007,

James Bond 047 of 50 things to do before seeing Skyfall – Visit the Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style Exhibition at the Barbican

Friday, July 13, 2012 Craig Grobler 0 Comments

DESIGNING 007 FIFTY YEARS OF BOND STYLEIf you read The Establishing Shot you will know that I have been looking forward to seeing the Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style exhibit for months now - last week I shot up to the Barbican to view the collection in the very first session.

Bear in mind that I have visited almost every James Bond related exhibition that has taken place over the last couple of years in London (not BOND IN MOTION as yet) and I may have been spoilt. I wasn't sure what to expect as intentionally avoided any bits prior to my visit to enjoy any surprises if you wish to do the same stop reading now and head over to the Barbican. The Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style is exactly what is says on the tin -an exhibition dedicated to the elements of Bondology that have made James Bond such an enduring legacy (& longest running franchise) - the iconic look and style of Bond.

Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style goes behind the curtains and looks at some Bond’s most iconic elements and the work and creative processes that goes into making them as memorable as they are. The exhibit looks at the design of the sets, outfits, characters, gadgets, look and feel of James Bond.
Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style

The Barbican marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond franchise, from 1962's Dr No to this year's Skyfall, with a unique exhibition showcasing the inside story of the design and style of the world's most influential and iconic movie brand.

Where: 
Barbican Centre

Silk Street London 
EC2Y 8DS

Exhibition Dates:
6 Jul – 5 Sep 2012

Opening Hours:

Sun – Wed: 11am – 8pm
Thu – Sat: 10am – 9.30pm

For tickets and more info:
head here!

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Designing 007 Fifty YEars of James Bond Style
Designing 007 Fifty Years of James Bond Style
Created in collaboration with EON Productions by AB Rogers Design and curated by the Barbican, with guest curator fashion historian Bronwyn Cosgrave and Oscar winning costume designer Lindy Hemming.

The Barbican marks the 50th anniversary of James Bond with a unique exhibition showcasing the inside story of the design and style of the world’s most influential and iconic movie brand: http://www.barbican.org.uk/bond/

The exhibition is housed over two floors of the Barbican Centre and comprises of over 400 items from across James Bond’s 59 year career. The exhibition includes; gadgets, vehicles, props, costumes, video and sounds for an interactive celebration of Bond style see further below for more information on items exhibited.

In case you are wondering Ian Fleming published Casino Royale in 1953 but the Barbican exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise from 1962’s Dr No to this year’s Skyfall.

The video below focuses on the creation of the iconic world inhabited by James Bond over 50 years. We spend time with award winning set designer, Sir Ken Adam; as well as Aston Martin’s Head of Design; along with the designers and the makers of the legendary Golden Gun.

Video: Designing Bond's World

Designing Bond's World from Barbican Centre on Vimeo.

Heading to the Barbican’s Curve gallery where the bulk of the exhibition is on display across  11 main areas and 3 others, each covering an iconic theme and items pertaining to that theme. The 11 areas are: Fifty Years Of James Bond, Iconic Sequences, Title Sequences, Gold, Ian Fleming, M’s Office, Q Branch, Casino, Foreign Territories, Villains & Enigmas and Ice Palace. Full of pieces from James Bond history. The exhibition is cleverly thought out and beautifully put together with a rich range of items on display.

My highlights of the Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond
Walking in off Silk Street past the Fifty Years Of Bond display you are greeted by the most iconic and stylish of all James Bond’s cars his DB5 used by Pierce Brosnan in the opening scene from GoldenEye. Which is retro fitted to look like the Goldfinger Aston Martin including the BMT 216A licence plate.

Walking through a gun barrel entrance into the Gold Area, which has a life size model of the Golden Girl Shirley Eatons’s Jill Masterson from Goldfinger which housed some great pieces like Scaramanga’s Golden Gun, golden hit records and a replica of Goldfinger’s jacket amongst others.

