I’m able to sit back of my chair and not feel like I’m being stabbed in the spine. Article by Daniel Gaster. (Field report 064).
Paying his respects
Bond on holiday in Matera with Madeline, goes and pays his respects to Vesper, who is buried nearby. Bond visits Vesper’s grave wearing the Massimo Alba ‘Sloop’ suit, Alexander Olch ‘Avery’ tie, a Brunello Cucinelli button down Oxford shirt, Drakes’ Chuck Boots, Barton Perreira Norton sunglasses and wearing a pair of Albert Thurston braces. These braces are in a Dove Grey colour, they have brown crock leather joints, leather ends and glit clips.
The Book From Tailors With Love, An Evolution of Menswear through the Bond Films is now available to order through Amazon. Co-authored by myself and Matt Spaiser of Bond Suits, this book was a project that took nearly 4 years to complete.
Film: No Time to Die (Screengrabs)
Bracing casually
Considering Bond is in a casual suit, on holiday, you’d think that he’d wear the trousers with a belt, considering the trousers have belt loops on them. However, Bond chooses to wear they trousers with braces. Not only that but these braces require the trousers to have brace buttons fitted within the waistband.
Bond goes to the effort of having braces buttons fitted, but not to the point of having the belt loops removed. Maybe he still wants the option to wear a belt?
The braces are one of three pairs seen Bond wearing. I’d say these are probably the nicest of the three. The others are seen later in the film, the Black TM Lewin dual end braces he wear with Evening Suit, and the N. Peal 007 braces worn with his Commando outfit.
Film: No Time to Die – Year: 2021 image sourced: Thunderballs.org
Comparing moiré
They are very similar to the Moiré braces we’ve seen him wear with various dinner suits. When you look closer though you can see that the Dove Grey material is a woven ribbed pattern. The leather joints are in a contrasting Leather in a dark brown crock, as are the ends to them as well, whereas the moiré joints and ends match the material colour of the braces.
Casino Royale Moiré braces
The clips are a gold ‘glint’ colour, similar to the Casino Royale braces. I bought mine fairly early on through Mason & Sons. At this point I owned the white moiré and a navy moiré, which I’d been wearing with my Anthony Sinclair suits, as these came with the braces button on the inside of the trouser waistband.
Fitting them and adjusting them was exactly the same, and once I was happy with the way they fit and felt I wore them in rotation with the others. I’d tend to pair them with by Church’s Ryder 3 boot in dark brown suede as these (at the time) were my only brown shoes that went with a suit. Although I only wear these braces with suits, it’s usually in a much more casual style then anything formal. But now I have some more formal brown shoes this might change.
Manufacturer: Albert Thurston
Observations
My only comment, which really isn’t a complaint just more of an observation, is that the croc leather parts creak when you move about. A little un-Bond, creaking when you move but over time this faded (or I stopped noticing). Unlike the Black dual end braces, I’m able to sit back of my chair and not feel like I’m being stabbed in the spine.
Purchase Price: £58.75
What if
In many ways I think that the colour pallets are right, but the wrong type of braces were used. The Dual End braces would have worked better with the Sloop Suit than with the Evening suit if you had the dual end braces in the Dove grey. For the evening suit, later on in the film, switch the Black dual-end braces with a pair of Albert Thurston black moirés braces.
Colour: Dove Grey
Holding the British end up
Like Bond I’ve had brace button fitted to the trousers of my Sloop suit so that I can add the braces, should I feel the need for them. Most of the time I wear them with a belt instead.
The presentation box that they come in is excellent, and celebrates 200 year of Albert Thurston, not sure if this has changed in the years since, I’d expect so. But whatever box them come in, they usually come impeccable presented. They also come with some buttons to have fitted to those pair of trousers you really want to wear them with (unless they already have the buttons in the waistband).
They don’t seem to be available from Mason & Sons anymore, Benson & Clegg still stock them on their website for £85, and you can always go direct to Albert Thurston as well.
Braces were very much seen as something maybe for a Dandy to wear. I feel they have been bought back into fashion, maybe by Bond and probably by others as well. I’ve enjoyed wearing braces, every now and then, it’s just a little bit different, and that’s alright.
Model: ‘No Time to Die’ Braces
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Article by Daniel Gaster. Be sure to follow Daniel on Instagram.
