TAILOR WHO CREATED THE BOND IMAGE

The original James Bond? Sean Connery, of course. And his original tailor? The name is Sinclair, Anthony Sinclair and in the great pantheon of fame dedicated to all things Bond, his name has received scant attention – until now.

Enter Mason, David Mason, the agent who is about to see that Sinclair gets his due recognition. A tall, ebullient fellow, David Mason has worked in and around the bespoke industry for over 30 years. Starting off in the bespoke shirt business as a gofer to augment his student spending money, as he studied for a degree in Chemistry at Manchester University, somewhere along the way the part-time work took over and he was lost to chemistry.

This lead him by a circuitous route to Savile Row, where he chanced upon Richard Paine. And Richard Paine is the cutter who took on Tony Sinclair’s business when Sinclair died in 1992.

“Once I knew his connection, I could see immediately the potential for developing the Anthony Sinclair brand,” says Mason. “But Richard wasn’t sure and so for over a decade we have occasionally discussed the possibilities.”

But with a great bandwagon now underway to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film being released, ‘Dr No’ in 1992, Mason decided it was now or never. And Richard Paine, now partially retired, agreed.

So, from the start of this year, Mason has been putting in place the foundation for what he sees as a global enterprise.

“We have set up Anthony Sinclair workrooms in Sackville Street,” he explains.

“This is the base for our bespoke work, with Richard Paine working with a younger team of tailors.”

Sean Connery’s first suit followed the Sinclair line that became known as the Conduit Cut. The tailor’s clientele included many Army men, who favoured something of a cavalry style – slim trousers, jacket with a high arm hole and hacking cut – and other customers also liked this styling. One of them was Terence Young, who happened to be the director of ‘Dr No’, and who brought Connery along to Sinclair to be suited. On such happy chance does the iconic image of Bond rely.

At top, Connery being fitted by Sinclair. Above, the latest Conduit Cut, and below Oddjob wearing the famous bowler that will be in a forthcoming exhibition at the Barbican, pic © 1964 Danjaq, LLC and United Artists Corporation. All rights reserved.

David Mason has had considerable experience in working with tailors on marketing projects, and has built up strong connections in the US. Though in his early days he did cut and make trousers and even jackets, he is modest about his tailoring capabilities and sees his role as building the brand on an international level.

“Bespoke will be our basis but obviously you are limited to making just a few suits at this luxury level. What we will also be offering is what I call our ‘Special Order System’  - yes, basically made-to-measure, but that term has become so debased, I prefer Special Order.”

A new Anthony Sinclair website went online in January and Mason has been stunned by the feedback. “Its had a lot of traffic and we have had contacts from 65 countries,” he says with some incredulity.

“The Bond brand is a phenomenon. The interest is amazing.” He acknowledges that to meet this interest, licencing agreements will be the way forward.

Interest will be further boosted by the brouhaha surrounding the Bond  50th anniversary, with a major exhibition to take place at London’s Barbican in July. To be organised by Eon Productions Group, makers of the Bond movies, it will feature all manner of Bond-related products, from cars, watches and lethal briefcases to the steel teeth of Jaws and Oddjob’s bowler. See www.barbican.org.uk/bond/

Sinclair made Bond’s wardrobe for the first movie. Other tailors were chosen for later movies, but the practice of ‘placement’ products saw Bond then being clothed by foreign names prepared to pay for the privilege. Ian Fleming would surely have blanched at his hero not wearing the best of Savile Row bespoke, whatever their international provenance. But David Mason aims to make sure that Bond’s very first tailor receives his share of the limelight.

Further information on the exhibition in the next edition.