Lindy Hemming Christopher Nolan's secret weapon
M’s Office & Q Branch between them housed the bulk of the gadgets and memorabilia from Bond. There are lots of spectacular  pieces to view –to many to list. But my eye was caught by James Bond’s Drivers License that officially lists James Bond’s home address as:

James Bond
61 Horseferry Road
Westminster
London
S.E.1

This was from a drivers license used in the Brosnan era Tomorrow Never Dies. 61 Horseferry Road would actually be in the post code SW1P

The Casino Area is beautiful and covered not only casino’s but the glamour of Bond nightlife in general with some stunning outfits and a recreation of the Casino Royale Black Jack table.

There are also Bond Lifts, the Bond Shop and after 5 you can pop into the Designing 007 Martini Bar for cheeky one.
Video: Designing Bond's Look
This video is a short study into James Bond’s personal style, meeting award winning costume designer, Lindy Hemming; and a handful of bespoke tailors who have been instrumental in shaping and crafting this icon of style over 50 years.

The Barbican marks the 50th anniversary of James Bond with a unique exhibition showcasing the inside story of the design and style of the world’s most influential and iconic movie brand: http://www.barbican.org.uk/bond/

Skyfall items on display
For Bond fans looking out for clues pertaining to the upcoming Bond 23 release Skyfall there were lean pickings but I identified all of the Skyfall items on display below:

In Area 6 - M’s Office
1. You can seethe iconic leather padded door of M’s office and right next to it M’s door from Skyfall.
2. 2. Behind the door you can see stationary used on M’s desk in Skyfall

In Area 8 - Casino
3. You can view Bérénice Marlohe’s Severine dress from Skyfall designed by Jany Temime
4. As well as Severine dress concept illustrations by Warren Holder

In Area 2 – Iconic Bond
5. Although not strictly from Skyfall you can see the James Bond’s DB5 used by Pierce Brosnan in the opening scene from GoldenEye. Which is retro fitted to look like the Goldfinger Aston Martin driven by Sean Connery including the BMT 216A licence plate - which is the same car design used in Skyfall. This is ambiguously titled in the exhibit but we confirmed this with the Designing 007 team.

Overall the Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style exhibition is a stunning look into the world of James Bond that will keep both Bondophiles and casual visitors enthralled. The focus of the exhibit is the style of Bond and much work has gone to making sure the exhibit looks good. The layouts and sets are absolutely stunning. For an exhibit focussed on style there are a surprising number of props and gadgets on display. Ranging from design work, concepts, costumes, props, gadgets as well as filmmaking memorabilia from Bond film shoots.

Not as all encompassing as the Science Museum’s James Bond – the Official 007 Exhibition of 2003, it has a wider variety of items, albeit less detailed than the Imperial War Museum's 2008 For Your Eyes Only Ian Fleming and James Bond Exhibition.

Talking about Ian Fleming I thought the Ian Fleming Area was a bit light, possibly understandably so, as this was an exhibition about the look and style we see on screen but it would have been nice to seen more of Ian Fleming's influences on Bond and how they made it to screen

Slideshow: 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style

As a Bondologist it would been great to see more of the workings and creative process that went into making some of the items and outfits.There is an accompanying book to Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style available that may explore this further but more detail would have been welcome.

Designing 007 – Fifty Years Of Bond Style opened to the public on Friday 6 July and will run until 5 September 2012 when it will then tour internationally over a three year period.

