When
Ian Fleming, formerly of British Naval Intelligence and a dropout of
Sandhurst, wrote the James Bond novels, he thought he was making a
living as a writer. He had no idea that his work was, eventually, to
define the style and appearance of the world criminal and evil genius
in the cinema of the West.
Although
it is not clear exactly why it is that the idiosyncratic but elegant
mad geniuses of the Bond movies prefer the Eastern style of men's
suits, prefer it they do. From Dr. No to Elliot Carver to Ernst
Stavro Blofeld, they all prefer their jackets to have a Nehru collar
and their suits to be the one preferred by Mao Zedong, Chairman of
the Communist Party of China.
But
which one is it? The Mao suit or the Nehru jacket? And what are the
implications of this choice? Lets examine the evidence and define our
terms.
A truly elegant and imposing evil genius
A
brief search on the Internet, that bold new paradigm, reveals an
essay on this very topic by Sonya Glyn Nicholson entitled “The Mao
Suit and the Nehru Jacket” which you can read here on the
parisiangentleman.co.uk website.
Why
it should be that the fashion website “Parisian Gentleman” is
located in the United Kingdom is a mystery but it probably is a
result of Globalization which combines the strength and elegance of
the British tailoring industry with the importance of Paris
as a capital of culture and style.
What
Ms. Nicholson explains is that the defining characteristic of the
Nehru jacket, so named because Jawaharal Nehru, the first Prime
Minister of India after its independence from England, famously used
to wear this style of jacket when being photographed with other world
leaders, is its Mandarin Collar. It is this collar, up to two
inches high of unfolded material, combined with the lack of lapels,
that makes the Nehru jacket distinctive. The jacket is also generally
tailored to fit the form of the wearer. It is a jacket very suited
to wear at an elegant dinner party.
Missiles are only the first step to show our power
Prime Minister Nehru and his Western sycophants
Ms.
Nicholson goes on to explain that the Mao suit, so named for its use
by the great revolutionary leader of the People's Republic of China,
Mao Zedong, is a complete suit, not merely a jacket. It has a boxy cut, four
pockets with a practical button, no lapels, and most of all
The strongest characteristic of the Mao is the short and rigid fold-over collar, with rounded points extended no further than the base of the band.
Dr.
No at Dinner
Elliot
Carver Announcing Satellite Network
Ernst
Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE Introduces Himself
But the most interesting question still remains. Yes, I think we have shown the obvious, never doubted fact that men's fashion has been affected by the design choices of the 007 films. But what does it all mean? We still want to know why they feel compelled to wear this style of suits. What is going on in their master criminal minds?
I have the following theories. The first is that it is nothing more than these outsider geniuses, forced by society to prove their genius, have spent significant time in the mysterious and exotic East where this style of fashion is anything but exotic. Thus, they merely see themselves as well-dressed and they are, and would be quite conventional in Mumbai or Beijing. The second theory is that this fashion style is a choice designed to appeal to the fears of the Westerner to the dangers and mystery of the East. In a sense it is a form of backhanded stereotyping, but not negative stereotyping. The East is dangerous and thus somewhat appealing and these geniuses of crime are therefore styled to evoke that Eastern feeling.
Even comic evil geniuses have affected this style
_________________________________________________________
Notes
Tomorrow
Never Dies (1997) on IMDB
Thunderball
(1965) on IMDB
Dr.
No (1962) on IMDB
Jawaharlal
Nehru
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