Top 10 Bond Girls

Source: Timesonline.co.uk

New Bond girl Olga Kurylenko certainly looks the part, but will she measure up to the beautiful, mysterious, dangerous women the British secret agent has encountered over the years? Here are our ten favourites

Many people agree that the Bond girl was born when Ursula Andress stepped from the ocean in Dr No in 1964, but actually it all began many years earlier when Vesper Lynd flowed from the pen of Ian Fleming.

A former Naval commander, stockbroker, writer and journalist, Fleming imagined his feminine archetype as a woman who ‘is as serious as you could wish and as cold as an icicle. She speaks French like a native and knows her job backwards.’ She is a woman of refinement and sophistication, but Fleming also takes pleasure in painting her as a sexual being whose ‘medium length dress was a grey ‘soie sauvage’ with a square-cut bodice, lasciviously tight across her fine breasts’.

So what are the essential qualities of the Bond girl? First and foremost she is beautiful, but not merely according to a physical stereotype. Bond girls have been variously fair or dark, tall or short, curvaceous or slender. They have come from all over the world including Africa, Japan, Poland, Russia, India, China, Yugoslavia, Malaysia, Ireland, America, Israel and more. The Bond girl is typically independent, resourceful, mysterious and very, very dangerous.

Over the years Bond girls have set hearts aflame the world over. Here are our ten favourites. 

10. Grace Jones as May Day (A View To A Kill, 1985)

The diva to end all divas took a gloriously fatale turn in the mid-Eighties action fest A View To A Kill. Roger Moore’s Bond could only look on in horror as May Day blew herself up on a handcart, sacrificing her own life to save others.

May Day combined Jones’s forbidding, larger than life sex appeal with the humour of the film itself. She is one of a select few henchmen in the franchise to switch allegiance and join Bond. She commented subsequent to the film’s release that she had enjoyed working with Roger Moore, and that the love scene “was great”.

9. Lois Maxwell, Caroline Bliss and Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny

If there is one constant woman in Bond’s life it is M’s secretary Miss Moneypenny. Over the years she has been played by different actresses, who each brought their own style to the role. Moneypenny’s affection for James is unwavering in the face of his philandering, murderous, mercenary cool. Plus she can hold her own in a battle of wits. Two gems from their years of sparring:

GoldenEye (1995)
Miss Moneypenny: You know, this sort of behaviour could qualify as sexual harassment.
James Bond: Really. What’s the penalty for that?
Miss Moneypenny: Someday, you’ll have to make good on your innuendos.

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
James Bond (in bed with his Scandinavian language tutor): I always enjoyed learning a new tongue.
Moneypenny: You always were a cunning linguist, James.

8. Halle Berry as Giacinta ‘Jinx’ Johnson (Die Another Day, 2002)

Die Another Day drew decidedly average reviews, but Halle Berry rejuvenated interest in Bond girls when she pulled herself from the ocean in an orange bikini and knife belt, in an overt homage to Honey Ryder.

Jinx proves an excellent partner for Bond, lending her numerous skills to the mission at hand. The film’s climactic fight sequence sees Jinx brawling alongside Bond. We are left to wonder, could 007 have saved the day this time round without his Bond girl?

7. Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova ‘Triple X’ (The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977)

Playing with the audience’s preconceptions of gender we are introduced to Russia’s top spy in an intimate bedroom scene. As the scene unfolds it emerges that Triple X is the woman of the equation, not the man.

Die Another Day drew decidedly average reviews, but Halle Berry rejuvenated interest in Bond girls when she pulled herself from the ocean in an orange bikini and knife belt, in an overt homage to Honey Ryder.

Jinx proves an excellent partner for Bond, lending her numerous skills to the mission at hand. The film’s climactic fight sequence sees Jinx brawling alongside Bond. We are left to wonder, could 007 have saved the day this time round without his Bond girl?

7. Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova ‘Triple X’ (The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977)

Playing with the audience’s preconceptions of gender we are introduced to Russia’s top spy in an intimate bedroom scene. As the scene unfolds it emerges that Triple X is the woman of the equation, not the man.

As deadly as she is beautiful, Roger Moore’s Bond is unable to resist the Russian spy. “When this mission is over I will kill you,” declares Amasova early in the film. Inevitably, he seduces her, but Triple X remains primarily Bond’s accomplice rather than merely his conquest.

6. Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore (Goldfinger, 1964)

Blackman was brilliantly cast as the Bond girl with the most memorable and overtly sexual name in the harem of 007. Bond’s attempts to foil Goldfinger’s plot are all in vain until he meets and seduces Pussy Galore.

The seduction itself is frankly violent with Bond and Galore trading blows as well as kisses before succumbing to one another’s brutal advances. While audiences at the time may have been familiar with this particular brand of tough cinematic loving, the scene today looks something of a period piece.

Even though Galore helps Bond and the CIA foil Goldfinger’s plot, she doesn’t leave her evil lover. Ever the independent spirit, or subjugated by the various males in her life? The debate lives on.

5. Diana Rigg as Contessa Teresa “Tracy” di Vicenzo (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 1969)

The only girl ever to marry Bond is a fascinating, multifaceted character from a film that tends to polarise the Bond community. George Lazenby’s sole outing as Bond has been both lauded and pilloried, with its darker than usual take on the British secret agent.

Diana Rigg described her character Tracy as “a bit of a mixed up lady”, who seems to be suffering from the ill-effects of a privileged upbringing. “I gave her too much, it brought her nothing” her father says.

Suicidal at the very beginning of the film she is rescued by Bond, both literally, when he saves her life, and figuratively as she ultimately falls for him.

Tracy is beautiful, smart, wealthy, cold and wilful. A good choice of wife for Bond? Undoubtedly so.

4. Famke Janssen as Xenia Zaragevna Onatopp (GoldenEye, 1995)

After a six-year absence due to legal wrangles, Bond burst back onto the screen in the mid-Nineties with Pierce Brosnan at the helm in the stunningly successful GoldenEye. The world weary, knowing X-generation needed a new kind of hero, and Brosnan fit the bill perfectly. The film had its tongue so firmly in cheek, it is surprising there was any room left for Austin Powers’ Bond parody at all. 

Into this spirit of self-mockery Onatopp was perfect as the femme fatale who orgasmed as she crushed the life out of her victims with her powerful thighs. Onatopp’s encounter with Bond in a steam room is both absurd and hilarious, and Famke Janssen’s Russian accent is as preposterous as the character she plays. Wonderful.

3. Maud Adams as Octopussy (Octopussy, 1983)

Maud Adams, the only woman to play two Bond girls, is a dynamo of style and charisma in the high camp Eighties production of Octopussy. The head of a scantily-clad all-female gang, Octopussy renounces villainy to help Bond in his mission.

Adams won the Miss Sweden beauty competition and worked as a model before becoming an actress. She said of Octopussy: “I loved playing this character because she was the opposite to Andrea (in The Man With the Golden Gun). She runs this international smuggling operation, she has all these women working for her and she’s a fun exciting character”. She also wears next to nothing for the entire film.

2. Ursula Andress, Honey Ryder (Dr. No, 1962)

In the same year Stanley Kubrick released his controversial take on the classic Lolita, Dr. No came to cinema screens offering an alternative feminine ideal to Marilyn Monroe’s alluring innocence that had so dominated the Fifties.

The birth control pill had recently been released in the UK, and the sexual revolution was in full swing. Set against this backdrop Honey Ryder emerges from the ocean in a white bikini, clutching two shells. She draws her knife on Bond as he emerges from the shadows, with all the swaggering grace Sean Connery brought to the role.

“I promise I won’t steal your shells,” says Bond. “I promise you won’t either,” says Ryder, without blinking.

Self-taught from her father’s encyclopaedias, the marine biologist tells Bond she has killed before. She is a force to be reckoned with, and gorgeous to boot.

1. Eva Green as Vesper Lynd (Casino Royale, 2006)

Eva Green brought a delicacy and humanity to the role of Vesper Lynd as the franchise ‘rebooted’ itself with the 2006 production of Casino Royale.

Green reportedly fought hard to keep her clothes on throughout the film, particularly in a scene where she and Bond huddle together in a shower. Pressure had apparently been applied for Green to appear in the scene in her underwear, but she resisted, and the scene is one of the most tender moments in any Bond film.

“I got very angry when people kept asking me, ‘What’s it feel like to be a Bond girl?’ As if I was soup,” confessed Eva Green, highlighting the peculiarly mixed experience being a Bond girl is for many actresses.

Lynd’s death at the end of the film seems a tragic loss. As the first significant relationship Bond has with a woman, the loss of Lynd could be seen to define his relationship with his job, himself and, crucially, every other woman – or indeed girl – he ever meets.

The Westfield Mall: a serene shopping experience?

Timesonline.co.uk

We all know it is sprawling shopping centre capable of filling 117 Olympic-sized swimming pools, but now it is open, what will it be like to shop there? Our deputy fashion editor investigates

In the past few weeks, much has been made of the largest European inner-city shopping experience to hit London. We already know the impressive statistics: that the 1.6 million square feet of Westfield’s latest mega mall contains 265 stores and cost £1.7 billion to build. That there are 4500 parking spaces,96 escalators and that the development was built from enough concrete to fill 117 Olympic sized swimming pools.

So what else could a growing band of ever-cautious consumers expect to find on the much anticipated opening day? It was certainly more spacious that one might ever expected. The 8 metre-high, glass ceiling-to-floor shop fronts added a modern, airy aspect to the usual row of high-street chain stores. The spectacular glass dome with its undulating panels designed to capture and diffuse the correct amount of natural daylight meant that shoppers didn’t feel claustrophobic, nor were they caught squinting in the full glare of a sunny November morning.

The Village (or the area of designer boutiques) felt set apart enough from the rest of the ‘highstreet’ and the Michael Gabellini designed chandeliers gave this section a luxe, sophisticated polish. Disappointingly, several of the brands –Burberry, Prada, Louis Vuitton- won’t be opening till November but speculation that many outlets have not been let proved unfounded. 99 per cent of the retail outlets have been occupied and from 9am onwards the sound of 10-1 countdowns from stores that were about to open and the noise of champagne corks popping filled the air.

At Marks & Spencer, they chose to unveil (ahead of their other branches) their Christmas Limited collection. A lot of thought has evidently gone into the way clothes are merchandised. Here the shopper will find spacier, catwalk-feel aisles and artwork from renowned fashion illustrator Natasha Law hanging from the ceiling, certainly upping the style ante and lending an aspirational edge to the clothes. Neither were the M&S food areas or cafes hidden away in dingy little corners but situated in open plan surroundings with calming lighting and trendy, Mid-Century Modern furniture. “It’s certainly going to give Oxford Street reason to fight back and regenerate and if that raises the bar, even for us, then surely that is a good thing”, said Stuart Rose, Mark & Spencer’s CEO. Over at House and Fraser, a department store whose fate currently hangs in the balance, there was no sign of economic doom’n’gloom. Their accessories floor was an impressive mix of concessions from Anya Hindmarch, Lanvin, Marni and Yves Saint Laurent.

What Westfield does bring to London is a unique and democratic way of shopping, where highstreet brands sit cheek by jowl with designer labels as well as supermarket shopping.

“There isn’t anywhere else in London where I could buy clothes for the kids, pop into Prada for myself as well as do some food shopping and all under the one roof”, says Mary Portas, retail guru and creative director of Yellow Door, the agency handling the project’s PR. It’s a sentiment echoed by Daniel and Luke Hersheson, owners of the eponymous Mayfair hair salon and who have taken a site to launch the flagship of their Blow Dry bar. “It’s an exciting concept and a venture which really does straddle two worlds. The offering is such that anyonecould shop here, in that way it’s classless”.

Visitors to the site were equally wowed. Khadija Khallouk, visiting her son from Toulouse, France was impressed by the sheer scale and just how beautiful a shopping mall could feel. Others who live locally such as Kirt de Silva believe that Westfield is a positive addition to the community “there will be more jobs and regeneration”. Two mothers in their thirties pushing their under-5s also gave it the vote of confidence, “It’s exciting and makes shopping a lot easier than going to Oxford Street” said Miranda Carter. “In fact I’m never going to Oxford Street again”.

Only time will tell whether branches of Marks & Spencers, Topshop, House of Fraser and H&M will make money, as opposed to just creating competition against branches a mile or two down the round. And as for those doomsayers who complain that Westfield has all the appeal of an airport duty free terminal or a glass encased cavern, well what else are malls supposed to look like? I have also yet to come across an airport or indeed a mega mall which is so devoted to the sensory experience of the consumer. During his speech for Westfield’s opening, Boris Johnson reminded us that this mall was built to see through this recession and any that cared to follow. Lets hope he’s proved right.

Central Park – 2 on Yahoo Maps

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Much better resolution than Google. Places marked more accurately. Satellite pictures from closer range. Try it and get addicted. Finally, someone has bettered Google. Hope more do it. Competition will give better quality to one and all.

Great going Yahoo!

Mall Vacancies Grow as Retailers Pack Up Shop

Vacancy rates at U.S. malls and shopping centers continued their steep rise in the third quarter as slumping sales forced retailers to close stores.

Malls are seeing their highest vacancy rate since 2001, according to data released by real-estate-research firm Reis Inc. For shopping centers, the rate is the highest since 1994.

In contrast, the apartment market remained one of the most healthy real-estate markets in the third quarter, benefiting from the struggling home-sales market. Many would-be buyers, unable to get mortgages or worried about the darkening economy, are renting apartments instead.

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Have a flight to board … more later …..