Nearly 20 years ago, The Bride (Uma Thurman) showed up at a Tokyo restaurant to duke it out with Yakuza boss O-Ren Ishii. The epic fight sequences in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol I introduced instantly famous looks, from O-Ren’s snow-white kimono to her teen bodyguard Gogo’s school uniform, but no outfit has stood the test of time like The Bride’s yellow tracksuit with black stripes, worn with sneakers – the Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66 – to match.
But the shoe’s cultural relevance predates Tarantino’s cult classic. The Bride’s entire outfit is a reference to the 1978 Bruce Lee film Game of Death. (While Thurman’s character only wore the yellow kicks, Lee’s character also wears the red, white and blue version.) The tennis shoes make another appearance in another classic Lee film, Enter the Dragon, worn by Jim Kelly.
Nowadays the sporty Mexico 66s are no longer being used in bloody, no-holds-barred death matches (at least so far as I’m aware). The sleek, tapered leather trainer with its interlocking stripes has become a favourite among models and actors. Bella Hadid wears them when making TikToks on set, Suki Waterhouse wears them to perform at festivals, and Kaia Gerber wears them seemingly any chance she gets.
While The Bride’s mustard Onitsuka Tigers are on the come up, the cult classic shoe comes in several colourways. Addison Rae favours the white body with blue and red stripes, while Hailey Bieber has stepped out in a black pair with white stripes. Some, like Hadid and Gerber, own several iterations of the shoe.
The Mexico 66 has come a long way on its road to coolness. In 2012, when Prince William visited Kate Middleton, who was pregnant and being treated for severe morning sickness at the time, at King Edward VII Hospital in London, TMZ declared his sneakers “sensible walking shoes”, and joked that he was already dressing like a dad. “No word if he’ll be driving a royal minivan anytime soon,” the report said.
Below, check out the evolution of the Onitsuka Tiger Mexico 66.
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