Bond Girls ― Body, Fashion and Gender

'Bond girls' have become icons, frequently referenced across television, fashion and film, from Ugly Betty episodes to Diane Von Furstenberg's 'Licensed to Thrill' collection to within the Bond movies themselves. This exciting study is the first to examine Bond girls through fashion, body and dress, revealing that through subversive sartorial and narrative behaviours these women interrogate the controlling influence of Bond's male gaze by both exploiting the power of display and exercising - as female spies - their own ability to 'see'.

Providing a comprehensive evaluation of all principal female characters in Fleming's novels and subsequent adaptations, the book offers a new reading of characters as diverse as Rosa Klebb (From Russia With Love), Kissy Suzuki (You Only Live Twice), Wai Lin (Tomorrow Never Dies), Miss Moneypenny, and the female embodiment of M played by Dame Judi Dench, 1995-2012.

Examining themes from power dressing, fetish, 'deviant femininity', the 'phallic woman' and the foreign 'other', Bond Girls is essential reading for students and scholars of fashion, film, media, cultural and gender studies, and for anyone with an interest in Bond.