For Craig, the international fame gained by playing Bond for 15 years between 2006 and 2021 always seemed something of a poisoned chalice. He even accepted the role reluctantly, and balked at being part of “a big machine that makes a lot of money”, as he once described the franchise. He also stated that he aimed to bring “more emotional depth” to the character, ridding 007 of his chauvinistic ways.
Even as he was assiduously appearing on the red carpet in suitably smart, traditionally masculine, Bond-adjacent tailoring, there were always hints that underneath the sombre exterior was a quirky, androgynous dresser silently screaming to be let out. Finally, in these new Loewe images, it seems as though Craig has reached his truest self-expression. With his homespun knits, sequinned trousers, tinted glasses and side-swept hair, he’s more “boyish” than Bond; less an action hero than a bookish character in a Wes Anderson film. Is this who he really was all along? Here, we trace the evolution of his style.