Next month sees the opening of an exhibition at the Barbican to commemorate fifty years of James Bond on the big screen. The exhibition’s curaters, Bronwyn Cosgrave and Lindy Hemming, who was costume designer on several of the Bond films, have had unprecidented access to the archives of EON Productions and exhibits include “original outfits, trinkets, models, macquettes, photographs, storyboards and even cars”, including the bikini worn by Ursula Andress in Dr No. According to an article in the Telegraph, other exhibits include:
Daniel Craig’s similarly skimpy briefs in 2006’s Casino Royale; the actual, surprisingly hefty model of Zorin’s airship that Bond tethered to the Golden Gate Bridge in A View to a Kill (1985), along with Bond’s famously exploding briefcase, Christopher Lee’s similarly lethal Golden Gun, and even 7ft 2in killer Jaws’s metal teeth. All that, and entirely original designer dresses and dinner-suits from the films, of a quantity and quality that would make Milan Fashion Week look dowdy by comparison – plus, a certain DB5, in all its silvery glory.
After entering the exhibitiion through a giant gunbarrel the exhibition will be organised into different rooms:
…take a peek into M’s office, saunter through a casino (complete with every last piece of Bondish detail) and, in the “Ice Palace”, explore Bond’s noted fondness for winter sports. And there also promises to be plenty of smaller, quirkier exhibits, from a hilarious photograph of the battalion of fluffy white cats used in making Diamonds Are Forever (1971) to the impeccably faked passport that Daniel Craig was given, along with false Amex and BA privilege card, to help him get into character.
“Designing 007 – Fifty Years of Bond Style” will be on at The Barbican from July 6th.
