartbreakers will be given the 007 rose at the end of the ceremony? But, maybe, the more interesting question is: What will this younger Bond going to wear?
After all, Bond has always been an older guy in his late thirties or forties. Hell, Roger Moore was 57 the last time he picked up the martini. In these versions, the suit fitteth the man. The former wore a lot of heavy wools and tweeds, plenty of dinner suits, the smart three-piece style. Pierce Brosnan was in overcoats and ’90s-style power suits. Daniel Craig’s era went for slim-fit Italian tailoring in greys and navies, which was of-the-time for the slim-fitted 2010s. (When Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd purred “There are dinner jackets and then there are dinner jackets” in Casino Royale, it was in reference to a very sexy, single-button Brioni tux.)
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Now, nobody’s saying the new Bond will be some doe-eyed 18-year-old. But many of the rumored contenders are technically on the cusp of Gen-Z because everyone and everything needs a little nickname. Nonetheless, there is a distinction in the way they dress and wear suits. A singular glance at runways or red carpets or your own social media pages will reveal a looser and wilder approach to tailoring. If they’re not branching out with shapes (i.e. boxier, roomier, baggier) and accessories (tie-alternatives, brooches, and even blinged-out necklaces reign), they’re doing it with pattern and colour (see: Timothée Chalamet wearing highlighter yellow to the Oscars).
So if a 28-year-old were to be cast as Britain’s greatest, most promiscuous superspy, what does that look like? Is he wearing the Bond uniform of classic tailoring? Or is he wearing a suit the way a stylish 28-year-old wears a suit in 2025? The boxed-out shape, odd colours, the flashy little details? Will his Savile Row guy have to factor in room for both his gun holster and his Lost Mary? Will he trade his shaken-not-stirred martini for an espresso martini BuzzBall? Wait. Does he even drink?
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Pro tailors on Savile Row have thoughts, which are especially pertinent when so many of them come from a long line of Bond outfitters. Dominic Sebag-Montefiore, creative director of Edward Sexton, and Davide Taub and Eithen Sweet, from Gieves & Hawkes, believe that current fashion trends and Italian suits should both stay strapped to GoldenEye’s exploding train. It’s British tailoring—the good old-fashioned version: clean, fitted, neat—that should lead the charge.
Thinking about the suits of Bond’s past, Sebag-Montefiore says they were not only “inherently masculine” but “very British” at the same time. “I think back to Sean Connery and Roger Moore with bespoke Cyril Castle and Dougie Hayward and these off Savile Row tailors who were making proper British suits with a bit of personality. They had a sense of formality, an old world elegance.”
