With James Bond turning 50 and Adele singing the epic title track, there are a few constants in Bond’s life that never seem to cease including fast cars, martinis-shaken not stirred, lots of gadgets and many, many women. ‘Skyfall’, the newest installment of the Bond franchise, out now, is no exception except for a few notable differences like the new Bond girls named Eve and Sévérine (see below).

Eve as portrayed by Naomie Harris(R), plays an M16 agent who’s also Bond’s sidekick.  Sadly, as usual, the sidekick’s struggle of intending to be Bond’s equal comes with little to no success.  Sévérine, played by Bérénice Marlohe (L) assumes the role of femme fatale with the looks to go with it.  Now with any Bond film, I am always excited to see what new gadgets ‘Q’s’ concocted in his lab, who are the Bond girls + what will they be wearing.  Then I got to thinking – what off the A/W12 runways, would these ladies wear, being so different in personality, character + purpose in ‘Skyfall’?

Since Eve is supposed to be an agent similar to Bond – having to be able to meet-and-greet with the utmost charm one minute then jumping onto a moving train the next – her looks needed to be not only stylish and functional but they also needed to be tailored like Bond’s famous bespoke suits.  

For DAY, I figured Eve would be a chick very much into leather.  Sometimes form fitting, her looks could never be too tight, in case she needed to conceal more than one weapon, like Bond, as seen in the front leather looks by Helmut Lang and in the back by DKNY.  With the Balmain look in the back left, I see Eve wearing this on her day off yet called into the office unexpectedly – although very relaxed, the pant’s detail still shows her love for tailoring + true craftsmanship. The center look by Altazurra, is also a bit relaxed – here, Eve still looks feminine wearing a new spin on the classic peacoat bearing girly details like the fur collar and high leather-trimmed pockets.   For DAY, these looks for Eve display the right amount of authority, no-nonsense + bespoke fun.

For EVENING however, I decided to turn it up a notch, as this is Eve’s time to shine, have fun + play up a ‘girl’ while on the job.  Yet, through my search, I was conscious of maintaining her ‘Bond integrity’ by finding her looks as bespoke as Bond’s ‘all too perfect’ tux ensembles.

That being said, I pulled the first two front looks by Donna Karan which are very tailored with cuffs but, serve their own bit of sex appeal differently – the one to the left, a fitted dress, has a high slit with arms, shoulders and upper chest covered in black sheerness while the center front look, is a black fitted bustier top jumpsuit complete with white cuffs. The right front look is a black opaque sequined fitted floor length gown by Diane Von Furstenberg, that although very ‘serious’ looking, it’s still pretty sexy with the wearer’s shoulders exposed.  The background looks is where Eve takes some chances with color like the blush strapless Oscar de la Renta look on the left to the white deep V front dress with embellished side panels along the waist by Bibhu Mohapatra.  Overall, with each of these evening looks, Eve can still serve a lot of sass + sex but still be able to chase the ‘bad guy or girl’ with no problem and conceal whatever necessary weapons.

For the femme fatale, there is always that moment when we first see her on the screen and more times than not, the outfits are always killer and for my imagination, the same had to be the case.  For Sévérine’s character, since she’s somewhat enigmatic + very gorgeous, her DAY looks in particular seemed to belong to a schizophrenic – wanted to give her the aura of never knowing what she was going to wear next (as seen below).

For DAY, Sévérine favored both skirts and pants.  Take the Roksanda Ilnincic look on the front left and the Genny look in the background left – in the front she plays up luxurious texture in a 50’s silhouette while in the back in turtleneck floral burnout crimson number, she slithers about.  These two ensembles look typical of a ‘bad’ Bond girl, as they all usually have money and predictably prefer anything tight and very feminine.  

Then you have the ‘wild card’ looks like the Guy Laroche golden ensemble of a silky velvet skirt with a complimentary baseball shirt style top with contrasting sleeves in the same velvet and the Alexander Wang leather look with an asymmetrical tight fitting skirt and jacket.  With the center look, a grey plaid jumpsuit by L.A.M.B. complimented by black panels and drawstring waist just screams ‘Bitch’ paired with those high-heeled shoes.

For EVENING, ‘more’ came into play in showing more skin and more drama.

For me, Sévérine has a ‘soft spot’ for sheerness hence the Genny jumpsuit in the front left, the Alberta Ferretti floor length sparkly number in the back right and the Emilio Pucci floor length dress with sheer frontal chevron in the front right.  The back left number by Saint Laurent, is a jumpsuit with a plunging neckline down to the waist – I could easily envision Sévérine wearing this in a scene where she’s torturing a prisoner during questioning, preferably Bond.  Finally, there’s this center red number by Michael Kors that screams classic femme fatale a la film noir – the coat with such an obnoxious collar, is very ‘in your face’ and the whole silhouette is just sumptuously beautiful.

Then I got to thinking of past Bond girls and how memorable a lot of them were not only on how beautiful – from their face to their bodies to their style – but more memorable was their names.  Along with ‘Skyfall’ and a lot more other contemporary installments, the names of the Bond girls have failed miserably, simply being boring and ordinary like the current Eve +  Sévérine.  True, a lot of the past Bond girls were intentionally objectified but boy, what names – double-entendres at their finest – would make any self-respecting drag queen proud!

(photo: film stills)

In ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, you had Plenty O’Toole played by Lana Wood, Ursula Andress as Honey Rider in ‘Dr. No’ and Pussy Galore played by Honor Blackman in ‘Goldfinger’.

(photo: film stills)

In ‘Moonraker’ you had Lois Chiles as Holly Goodhead and Maud Adams as Octopussy in ‘Octopussy’.

(photo: film stills)

Then of course, you had Britt Ekland as Mary Goodnight in ‘Man With The Golden Gun’, Trina Parks as Thumper, the first black woman to seduce Bond, in ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ and Jacqueline Bissett as Miss Goodthighs in the original ‘Casino Royale’.  Ahh, sexism never sounded so good.

In the end, no matter if you’re bad or good, as a Bond Girl, you always have style.