Dressed To Kill: New Look For 'Quantum of Solace'

Quantum of Solace has developed a bit of reputation as the James Bond film that seemingly stops at no limits to set itself apart from the others: it’s the shortest yet, but perhaps packed with the most action, gone are the ‘Bond, James Bond’ and ‘shaken, not stirred’ lines, Olga Kurylenko (Camille) definitely sets herself apart from past Bond girls, the gunbarrel… well, if you haven’t seen the film yet, I won’t spoil it for you.

As the Telegraph reports, the costume design department was one area that definitely did not go unaffected by this essence of change. Led by Louise Frogley, who took over from series regular Lindy Hemming, the department aimed for a sleek look for Quantum of Solace.

Naturally, Daniel Craig dressed as 007 was the key look to get correct from the beginning.

‘Daniel’s Bond is unlike all the others,’ said costume supervisor Lindsay Pugh. ‘Before him, Bond was becoming a parody of himself. Daniel is not quite as tongue-in-cheek–he’s more real and gritty. The script, too, is more realistic. So it followed that there wouldn’t be any parodies in the costume.’

The first big change came in selecting leading American designer Tom Ford over Brioni, who had dressed Bond in GoldenEye through Casino Royale.

‘The Brioni suits were too relaxed,’ explained Pugh. ‘The way that Daniel wears his clothes required something sharper. For us, it was the perfect partnership–Tom Ford understood exactly what we needed, and worked hard to give us what we wanted, while staying within his own design.’

However, keeping in line with director Marc Forster’s wish to echo back to the early Bond films in Quantum of Solace, ‘there are a lot of nods to Connery’s Bond–we styled Daniel in a slightly Sixties way for this film.’

‘I was very excited when I was approached by [producer] Barbara Broccoli,’ said Ford. ‘Bond is a British style icon and to dress him is a huge privilege. As Daniel had been one of our customers in real life from the beginning, it was not hard to imagine what would look good on him and what he would like. I wanted Bond to be like the Tom Ford customer–chic, well-dressed, polished, yet leading an exciting life.’

According to Pugh, the new look for 007 certainly met expectations. ‘It is a stylised look,’ she said. ‘We wanted to strengthen Bond’s image and, with variations on the monochrome theme, gave him a sharper look–it’s a sort of uniform.’

However, Bond wasn’t the only character that received wardrobe makeover. According to Pugh, blacks, whites and silvery-greys were an integral part of the Quantum costume design for the film’s leading ladies, including Olga Kurylenko (Camille), Gemma Arterton (Agent Fields) and even Dame Judi Dench (‘M’).

‘For them we wanted toned-down starkness with unfussy lines and no frills,’ she said. ‘We didn’t want costume pieces. We just went to the shops. It turned out that Prada had most of the solutions.’

Click here for more about the costume design for the Bond girls.

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