The New Brooks Brothers

[Nobilis Animus]

His own experiences are from the 1960s when his Circus was a bunch of older guys who went to Oxford in the 1930s and spent World War 2 lurking in the shadows while the cool kids hung out with Bomber Harris and Bernard Montgomery, so I believe the Smiley vs. Karla stuff but I have no idea how he manages to stay current with a world of secrecy. For Night Manager and maybe Tailor of Panama I saw he found some fanboys in the DEA who told him everything they could about Latin and South American shenanigans, but for his final works, which touched on the war on terror??? No idea.

I don't remember where I saw the bit about his tailor unfortunately. However he looks sharp enough in the 2011 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Anyone know who dressed these guys? I saw Bill Heydon was Huntsman.



Henry Cavill, who was considered too young back in 2006, is getting to be the right age, and certainly has the physical presence to portray a brutish Bond, but he might be too typecast as a goody two shoes. Plus if Man From UNCLE is any indication, he'll be more of a Moore than a Connery which I doubt is what fans want right now given the success of a brooding angry Craig.



Most people probably wouldn't notice this change but for #menswear nerds this was a probably a good choice. Bond is an outsider in his organization, and I think TF is good at making stuff that's just a bit different from the norm without getting too fashion forward. M can wear the Brioni.

I actually think Cavill would make a terrific Bond, but only if he takes on that brutish role. If they made it properly though, I can see him becoming bigger than Mad Men, Craig, etc.

If Tom Ford brought back his older suit models - the Windsor springs to mind - that would be perfect for Cavill if he lost a few pounds.

 

[Texasmade]

Cavill doesn’t look good in suits right now. He’s too bulky and looks weird whenever I see him in a suit.

 

[papado]

Cavill doesn’t look good in suits right now. He’s too bulky and looks weird whenever I see him in a suit.

He already almost rocks TF exclusively, but yeah he's too yoked to pull these off:

He makes the 3" O'Connor lapels and slimmer flaps look soo tiny too!

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

Cavill would make a good Bond, but the producers do not want to pick a big name who is associated with another franchise

 

[Nobilis Animus]

Cavill doesn’t look good in suits right now. He’s too bulky and looks weird whenever I see him in a suit.

Exactly what I'm saying. He needs to slim down a bit before he'd look good in a suit. And he definitely needs a wider lapel.

 

[stuffedsuperdud]

I wasn't doubting you, by the way, about Smiley and his tailor, I was just curious which book that was mentioned. I was not a huge fan of the 2011 film. I much prefer the Alec Guiness series. I think the book is just too rich and complex to work as a 2 hour movie. On the other hand, I thought the Night Manager series was excellent, probably in part because I don't recall anything from the book, which was not one of my favorites.

Heh no worries, I got what you meant. The 2011 movie didn't work for me at all, and no one to whom I showed it even understood what was going on, except that suddenly the movie crashed to a conclusion, and everyone liked the scene with the Christmas party. For book readers, I think Oldman was way too sexy and masculine as Smiley who comes off as a bit of a wuss. The Alec Guinness series was excellent and precisely what such a heavy book deserved. I didn't read Night Manager until after watching the show, and quite frankly the show was much better.

Exactly what I'm saying. He needs to slim down a bit before he'd look good in a suit. And he definitely needs a wider lapel.

This is a weird thing to see because he's not simply big like an IFBB pro, but was made quite proportional a la Michaelangelo's David in order to portray Superman. If anything is a bit too big, it's probably his shoulders, to add to the superhero illusion, which is hard to make look bad, right? The gray one is TF, I think. It looks almost...overtailored? Like 2010 Indochino on a fat guy. Maybe there was only so much they could do with a TF EU58 template? Iono, maybe one of the professionals can weigh in on the proportions. Should I fire up the @Despos signal?

