Join Q for exhibition as 007 turns 50

More than 400 items have been assembled as part of Designing 007: 50 years of Bond Style.

Many exhibits, revealed at a press preview, come from famous moments in the films and are synonymous with the series.

The exhibition opens with an immediate wow factor, as film posters stretch along a corridor where a replica Sean Connery leans against his beautiful 1964 Aston Martin DB5.

The white bikini Ursula Andress wore as she emerged from the sea in Dr No’s jaw-dropping beach scene is also on display alongside other but slightly less renowned swimwear.

The bikini, quite tiny close up, is displayed alongside Halle Berry’s orange two-piece from Die Another Day and a recreation of Sir Sean Connery’s shorts from Thunderball.

Current Bond Daniel Craig, set to reappear in Skyfall in the autumn, won over many female Bond fans when he wore a pair of tight blue trunks in Casino Royale. These are also part of the display which will tour internationally after the show closes at London’s Barbican in September.

Oscar-winning costume designer and co-curator Lindy Hemming said she hoped crowds flocked to the exhibition.

Describing her role, she said: “It’s magic – you go on your own adventure, you are given a mission and you go on an adventure and it ends up that you have produced a film and the film is captured on celluloid so you can look at your own work and that is exciting.”

The numerous Bond villains have a starring role in the exhibition which also showcases Scaramanga’s golden gun, Oddjob’s deadly bowler hat and Rosa Klebb’s flick-knife shoes from From Russia With Love.

But the exhibition also goes beyond the MI6 agent and looks at his creator, Ian Fleming, who based many stories and character traits on his own experiences, knowledge and friends.