The Mistress of Bond: Eileen Sullivan, and the Role of Cutting the Cloth of James Bond's Wardrobe and Beyond

Abstract

This article spotlights the work of Eileen Sullivan and her career as a wardrobe mistress, later wardrobe supervisor, which included working on the James Bond films from Dr No (1962) until You Only Live Twice (1967). It will further consider how her career and role as a wardrobe mistress and supervisor changed within the British film industry from the mid-1940s until the mid-1980s, through personal papers shared by her family with me. Alongside this, the article draws upon papers available in the Film Finances Archive, the British Film Institute (BFI) and the British Library. This article will work to redress the absence in scholarship on the labour provided by costume workers below that of the costume designer, which as Melanie Williams (2016) has previously recognised, has been rendered invisible despite their costume work appearing on screen that contributes to the overall visual coherence of a film’s design. It will also address the difficulties of researching the work of wardrobe personnel who have hitherto remained unacknowledged in broader scholarship, and analyse the role of the wardrobe mistress and supervisor including agency and labour, and the impact of caring responsibilities on this ‘gendered’ role.