Last night, I saw Casino Royale for probably the seventh time.
Such a good movie.
There’s a scene in particular that encapsulates everything that we’re trying to achieve here at www.howtobedapper.com.
Bond comes into the bathroom where Vesper is doing her makeup. They are preparing for the big high-stakes poker tournament. The stakes are high in monetary terms but also sky-high in terms of intelligence in the fight against terrorism.
Bond presents Vesper with a dress, explaining that he wants her to look fabulous so that when she walks into the room, the other players are distracted by her beauty and glamour. There’s certainly unsaid reasons such as she’d raise his own status and his opponents would treat him with greater respect for having such a woman on his arm.
As he himself goes to change for the evening, he notices a suit on his bed. He strides incredulously back into the bathroom and asks Vesper why she’s bought him a dinner jacket when he already has one.
“There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets. This is the latter. I need you looking like a man who belongs at that table.”
Bond begins to protest but then he tries it on and whilst admiring himself in the mirror, we the viewer see his transformation complete from the newly-qualified Bond to the immaculately tailored Bond we know and love.
In this short scene, we see how important the right clothes are in getting the most out of life.
The right clothes in terms of the perfect fit, the right outfit, carrying yourself like a man are essential in conveying status and eliciting respect from the outside world.
Particularly in eliciting respect from serious players in all aspects of your life.
What we can learn from this scene:
- dress appropriately for the occasion. Bond is playing in a big leagues poker match in a grand hotel. A rental tux that doesn’t fit properly doesn’t come close to cutting it.
- dressing your absolute best gives you a serious edge over being ‘okay’ dressed. Bond felt the power of a tailored suit and knew that Vesper was 100% correct.
- dressing well gets you more respect from those around you. A no-brainer and a truth that regular readers with be very familiar with. Yet it’s incredible how few men do this.
Enjoy the scene here: