Bibury, A Future Classic

Of all the words and phrases bastardised to the point of meaningless – ‘legendary’, ‘luxury’, ‘I love you’ – perhaps we can agree that ‘iconic’ has suffered the heaviest and most sustained abuse. It’s difficult to put a finger on when, exactly, the word was ingested by marketing ‘consultants’ (there goes another), chewed up and spit out as glib promotional guff that could be used to refer to anything remotely topical or vaguely novel, from mediocre Glastonbury sets to social media memes to skyscrapers. But bastardised into oblivion ‘iconic’ has been. (Good word ‘bastardised’. Got the word ‘bastard’ in it.)

And yet. To take the word at its dictionary face value – a person or thing worthy of veneration for having great influence or significance – we can, I’m sure, enlightened aesthetes that we are, agree that ‘iconic’ remains the most accurate adjective to ascribe to a number of inanimate objects.

With its licentious silhouette and provocative rear end, the Porsche 911 is, I think we can agree, the most iconic of continually-produced sports cars, making mechanophiles (another good word) of us all. The Eames Lounge Chair is, it’s safe to say, the most iconic cathedra upon which you can plonk your caboose. Likewise, the Fender Stratocaster, where guitars are concerned. And the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife, when we’re talking about knives of a Swiss army persuasion (a more diminutive field of contenders, admittedly). Skyscrapers can be iconic. See the Empire State Building. Do not see Nine Elms.

Regular perusers of Crockett & Jones’s website will be familiar with a tab headed ‘The Icons’, under which you’ll find catalogued a collection of mononyms that have reached near genericisation status. It was in 1961 that Crockett & Jones began naming its shoes, the company’s classic toe-capped Oxford, the ‘Connaught’, the first to receive a moniker; the ‘Chelsea’, with its signature V-shaped side elastics, following hot on its heels – apologies, they write themselves – a few months later (two years, coincidentally, before the Porsche 911 was unveiled).

Get the look

Bibury

Snuff Suede

Bibury

Earth Green Suede

More recent dignitaries to make it into the Crockett & Jones Hall of Fame include ‘Coniston’, a quintessentially English, higher-leg Derby boot; ‘Audley’, a worldwide best-selling, calf-leather Oxford; and, perhaps most emblematic of all, ‘Islay’, a rugged, brogued country boot elevated to even loftier standing when it was seen on the feet of 007 during 2012’s Skyfall (at the behest of Daniel Craig himself, it’s worth pointing out). Well, fellow footwear enthusiasts, there may be another name about to lend its support to the effort of resurrecting the word ‘iconic’.

If immediate reaction is anything to go by, Crockett & Jones has created a summer-ready smash-hit in its latest chukka boot, the new-for-2024 ‘Bibury’. I have it on good authority – and having struggled to acquire a pair for a fashion shoot with which I was personally involved – that the rubber-soled one-piece is the success of the season, outselling any other shoe in the company’s far-reaching catalogue, even among those aforementioned Icons. It was a fact that bore out during a recent trip to the company’s Canary Wharf store, where the sales team explained they had only the solitary pair left. Sadly, not in my size.

A riff on the ‘Chiltern’, another Crockett & Jones icon, the Bibury takes that illustrious chukka boot and adds an attractive butted seam – a first for a Crockett & Jones desert boot. The Bibury debuts on the shoemaker’s new rubber wedge sole – another first for a Crockett & Jones chukka – a deck-friendly update of a wedge originally developed in 1910 for recreationally-minded customers looking for something comfortable to wear while playing lawn bowls.

The Bibury arrives in two kinds of suede – sand-coloured Snuff and mossy Earth Green – and from mid-August will be available to pre-order in a limited-edition third: autumn-appropriate Dark Brown. The pre-order window will last just one month, before the design will be consigned to the Crockett & Jones archives.

Following the undraping of the 911 at the Frankfurt IAA Motor Show in 1963 – originally revealed as the 901, before being renamed for Peugeot-related infringement reasons we needn’t get into – Porsche’s production arm spent the ensuing years struggling to keep up with demand. Crockett & Jones might soon find itself in a similar position.

Bibury

Snuff Suede

£495

Bibury

Earth Green Suede

£495