Considered by many as the brand that jump-started an explosion of men’s luxury swimwear labels, Brown was moved to cut a new type of short for swimming when he experienced a moment of clarity while on holiday in India. The next year, Adam Brown launched Orlebar Brown.

The internet gave more men access to information, inspiration and platforms where they could talk more openly about what they wanted to wear – including on the beach. However, the reason James Bond’s teeny tiny trunks became such a watershed moment almost a century later was also due to a perfect storm of new #menswear bloggers who were unabashedly interested in style and Savile Row suiting, as well as the first social media boom (it’s worth noting, Facebook hit one million users and Twitter went live in 2006). “This helped to create the more streamlined, sexy silhouette we know today, and that Hollywood did much to promote on screen.” This sparked a change in swimwear, which began to show far more skin,” says Dr Benjamin Wild, lecturer at the Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, and co-host of the Dress: Fancy podcast. “The 1918 influenza pandemic made people prioritise their wellbeing. While swimwear for men existed decades before Casino Royale (in its earliest iterations as flannel or wool onesies designed for modesty), from the 1920s the evolution of the studio system and the evolution of swimwear ran in parallel.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that this new gold standard for men’s swimwear was crystallised on reel, rather than in real, life. How did we get here and, more importantly, what’s the next wave going to look like? It’s now not unusual for men to spend over £100 on a pair of swim shorts that may only get worn once or twice a year in the hope of looking as good as Bond on the beach. Almost 15 years later, and the global men’s swimwear market is valued at around $4 billion – and is set to rise to $6.29 billion by 2025. Formerly an item most men would just grab at the duty-free, James Bond had raised the stakes, and his combination of gym-fit body and slim-fit swimmers became the peak of desirability. Back in 2006, Daniel Craig emerged from the sea in Casino Royale wearing a pair of tight, sky blue La Perla Grigioperla Lodato trunks – and overnight men’s swimwear was being discussed and dissected in a way it never had been before.

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