Highbury

Name: Crockett & Jones Highbury
Brand: Crockett & Jones
Availability: InStock

James Bond in Skyfall, 2012 — as worn by Daniel Craig

AvailabilityAvailable New

MakerCrockett & Jones

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Crockett & Jones Highbury — Plate I — Skyfall, 2012Bond Lifestyle · Image may be subject to copyright

The scene

Near the end of Skyfall, Bond stands on the roof of 55 Whitehall, the former Department of Energy and Climate Change building, looking out over Whitehall and central London with the domed Old War Office close by. The moment comes after the parliamentary inquiry, Silva’s assault on the Skyfall lodge, and M’s death, and the script describes him as “alone with his thoughts.” Eve joins him there to deliver the Union Jack Royal Doulton bulldog from M’s desk before the film moves inside to the restored Whitehall offices that re-establish the classic Bond order.

There is no fight or chase here; it is a coda built around Bond, Eve, the city, and the handover of M’s last gift. The Highbury shoes matter because they complete the severe, controlled city silhouette Jany Temime built for Craig’s Bond. Temime said her task on Skyfall was to update Bond for 2012 without changing him too much, making the clothes subtle and efficient enough that the audience would “forget them” and simply look at Bond.

In that context, the plain black Derby reads as disciplined and unshowy: Bond back in London, stripped of ornament, carrying grief but returning to duty. Mendes conceived Skyfall as a rediscovery of MI6 and London, and this ending uses the rooftop view to root Bond in that world again. The framing favors wide and medium compositions that hold Craig against the skyline, while the dark coat, scarf, trousers, and black shoes form one continuous vertical line.

The object

Crockett & Jones

The full Skyfall file →

Crockett & Jones was founded in Northampton in 1879 by James Crockett and Charles Jones, beginning with a workshop on Exeter Road in the English town most closely associated with traditional shoemaking. The company still manufactures in Northampton and continues to define itself through Goodyear-welted footwear made in England. Its own heritage material notes that the brand supplied four styles for Skyfall, a milestone that broadened its visibility beyond specialist shoe circles and led into a formal partnership with EON Productions in later Bond films.

The Highbury sits in the Main Collection as a plain-front three-eyelet Derby in black calf leather, built on Crockett & Jones’s 348 last. The brand dates last 348 to November 2004 and describes it as a versatile, square-toed dress-shoe shape that became one of its most important modern lasts. In current retail specification, Highbury is offered in standard E fitting with a low-profile City rubber sole rather than leather, combining a cleaner dress appearance with extra grip and everyday practicality, while retaining full Goodyear-welted construction for repair and resoling.

For Skyfall, Crockett & Jones identifies Highbury in Black Calf as one of the shoes worn by James Bond, and Bond wardrobe documentation places it in the London rooftop sequence. Skyfall’s costume designer was Jany Temime, and the shoe’s restrained open-laced design fits the film’s sharply tailored urban wardrobe without calling attention to itself. Crockett & Jones has kept Highbury in the line and has since highlighted that the same model returned for No Time To Die.

Production Notes

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