Will Tom Ford’s fashions suit die-hard 007 fans?
When Tom Ford announced he’ll be dressing Daniel Craig in November’s James Bond flick, “Quantum of Solace,” it made sense to anyone who has watched the fashion rock star’s meteoric rise in the menswear arena. Ford went from launching his eponymous line to dressing Bond in just 14 months.
But what’ll it take to win the allegiance of the die-hard followers of Bond style, who keep the flame burning with websites such as CommanderBond.net and Bond Lifestyle, order their martinis shaken not stirred and spend hours online debating the finer points of the fictional character’s fashion, treating it with the same sartorial reverence as women treat “Sex and the City”? The guys who apparently don’t know Ford from Blofeld’s baby-sitter?
“Tom Ford, he’s not that old, right?” asked Remmert van Braam, the 28-year-old from Amsterdam who runs Bond Lifestyle. “Is he from England?”
Van Braam thinks Ford’s $3,800 off-the-rack starting price for a suit might be a little steep, but he knows from experience that the appetite for Bond merchandise is unlimited.
“People pay 2,000 or 3,000 euros for those Omega watches with the little 007 on them,” he said. So will the Dutchman be buying himself a Ford tux any time soon? “I’m really into cuff links,” he said. “Are his cuff links in that movie?”
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