Style column: Whoever kills James Bond becomes the best in his class!

Loewe has dethroned Miu Miu as the most popular fashion brand. Daniel Craig and a bull's heart tomato were used for the purpose.

James Bond is dead. How else can one understand the latest advertising campaign by luxury brand Loewe, in which Daniel Craig was asked to appear in front of the lens? He remained virtually anonymous, under his shaggy hair and wearing a Norwegian jacket. And it gave Loewe one of his many viral moments. “What happened to 007?” asked many people online. Because Craig here reminds us of Iggy Pop (he wears his hair the same way he did when he was a young man, the poses are similar) or the fictional Tony from the movie “Die Hard”.

It’s worth noting that Loewe’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson, designed the costumes for Luca Guadagnino’s drama “Queer,” the film adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel of the same name (as he did for “Challengers”). The film will be released in theaters in 2024, with Craig in the lead role. The campaign is being marketed again with seriousness. Loewe has already been tried and tested with big-name actors. In 2023, Maggie Smith (Violet Crawley in “Downtown Abbey” and Professor McGonagall in “Harry Potter”) wore the brand’s looks for advertising purposes and caused a stir.

Even outside of elaborate campaigns, Anderson knows how to focus public interest; to do so, he intermittently quotes from online culture. He recently launched a tomato-shaped handbag, which originated in a tweet from a random user. He posted a photo of a bull’s-heart tomato and commented, “This tomato looks so much like Loewe I can’t even explain it,” referring to the brand’s quirky aesthetic.

The post went viral, with Anderson himself sharing a screenshot and eventually a photo of the bag design he later created. The courage to be unconventional has landed Anderson and Lowe back at the top spot on the Lyst Index, which shows the most popular fashion brands of the quarter (the defending champion was Miu Miu). Well, get it!