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You know that opening scene from the most recent James Bond film? You know, the sexy one (okay, they’re all sexy)? The one where James Bond is walking through Mexico City during Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) wearing that sexy skeleton tuxedo with a sexy bond girl on his arm? Yes, that one. What a beautiful scene and a beautiful couple. There may have been wine involved but I looked at my husband and said “you need to wear that!” …which meant I needed to make it for him. And duplicate his arm candy for myself. This blog post contains my build on his costume, specifically. If you want to see the build on her costume, it can be found here.
Other than wanting to see my husband wear this (hello!), this one spoke to me on a creative level. I wanted very much to paint that skeleton tuxedo and I did exactly that! I painted the tuxedo for him, modified a Mexican dress from the 1970s for me, made a flower crown, and assembled the rest of the accessories from Ebay, Etsy, and Amazon. We wore these costumes to Comicpalooza in Houston in May(Photos by my super adorable niece, Brittany https://www.instagram.com/invasionsofthestuffies/) and at DragonCon in Atlanta earlier this month. They may also be resurrected for a local Day of the Dead event and/or Halloween. They’re just so much fun (and comfortable) to wear and very easy to make! Here’s how I made and assembled the James Bond costume:
James Bond from Spectre: The Coat
The most striking feature and main part of the costume is the painted skeleton tuxedo with black button down shirt, and painted skeleton black tie. The tuxedo jacket itself is actually a knee-length day coat (or Prince Albert Coat) and is rather hard to find since most overcoats out there are wool/cashmere and not the tuxedo suiting material seen in the film. This coat on Amazon comes very close: Historical Emporium Men’s Double Breasted Frock Coat
Not wanting to screw up a perfectly good tuxedo jacket, and not able to just freehand a skeleton, I pulled screenshots from the film into PowerPoint, traced every single bone, scaled the digitized skeleton up to human size, and saved the shapes as a file I could cut foam with my Cricut/Silhouette to use as a stencil. This took hours and several episodes of Black Sails. Download my PDF skeleton pattern here: SpectreSkeletonPatternRSRW (disclaimer: pattern will need to be scaled up to fit jacket).
But it worked! I used a silver paint pen to stencil out the skeleton on the jacket and tie, then painted in the lines with white fabric paint. I can’t tell you how worried I was that I would ruin this hard to find jacket!
Over the course of several days and several coats of paint, I painted a coat of Magnolia White
I painted over buttons and repeated the painting steps on the back of the jacket and tie. Any stray oops marks or paint outside the lines were covered up with a black paint pen (I’m not sure why I worried so much in the first place). I’m incredibly proud of how well the skeleton turned out!
James Bond from Spectre: Accessories
- Black button down shirt
- Black slacks (tuxedo slacks not necessary)
- Black socks and shoes
- Top hat: Deluxe Victorian Dickens Black Felt High Crown Costume Top Hat
(order one size larger to accommodate mask)
- Skull cane: Skull Cane Black, Metal Chrome Finish Handle
- Skull mask: James Bond 007 Spectre Skull Skeleton Cosplay Mask Replica
- Bond Girl (Mine)
(order one size larger to accommodate mask)
Anna of Darkstar Photography and Costuming snapped these photos of us at DragonCon. More of her photography and costuming can be found on her Facebook page.
For my Bond Girl costume, read Costuming Mexico City Bond Girl from Spectre (and scroll through the intro, which you’ve already read).
EDITED! Download my PDF skeleton pattern here: SpectreSkeletonPatternRSRW (disclaimer: pattern will need to be scaled up to fit jacket).
Other costumes from James Bond on the blog:
Costuming Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale
Costuming Mexico City Bond Girl from Spectre
More costumes made and worn by me here:
https://redshoesredwine.com/category/geekery/costuming/
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Are you going to sell the overcoat?
Hi Anthony. Not at this time, I think he wants to wear it again a few more times.
Hi it looks great trying to do this for Halloween did the paint come out or will it come out after I cleaned up
The paint is permanent (so paint carefully!)
Would you consider making one for purchase?
Hi ZM, thank you for asking but I’m not set up for commissions (and I’m crazy busy). I’d love to see it if you make one though!
Understandable. You did such a wonderful job. Let me ask this then. Do you still have the patterns by chance?
Thank you so much! I could probably save the patterns as a pdf and add the link here if that’d be helpful.
If you could, that would be great! Much appreciated!
Hi Zach! I’ve uploaded the PDF pattern for you, link is above. Would love to see how yours turns out!
I notice you have White 02505 int he picture with the other paints but you don’t mention it as a color that you used. Was this used in the painting process? Thanks kindly
Marti
Hi Marti! I bought it but didn’t paint with it, as the magnolia white was ever so slightly more antique looking. But if magnolia white can’t be found the 2505 would work as the base coat for the bones.
Thanks so much!! So several coats of the Magnolia White? or several coats of all of them?
Just one coat of magnolia and one light coat of each of pearl and grey.
Thanks again. Really appreciate your help!! Can’t wait to try it.
Let me know how it turns out! @redshoesredwine on social media, can’t wait to see it!!
You bet!
Thanks. So several coats of the Magnolia White and the others?
Great Post! Total amateur here but you’ve made me think I could probably do this too! Quick question – how does one go about scaling the pdf up to 12×18″ foam? Did you go through a specific place/vendor to get it printed? Thank again for the great tutorial!
Hi Phil! You got this! I scale the images manually in the Cricut application for foam cutting. You could also go through a printing company.
Hi Sheila, i wanted to say a big Thank You! I decided to take on costuming these outfits this year and found your post through a search on the web. You saved me HUGE amounts of time having the notes and pattern for skeleton. I am pretty crafty and can sew but ended up buying my mask and headband on Etsy and actually commissioned another Etsy artisan to make a special corsette. I am excited to finally start painting the jacket this weekend and also will be doing some work to the deess i found. Once again thanks so much for posting your hard work!!
