Sartorial lessons from MR PORTER’s favourite James Bond.

Ever the gentleman, when Sir Roger Moore came to rank his Bond against others, he self-deprecatingly put himself at number four, behind Mr Daniel Craig, Sir Sean Connery and Mr George Lazenby. But he was, and remains – judging by the affection on social media in the wake of his passing yesterday aged 89 – a firm favourite. Sir Roger was, of course, the Bond many of us grew up with.

With a wit as dry as his martinis, Sir Roger evidently revelled in his role as 007. That trademark arched eyebrow, a smirk playing across his lips, his tongue so firmly in his cheek, there were times when he delivered one of his famous one-liners that he was in danger of breaking the fourth wall.

Partly because he took the role of Bond so late in life (he played 007 from the ages of 45 to 57), Sir Roger was never the most convincing action man. Those hammy karate moves weren’t fooling anyone. He was a lover not a fighter – and given the number of Bond girls he romped with, he was well-named.

By his own admission, Sir Roger’s acting chops weren’t much to write home about, either. The film critic Mr Anthony Lane once quipped that he needed a stunt double for his dramatic scenes. In truth, playing a well-bred international playboy wasn’t much of a stretch for him – and it was a role he embraced until his health failed, enjoying life to the full between his homes in Monte Carlo and Switzerland. But Sir Roger often gave a lot back. He was a real-life hero who raised more than $90m for Unicef as a goodwill ambassador, for which he was knighted.

Sir Roger remained debonair and as dapper as ever, even when age caught up with him. There are so many iconic photographs of him that we decided to look for some lesser-known images to celebrate him as a true style icon, and see what useful lessons we can glean from them.

Young Sir Roger did a bit of modelling back in the day – notably for some knitwear catalogues. Here he is in 1962 as a TV actor in LA in his mid-thirties, rocking a short-sleeved shirt that is a precursor to the safari chic he would later make his own. Look at that for Blue Steel; the man knew how to work the camera. “I spent my life playing heroes because I looked like one,” he once said. “Practically everything I’ve been offered didn’t require much beyond looking like me. I would have loved to play a real baddie.” Poor Sir Roger.

His 007 would get himself into some awful scrapes – here he is, for example, in a scene from Live And Let Die (1973), shackled to a torture chair while a henchman with a metal claw for a hand looms over him. And does he look bothered? Can you see a bead of sweat on his brow? The answers respectively are no, and no. Keeping the jacket’s button done up helps to exude a sense of elegant poise. Its colour works with his warm complexion and golden brown hair. Even when he’s apparently about to meet his maker, there’s neither a hair nor a tie knot out of place. What’s more, he’s giving Rolex value for their product placement money. The man’s a pro.

What would you wear to land a biplane on a dastardly villain’s desert island lair (The Man With The Golden Gun, 1974)? That’s right, a wide-lapelled black-white-and-red plaid blazer and a look of utter disdain. When the centrepiece of your outfit is as bold as this, keep everything else muted so as not to compete. That said, if you’re packing a Walther PPK like Bond, you can probably wear what the hell you like.

This still, also from The Man From The Golden Gun, features one of Sir Roger’s favourite suits – a bespoke summer-weight suit in light grey that he regularly wore off-set too. It was made by his go-to personal tailor at the time, Mr Cyril Castle in Mayfair, London. (He also used the late tailor Mr Douglas Hayward and Brioni’s Mr Angelo Roma.) Sir Roger had a broad chest and long neck. Note how the generous proportions of lapel, collar and tie all work together in harmony for a flattering cut. And, as he knew well, there should be just a hint of shirt showing at the cuffs.

A tuxedo is synonymous with James Bond and it has been worn countless different ways in countless different styles. But one thing remains constant: the bow tie is always a self-tie bow tie, never pre-tied and never a necktie. While tailoring styles have changed for Bond over the years, eveningwear has stayed fairly consistent. Sir Roger’s 007 always looked especially debonair in black tie. Nobody does it better.