For tickets and more info head over to: http://www.barbican.org.uk/bond/

The Barbican Centre is proud to present the launch of
DESIGNING 007 -FIFTY YEARS OF BOND STYLE

WITH SPECIAL GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE INCLUDING:
MICHAEL G WILSON & BARBARA BROCCOLI, AND GUEST CURATORS LINDY HEMMING & BRONWYN COSGRAVE, AB ROGERS, CHRIS CORBOULD, DAVID ARNOLD, DEBBIE MCWILLIAMS, GOLDIE, JOHN GLEN, NEAL PURVIS, NEIL MCCONNON, PETER LAMONT, ROBERT WADE AND SIR NICHOLAS KENYON

BOND GIRLS:
CAROLE ASHBY, CAROLINE MUNRO, JENNY HANLEY, MADELINE SMITH, MARTINE BESWICKE, MOLLY PETERS, SHIRLEY EATON AND VALERIE LEON 

ADDITIONAL GUESTS INCLUDED:
DAVID WALLIAMS, LEMAR AND MIKE LEIGH

From Ursula Andress’ white bikini, Scaramanga’s Golden Gun and Oddjob’s steel-rimmed bowler hat to the modern day state-of-the-art technology and original storyboards, DESIGNING 007 – FIFTY YEARS OF BOND STYLE brings together for the first time 400 gadgets, vehicles, props and artifacts for a multi-sensory celebration of Bond style.

The white bikini worn by Ursula Andress in one of cinema’s most celebrated scenes joins more than 400 Bond archive items alongside a faithful recreation of the trunks Sean Connery wore in Thunderball in a new and highly anticipated Barbican exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film franchise from 1962’s Dr No to this year’s Skyfall. 
The items are displayed alongside those which they later inspired – the orange bikini worn by Halle Berry in Die Another Day and Daniel Craig’s sky blue trunks from Casino Royale are among 400 works comprising the DESIGNING 007 – FIFTY YEARS OF BOND STYLE exhibition, which opens at London’s Barbican Centre on 6 July 2012.

Exhibits on display also include Scaramanga’s Golden Gun from The Man with the Golden Gun, Oddjob’s steel-rimmed bowler hat and the proto-type of Rosa Klebb’s deadly flick-knife shoes worn in From Russia with Love, Tee-Hee’s metal arm from Live and Let Die and Jaws’ fearsome teeth, which first appeared in The Spy who Loved Me.

Vehicles and gadgets on display include the 1964 Aston Martin DB5, which famously returned to the screen in GoldenEye; Pierce Brosnan’s BMW motorcycle from Tomorrow Never Dies; the attaché case featured in From Russia with Love and Pierce Brosnan’s state of the art Ericsson mobile phone from Tomorrow Never Dies. 

They take their place alongside original graphic drawings and models including the design for the Jetpack piloted by Bond in Thunderball; the storyboard for the action sequence in You Only Live Twice featuring mini-helicopter ‘Little Nellie’, together with the miniature ‘Wet Nellie’ Lotus Esprit used for filming in The Spy Who Loved Me. 

The exhibition transforms many of the Barbican spaces, including The Silk Street Entrance, the Curve gallery, the Pit theatre and some of the public foyer spaces, taking visitors on a journey through themed rooms and environments reflecting fifty years of Bond style. 

Guests of DESIGNING 007 – FIFTY YEARS OF BOND STYLE enjoyed a selection of James Bond-inspired drinks and canapés, including confit duck pancakes with lime and sweet chilli; caramelised fig, cashel blue and walnut croute; smoked salmon blinis with Avruga caviar; glasses of James’ champagne of choice, Bollinger, and the legendary Martini bar, shaken, not stirred.

The Establishing Shot: 047 OF 50 THINGS TO DO BEFORE SEEING SKYFALL – VISIT THE DESIGNING 007 – FIFTY YEARS OF BOND STYLE EXHIBITION AT THE BARBICAN

Shaken not Stirred
Craig is a retired superhero, an obsessive hobbyist, comics fan, gadget lover & flâneur who knows an unhealthy amount about Ian Fleming's James Bond.

When not watching or making films he takes pictures, eats, drinks, dives, tries to connect to nature whilst mentally storyboarding the greatest film ever made. He also  & sometimes utilises owl-themed gadgets to fight crime. 

A list of his 133 favourite films can be found hereIf you would still like to contact Craig please use any of the buttons below: 


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