Dressing a Bond Girl: Dr No. & Goldfinger

In honour of the 24th Bond film, Spectre, coming out in November, I've decided to do a series of posts on the design and styling of the Bond girls. Whilst ideally I would wax lyrical in depth about every piece of clothing worn by every Bond girl, that would take forever. So I'll be posting about various outfits that I think were spot-on, whilst going through the films chronologically.

DR NO: HONEY RYDER

One heck of a screen entrance

The moment Ursula Andress emerges from the sea in a skimpy white bikini singing 'Underneath the Mango Tree' is regularly cited as the best known bikini of all time and an iconic moment in cinematic history. 

The ivory cotton bikini was also worn with a white British Army belt with brass buckles and a scabbard on one side for a knife. It is the only version made for and worn by Andress.

In 2001 the bikini was auctioned by Andress at Christie's in London for £35,000. 


 

 

GOLDFINGER

 

SHIRLEY EATON: THE ORIGINAL GOLDEN GIRL
Another iconic Bond girl moment is when Jill Masterson (played by Shirley Eaton) is killed by Goldfinger's cronies. It took between 1 hour and 30 minutes and 2 hours to fully paint Eaton. To protect her modesty, she is wearing nipple cones (these gained notoriety when Madonna wore a boob cone bra on her 1990 tour).

There was a belief at the time that the skin was a site where respiration took place. As such, a doctor was always present whilst filming this scene since people thought the gold paint could kill by suffocating Eaton's skin. As a further security measure, a patch of skin across Eaton's stomach was left unpainted (you can see this below, its like a stripe down her tummy).

Goldfinger was a huge international success and was the highest grossing film of 1964 in the US. Despite only appearing in a small part of the film, Masterson sprawled over a bed, shining with gold paint is certainly one of, if not the, most memorable image from the film.

Original posters from the film's release 50 years ago are rare and can command vast sums of money. Check out:http://www.moviepostermem.com/Goldfinger-Poster/58296 .




GOLDFINGER: PUSSY GALORE
PG's gold waistcoat continues the theme of gold within the film (Goldfinger himself always wears gold apart from when he dons an army uniform, and then he uses a golden gun). In line with her name, the waistcoat is quite provocative; simultaneously it adds a sense of masculinity - this is a Bond girl that can fight.

Costumes that appeared in the earlier Bond films were soon sold, recylced or thrown away so the original gold waistcoat does not survive. However, costume designer Lindy Hemming, who has produced clothing for more recent Bond films, managed to create a replica for the 'Designig 007' exhbition that happened a few years ago.

Another favourite of mine, is Pusy Galore's purple ensemble. Now I don't know many people that would necssarily wear two shade of the same colour together, but it kinda works in this instance.

Featuring a lavender wrap around shirt and mauve figure hugging trousers, Galore looks super smart and sexy. The choice of purple (apart from matching the character's "violet" eyes), gives us a break from seeing so much gold everywhere.

However, purple is still a colour very much associated with wealth and opulence.
In the past, the process involved in making purple dye was long and expensive. As such, it became a colour worn only by the very rich and powerful: from Roman emperors and Byzantine Kings to Catholic priests and 19th Century aristocracy.

Which look do you prefer?

Let me know what you think !

x x 

'Dressing a Bond Girl' will return with THUNDERBALL & YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE