Daniel Craig has found his true style at 56 (and it’s not what we expected)

While Britain’s sports fans were glued to their TV screens on Sunday afternoon, the country’s fashion lovers were glued to their phone screens. Spain scored two seismic sporting victories, and a fashion win – the luxury Spanish leather goods brand, Loewe, dropped images from its new autumn/winter campaign on Instagram and the results were even more surprising than Carlos Alcaraz’s short, sharp victory.

For here was Daniel Craig – a British actor forever etched in the public imagination as the sixth James Bond – pulling weird faces and dressed in a patterned knit, the belt on his jeans undone as though he’d forgotten to zip up properly after a visit to the gents’.

As advertisments go, it was successful. It stopped the internet in its tracks, commanding attention and promptly going viral – no mean feat in today’s image-saturated landscape. It was also a personal triumph for Craig, who at the age of 56 appears to be fully embracing his “fun” fashion era, after decades of hiding under a sharply tailored carapace that suited his image as James Bond. “His best appearance ever!” raved one fan on Instagram. “From James Bond to Cool Uncle,” said another.

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.

Bottle blonde, 1992

For his breakout (to use the term loosely) role in the 1992 drama The Power of One, Craig dyed his hair platinum blonde; not because he was a massive Gary Barlow fan, but because it suited his role as a racist sergeant in the South African police force. Whether he looked like a young Sting or an old Draco Malfoy is a matter of perception.

Kate Moss era, 2004

Craig was rumoured to be dating Moss in 2004, and while they never confirmed their relationship, they certainly did nothing to disabuse people of the notion when they huddled up at an Alexander McQueen show that same year. Since Moss has a soft spot for the 1970s, perhaps this would explain Craig’s apparent penchant for flared jeans, styled simply with a body-hugging black t-shirt.

Layer Cake Premiere, 2005

Appearing at the Sundance Festival in Utah in January 2005, it’s clear from the snowy backdrop that the weather wasn’t toasty. So how sensible of Craig to pair his smart black jacket with a woolly. But not just any woolly: a “Ginsberg is God” woolly by that queen of the statement knit, Bella Freud. Its snug fit leads one to wonder whether it once belonged to his former girlfriend, not least because the supermodel has also been pictured in the jumper. Perhaps this is where Craig’s love of knitwear first bloomed.

Quantum of Solace photocall, 2008

When you think of Bond, a cardigan likely isn’t the first item that springs to mind. Yet here’s Craig swearing further allegiance to the cosy knit at a photocall. That he teamed said knit with a blue shirt, grey trousers and matching grey tie further enhances the impression of Craig as James Bland, supply teacher to 10B (specialist subject: geography). He reprised a similar look four years later, at a 2012 photocall for Skyfall.

Knives Out premiere, 2019

It was a case of new franchise, new look for Craig at the premiere of Knives Out, the mystery thriller in which he plays detective Benoit Blanc. Craig first revealed he’d be stepping down as Bond in the same year (“someone else needs to have a go”, he said), and this look shows him easing into life after Bond, in jeans, trainers and an unbuttoned shirt that show his softer side.

No Time To Die World Premiere, 2021

How many pink think pieces were penned after Craig took to the red carpet in a bespoke fuchsia velvet jacket by the Savile Row tailor, Anderson & Sheppard? Almost as many as were spawned by the release of Barbie. From his pocket square to his dress shirt to his shiny patent shoes, Craig looked impeccable, right down to the savvy showcasing of his gold Omega wristwatch. While the world had moved past the idea of men being “courageous” for wearing pink, it was still a bold statement for Bond, one which prompted GQ to describe Craig as “a rough-hewn Iris Apfel of his generation”.

Belvedere vodka, 2022

When Craig appeared in an advert for Belvedere vodka in November 2022, the “shaken, not stirred” gags came thick and fast. Who could fail to be shaken, stirred and amused by the sight of Craig gyrating round a Paris hotel? While the hotel’s chic, minimalist setting was pure Bond, his demeanor – and garb – was in studied antithesis. Dressed in a cropped black biker jacket, black vest and heavy gold chain of the sort that George Michael might have worn to go cruising, Craig’s look knowingly nodded to gay codes, while his come-hither hip thrusts did nothing to contradict the idea that he was playing with his sexuality. Directed by Taika Waititi (more famous now as Mr Rita Ora: he married the singer in 2022), the two minute video was as camp as Christmas. It was also a masterclass in how to change your image and rid yourself of any ultra-masculine Bond stereotypes.

Esquire shoot, 2023

“It’s giving bank manager” quoth the internet, when Craig appeared in a shoot for Esquire magazine dressed in a navy suit and tie (complete with nerdy tie pin) and gold rimmed glasses, his hair relatively unstyled in a feathery side parting. It was another deliberate step away from the macho Bond hero image, even if, for some, it strayed too far into Antiques Roadshow presenter territory. “He looks like he’s about to tell your nan her ceramics are worthless,” one wag opined.

Loewe makeover, 2024

When it comes to casting unexpected faces, Loewe has form: previous campaign stars have included the actors Dame Maggie Smith and Leslie Manville. Loewe’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson, is adroit at creating viral moments, of which Craig’s casting is but the latest. Shot by David Sims, the images show Craig pulling faces in a deliberate attempt to look far removed from the smouldering, chisel-jawed Bond stereotype. No surprises that Craig is currently filming Queer, the Luca Guadagnino-directed film based on William S Burroughs’ book, in which he plays an outcast American expat who becomes infatuated with a younger man. Given that Lesley Manville also stars, few would bet against Loewe featuring heavily in the film. Either way, Craig looks at home in his homespun knits. Is this just the beginning of his most experimental fashion moment yet?