How exciting Amber! I’m so happy you found me and the patterns are useful. Do share your pictures!
Also, thank you so much for the kind words! People like you (us!) are the reason I take the time to share the costume how-tos, and patterns whenever I make them. I’m on my way back to the states from a British Isles cruise, please let me know if you have any questions while painting or otherwise, I’m happy to help! If you’re on social media, please find me @redshoesredwine and stay in touch okay? You got this!
Thank you for posting such a thorough tutorial and thank you especially for the PDF plans. I have trawled through many web pages and Pinterest posts trying to find this very information, you are a legend. I am making this costume for my husband to walk in the halloween parade with his marching band (he is the band director) and he is going to look great.
You’re very welcome, Emily!!! Happy painting!
Sheila,
Thank you so, so much for the instructional blog and especially for posting the patterns in PDF!
I’m nowhere near the artist, but could scale the patterns and print them off – then pasting them together into stencils to sketch them onto the coat! I would have never been able to do this without your article and sharing!
I ended up working them on to an old tuxedo that I got from a thrift store as it only cost me about $60 total – and I was having a hard time finding the proper coat. I’m 1/2 way done and will finish in time for a Halloween party my wife and I are attending. (your article on her outfit was helpful as well!!)
Thanks so much again!!
Kevin
Kevin that’s so exciting! Excellent sourcing! You’re very welcome, and if you feel like sharing I’m on social media @redshoesredwine. Happy Halloween!!
Hi Sheila,
Thanks for sharing! Do you mind sharing how to scale the the printout? I am unfamiliar with circuit, but I do have the ability to use PhotoShop or another Mac related application for images. Please let me know!
Lastly, do you have the additional images for the legs? I noticed that was missing.
Awesome job!
Thanks,
J
Hi J! Scaling the skeleton pattern to your size in any program is probably best done by sight and in percentages (150%, 175%, etc) until the paper pattern just *looks* right on your coat. Aspect ratio is already to scale, so simply just making it larger is all you need. Also, Bond appears to be wearing plain black trousers underneath the coat, so I did not digitize legs past the length of his coat and kept it screen accurate. Let me know if you have additional questions. Have fun and happy painting!
Hi Sheila,
As others have said, great post!! I’m going WAY out of my comfort zone to try and make these costumes for me and my boyfriend. I’ve located the pieces and I’m trying to wrap my mind around the jacket painting. What type of brushes should I be using. I’ve never painted fabric…or anything else for that matter! lol
Hi Shelly! Thank you so much! I used an assorted craft pack for acrylic and oil paints, and for most of this project used the 1/2” taklon hair flat brush. I’ve seen Artist’s Loft value sets run about $5 and the variety is nice. If you’re uncomfortable, smaller is better for control, and if you color outside the lines…just cover up oopses with a black sharpie! Just don’t use a foam brush, they’re terrible. You can do this!
Can I hire you to make me one? Just the jacket and tie.
Hi Robert, I’m glad you like it! I work full time so I don’t have enough free time to take commissions.
Ok Sheila,
I’m doing my first coat of paint. Should I be concerned about totally covering the black with the first coat or will the second coat take care of that? I find myself doing a light second layer of the Magnolia White to cover any black showing through, but wonder if it’s a waste of time and paint. 😁
That’s absolutely fine, the second coat with the lighter paint will cover most of what shows through. Any black showing through will still be a nice effect as well.
Hi, thanks for the PDF , it is brilliant. I found your site literally just looking for a skeleton pattern for this design. Over the moon to find your blog. I bought a identical jacket from ebay (£20), bargain. Also for anypne that’s looking for a jacket I found a great site who sell used ‘hire’ tuxedos and clothes, although a little more expensive£(60). Can’t quite scale it up like you did however I think with care I can do this by hand. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again or the design. 🙂
You’re very welcome, Michael! Do let me know how it turns out! 💀
Thank you for sharing the skeleton pattern! You are a life saver!!
Very welcome Tess, hope yours turns out amazing! 🖤
Hello, I love your diy and I am looking to do something similar. I have yet to find a jacket but was wondering if you still had your stencils for this?
Absolutely! The stencil PDF is at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!!
Thank you! 🙂
Thank you very much for the great instructions, and especially the templates. I’ve just about completed my version, based on a stadard tuxedo, and am very happy with the results thus far. I’ll post some photos and give you a shout out on FB. Thanks!
Awesome Craig! Can’t wait to see it!!
Thank you posting this on line Shelia. Very helpful and creative. I did just want to mention that the link you provided for the jacket seems to be off a little. You described it as a double breasted frock coat. The one in your pictures and the one used in the movie are single breasted. Looks like I ordered the wrong one, but it seems like the company is good about returns. Just thought I’d mention it incase others are following your instructions along like I am. Many thanks!
Thanks Ric! The company might’ve changed the link or coat specs in the several years since I wrote this, OR I might have miswritten description originally. Menswear confounds me. Thank you for the correction!
Hi Shiela!
This is fantastic. I have NO background in any of the arts/skills demonstrated here but would like to try this myself. Since I don’t have access to Cricut/Silhouette, but have all the other materials (paints/jackets), how can I go about using your template to get the skeleton stencil so I can paint myself? Print shops are telling me the template is not print ready. What are my options absent buying Cricut/Silohuette hardware?
Thank you!
Thank you!
Do you by chance know what size of coat that was? Chest measurement, perhaps?
I could compare it to mine and see if the 12×18 size of the skeleton outline would work as is, or if I’d need to scale up just slightly.
Hi David! My husband is a 42 chest, so he likely has a medium (or large depending on the retailer). Hope this helps!