![]() Beginning in the 1980s, sneakers loosened the screws in that facade. Once European men decided that rationality equated masculinity, they renounced fashion and adopted a uniform-like dress code. These outlandish sneakers signify a big change in not only menswear, but fashion in general. ![]() "Tom Sachs, Takashi Murakami, Daniel Arsham, Chantal Martin-they're all artists who have begun to focus on both the physical structure of a sneaker and what can be done with it." Take for instance the artistry of the Dave White Jordan 1s or the sartorial perplexities of any sneaker collaboration with Sacai involved. Not only does the sneaker skew artistic in appearance, but artists themselves have gotten involved. Thanks to Virgil Abloh and his contemporaries, the functional shoe in its more eccentric forms now drives much of the fashion conversation. What could be a stronger statement of wealth or status than possessing shoes that hinder the wearer from simply walking? Though wacky footwear has previously served as a bourgeois statement in its emphasis of a lack of functionality, a more modern, crazy sneaker merges the artistic with the practical-a shift literally depicted in Stella McCartney's wedged tennis shoes and Raf Simon's sneaker-heels for Dior. The exaggerated high heel emphasized a prominent though rather antiquated trope of femininity. Even feminist champion Phoebe Philo experimented with modern renditions of a high heel at Céline-one particular 2013 pair featured toenails painted on its exterior. Miuccia Prada favored an incendiary approach in 2012, depicting flames leaping from the heels of wedges. ![]() With his "Plato's Atlantis" collection in the spring of 2010, designer Alexander McQueen famously, or rather infamously, debuted his "Armadillo" boots, rounded, sky-high heels made possible only by a hidden platform that sent models teetering precariously down the runway. Designers have taken this as an opportunity to push the limits of podiatric expression. Semmelhack, who points to its equestrian origins, says that off the horse, the women's heel "makes no sense." This superfluous design, sculptural in essence, offers a ready vehicle for artistic expression. Look at the high heel, even in its simplest form-wacky, to say the least. Unlike a dress or a blouse that requires your own physical body to be the armature for it to take form, footwear really does stand alone, so it's already got a kind of sculptural presence that I think you see some designers really beginning to play with." Creative director and senior curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto Elizabeth Semmelhack argues that shoes have served as art ever since hemlines rose above the ankles in the 1920s, though real experimentation began with platforms in the '30s and later the '70s. Footwear has a particular affinity for the strange, and a quick glance at the arc of weird and wacky shoes reflects, as fashion so often does, shifting societal norms.ĭue to its structure, footwear offers a different materialistic medium than its ready-to-wear counterpart. Another fashion accoutrement, specifically shoes, provides a medium for designers to flesh out their deepest fantasies beyond the hindrances of ready-to-wear. The runways serve as a breeding ground for fetishes and perversion to intermingle with art in the form of clothing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |