James Bond didn’t always care for shoes. When Ian Fleming first created the character, the spy would almost exclusively slip on casual kicks and moccasins. When Bond is dressing in the Hotel Splendide in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the author even slyly asides, “he abhorred shoe-laces”.
But, across 27 films, cinema’s James Bond has worn countless footwear styles, some of which are indeed of note, for reasons both good and bad.
In Goldfinger and Thunderball, Sean Connery’s Bond was usually sighted wearing two-eyelet Derby shoes, which essentially looked like a short chukka.
On the flip side, in Diamonds Are Forever, Bond sports a pair of Saxone golf shoes both on and off the course. In Goldfinger, his black casual shoes are obscenely clunky, albeit to conceal a knife in each heel. And, in Thunderball, Bond wears black saddle-stitched sandals with a full business suit. It’s enough to make a sharp dresser despair.
Daniel Craig’s take on the superspy, however, raised the style stakes to appropriate standards, with suiting by Tom Ford and shoes from the likes of Drake’s, Sperry and Crockett & Jones.
High shine: Derby shoes
No Time To Die proved to be the best film for Bond when it came to his footwear. We begin with the ever-dependable Crockett & Jones, with the heritage Northampton shoemaker offering a range of styles for the costume department to choose from – and this is the first of two to feature in the film.
The ‘Highbury’ is a plain-fronted, three-eyelet Derby shoe. Cut from the finest black calf leather and fitted with Crockett & Jones’s patented ‘City’ rubber sole, it’s a simple, sophisticated style – and one readily available to willing buyers. Bond benefits from the model’s versatile looks, wearing it with both his tuxedo in Cuba, and with a grey Prince of Wales check suit when he returns to MI6 in London.
Soft side: suede chukkas
Another pair of shoes that are seen across several outfits and scenes, Bond begins the film in a pair of Drake’s chukka boots. With distinctive moccasin-style stitching around the vamp, these dark-brown boots walk the line between smart and casual, and are cut from premium rough-out suede for sturdiness.
They’re also made in Italy, which is fitting: first, he’ll pair them with a Connolly jacket as he hides out in the Basilicata city of Matera with Dr Madeleine Swann; then, they’ll match with his Massimo Alba corduroy suit during the film’s first action set-piece.
Sails away: boat shoes
Next up: boat shoes. When No Time To Die catches up with Bond after Matera, he’s living in Jamaica, in a beautiful coastal house and with a Spirit 46 sailing yacht at his disposal. As such, he is in need of a nifty pair of boat shoes – and the production team settled on Sperry to provide them.
While we know you can’t actually see the shoes in the picture above, we promise they play an integral part in Craig’s Caribbean wardrobe. Paired with his Tommy Bahama shirt, Bond reunites with Felix Leiter in his hand-sewn, burnished boat shoes, before high-stepping them to Cuba to meet Ana de Armas’s intelligence operative, Paloma.
Tactical awareness: military boots
No Time To Die sees Daniel Craig’s James Bond finally in full military-inspired tactical gear. Worn while infiltrating the island lair of Rami Malek’s villainous Safin, this commando outfit is mostly made by N.Peal, with a ribbed army sweater and combat trousers. But the boots – high of ankle and black of colour – are made by Danner.
Danner, as any footwear fans may remember, provided Bond’s ‘Mountain Light II’ boots for the snowy scenes in Spectre. But these boots, created with rough-out leather and rugged nylon, are infinitely more practical. Lightweight, breathable and with a cushioning polyurethane footbed, we can think of fewer boots better for saving the world in.
Woodland escape: leather chukkas
And, lastly, back to the reliable style and comfort of Crockett & Jones. The ‘Molton’ boots are plain-fronted, three-eyelet chukka boots, and Bond slips into them as he’s pursued across the wilderness by Billy Magnussen’s CIA agent, Logan Ash.
Paired with a duster coat from Massimo Alba, the Dainite rubber soles doubtlessly prove more than a match for Scandi woodland.
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