Sunspel to launch line inspired by 007 and his author in March.
The Ian Fleming Collection from Sunspel. Click here for info.
Ian Fleming was a devoted fan of Sea Island cotton. He frequently wore the fabric, and often dressed his literary creation, James Bond, in it too. In homage, Sunspel and The Ian Fleming Estate have come together to produce a range of menswear made from the same rare material.
The Ian Fleming collection includes crisp shirts, soft fully fashioned knitted Polo Shirts, jumpers and classic T-Shirts, all in a cool, restrained palette of white, navy, sky blue, grey and green.
Sunspel’s Sea Island Cotton Camp Collar Shirt
Fleming was fascinated by this fine cotton. He loved to wear it, particularly at Goldeneye, his house in Jamaica where he wrote all 14 James Bond books, but both he and Bond favoured the material wherever they were, from their shirts to their boxer shorts.
“He had shaved, gargled with a sharp mouthwash, and now, in a battered black and white dogtooth suit, dark blue Sea Island cotton shirt and black silk knitted tie, he was walking softly, but not surreptitiously, along the corridor to the head of the stairs, the square leather case in his left hand.”
Ian Fleming, in his novel Moonraker (1955)
Sea Island cotton accounts for only 0.0004% of the world’s cotton supplies, making it one of the rarest cottons. It takes great skill to spin its fine fibres, but when spun it produces the softest, silkiest cotton imaginable. Sunspel has a long history with this much sought-after, handpicked long-staple cotton and still imports it from the Caribbean. This season Sunspel has used it to make a distinctive collection characterised by great softness. The fine uniform texture, silky lustre, and great tensile strength of the cotton create clothes that are remarkably long lasting.
The Sunspel design team looked to the Fifties, when Fleming brought his daring spy hero, James Bond, to life. Hence the inclusion of the camp collar shirt and short sleeve knitted Polo which both have a retro mid-century feel to them.
The Ian Fleming collection is available at Sunspel stores and online at Sunspel.com, as well as at international stockists including Fortnum & Mason, Printemps and Holt Renfrew.
