Fashioning James Bond

Costume, Gender and Identity in the World of 007

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by Llewella Chapman

Type: Stories
Subject: One Film > James Bond
Keywords: James Bond, costumes, fashion
Publishing date: 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 336 pages
6 ¼ x 8 ½ inches (16 x 21.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-350-25848-8

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Book Presentation:
Fashioning James Bond is the first book to study the costumes and fashions of the James Bond movie franchise, from Sean Connery in 1962's Dr No to Daniel Craig in Spectre (2015). Llewella Chapman draws on original archival research, close analysis of the costumes and fashion brands featured in the Bond films, interviews with families of tailors and shirt-makers who assisted in creating the 'look' of James Bond, and considers marketing strategies for the films and tie-in merchandise that promoted the idea of an aspirational 'James Bond lifestyle'.

Addressing each Bond film in turn, Chapman questions why costumes are an important tool for analysing and evaluating film, both in terms of the development of gender and identity in the James Bond film franchise in relation to character, and how it evokes the desire in audiences to become part of a specific lifestyle construct through the wearing of fashions as seen on screen. She researches the agency of the costume department, director, producer and actor in creating the look and characterisation of James Bond, the villains, the Bond girls and the henchmen who inhibit the world of 007. Alongside this, she analyses trends and their impact on the Bond films, how the different costume designers have individually and creatively approached costuming them, and how the costumes were designed and developed from novel to script and screen. In doing so, this book contributes to the emerging critical literature surrounding the combined areas of film, fashion, gender and James Bond.

About the Author:
Llewella Chapman is a visiting scholar at the University of East Anglia, UK. She has previously written on Hampton Court Palace, 1920s silent cinema, 1960s American runaway films and the film director Joseph Losey. Her research interests include British cinema, film history, fashion and costume, and gender.

Press Reviews:
"This book uncovers the ingenuity involved in creating the costumes in James Bond films. From design to performance, it provides a thorough and insightful study of the many ways in which key characters were dressed both to impress and to kill." - Sarah Street, University of Bristol, UK

"Intensely refreshing … This indispensable book opens up the closet on six decades of Bond clothing. Like Bond with his fashion choices, Dr Chapman bends the rules, refusing to confine herself to a single gender. For once, it’s not merely the men’s garments garnering all of the attention … a useful reference work for years to come - for men, women and those who are both, or neither." - Licence to Queer

"This thoroughly researched and original book offers a comprehensive look at the role of fashion as an essential part of the James Bond films from the early 1960s to today. It is engagingly written and shows how sartorial design and elements of mise-en-scène have contributed to the fictional world of the 007 and film production more generally. By contextualizing the use of fashion in the James Bond films, it raises important questions on how the specific choices during the production processes had a seismic effect on costume, gender and identity." - Tobias Hochscherf, Kiel University of Applied Sciences & Flensburg University, Germany

"Fashioning James Bond provides a fascinating and comprehensive history of fashion in, and inspired by the James Bond Franchise. The book draws on thorough archival research and as such provides a unique insight into the process of costuming Bond – bringing together production studies, textual analysis and fashion history." - Claire Jenkins, University of Leicester, UK

"Llewella Chapman’s Fashioning James Bond is an exciting contribution to Bond studies and beyond in its focus on the vital role played by costume and fashion in film with the accompanying questions of agency, labour and issues of gender that lie behind the image of the smartly tailored suits iconic to the franchise. Fashioning James Bond is meticulously assembled using its sources to give attention to the evolutions in 007's wardrobe and style. In this book Chapman gives us a wonderful historical account of how James Bond and also other characters in the films have been fashioned over the years, to provide detail on the costumes and those involved in bringing them to the screen. With this account Chapman reveals that if we look beneath the surface style and past the Savile Row mythology there is opportunity to closely examine an important part of the world of James Bond." - Claire Hines, University of East Anglia, UK

"Like the fine detail on a GoldenEye Brioni suit, Oscar de le Renta gown from Licence to Kill or Angelo Vitucci piece from The Spy Who Loved Me, the glory of Chapman’s project here is in the research stitching and the academic fabric of her execution … From anecdotes about the cutters of London’s W1 to the tailoring wars, the boutique rivalries and the unwieldy eccentrics through to how a Bond actor walks into that world and the ideas bounce about again, this is a cracking study of what is more than brand identity and onscreen heroism." - Mark O’Connell

"Intensely refreshing … This indispensable book opens up the closet on six decades of Bond clothing. Like Bond with his fashion choices, Dr Chapman bends the rules, refusing to confine herself to a single gender. For once, it’s not merely the men’s garments garnering all of the attention … a useful reference work for years to come - for men, women and those who are both, or neither." - Licence to Queer

See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic

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