The petty part of me likes how even a hypertalented megastud like Henry Cavill can have a less-perfect day from time to time.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

This is a weird thing to see because he's not simply big like an IFBB pro, but was made quite proportional a la Michaelangelo's David in order to portray Superman. If anything is a bit too big, it's probably his shoulders, to add to the superhero illusion, which is hard to make look bad, right? The gray one is TF, I think. It looks almost...overtailored? Like 2010 Indochino on a fat guy. Maybe there was only so much they could do with a TF EU58 template? Iono, maybe one of the professionals can weigh in on the proportions. Should I fire up the @Despos signal?

The petty part of me likes how even a hypertalented megastud like Henry Cavill can have a less-perfect day from time to time.

The thing is that TF has a bespoke, or at least made-to-measure, suit option. If Cavill wasn't so bulky he could easily be accommodated. As it is the waist of his suits have to be in proportion to his chest, and that makes the former wider while the upper body is way too tight bbecause of his bulk. A wider frame can be dealt with, but a lot of muscle is hard to fit.

He would probably look a lot better in something with more seams and possibilities for a close fit. For example, he looked far better in a frock coat for the Enola Holmes film. A similar silhouette can be achieved with a bespoke tailcoat or dinner jacket.

As an aside, that's one of the things that ties the discussion in with Bond and even Brook Brothers: the dearth of proper tailoring for evening clothes. They have the potential to look so much more elegant, but most men are either wearing coats cut like suit jackets or else never bothering. Suits are meant to be an everyday garment - they don't fit or look nearly well enough for truly sharp tailoring. That's achieved in formal clothes.

 

[TheShetlandSweater]

He would do better in Neapolitan tailoring. Shoulder pads make you look bulkier and when you have big shoulders already, you don't want to look bulkier.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

He would do better in Neapolitan tailoring. Shoulder pads make you look bulkier and when you have big shoulders already, you don't want to look bulkier.

Definitely, he'd need something without all the padding. I'd also prefer to see his buttoning point lowered.

 

[smittycl]

Frankly it would be nice to see the Bond character take a decade-long break. Give it a rest for a while.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Frankly it would be nice to see the Bond character take a decade-long break. Give it a rest for a while.

But Tom Ford may not be around then.

 

[emiratiAL]

Frankly it would be nice to see the Bond character take a decade-long break. Give it a rest for a while.

Agreed. The recent JB movies have offered nothing new for a long time now.

 

[classicalthunde]

Please, I'm begging you. Take this Bond talk to the nerd and spy thread.

I'm all for a spy film nerd thread, I would love a DWW menswear breakdown or inspiration album of Three Days of the Condor

Frankly it would be nice to see the Bond character take a decade-long break. Give it a rest for a while.

I didnt realize that this most recent gap is tied for the longest with the Dalton to Brosnan transition, I think a decade would be good

Huge Le Carre/Smiley fan, always thought of him as the anti-bond...fat, short, academic, and bureaucratic. I gave his last two books a whirl this summer and thoroughly enjoyed them as well, particularly A Legacy of Spies...it would have been a nice note to end on

 

[smittycl]

I'm all for a spy film nerd thread, I would love a DWW menswear breakdown or inspiration album of Three Days of the Condor



I didnt realize that this most recent gap is tied for the longest with the Dalton to Brosnan transition, I think a decade would be good

Huge Le Carre/Smiley fan, always thought of him as the anti-bond...fat, short, academic, and bureaucratic. I gave his last two books a whirl this summer and thoroughly enjoyed them as well, particularly A Legacy of Spies...it would have been a nice note to end on

I got into Alan Furst for a while. He writes very atmospheric WWII espionage stories. I almost imagine them in black and white as they have an old Hollywood movie feel. Not as sweeping and detailed at Le Carre or Ludlum but short and very well done.

 

[Marshdrifter]

As much as I enjoyed "Agent Running in the Field"...

A Canadian-focused website is something I've wanted for quite a while, and brooksbrothers.com now automatically redirects to brooksbrothers.ca for me. This is exciting because Canada tends to exist in the liminal space where it's not international enough to warrant using a non-US website and is too international in that it still incurs all the downsides of dealing with duties and currency exchange rates.

Except that there isn't anything there, yet. I can't redirect back to the US website, so there's no possibility for online browsing right now.