Sometimes I can’t work out whether I’m in on the joke when it comes to fashion or not (or what the joke actually is sometimes, for that matter). Case in point, the Crocs x Mschf Big Yellow Boot.
Spotted for the first time on the artist TOMM¥ €A$H—dressed like some sort of edgy mime artist and holding a large baguette (cos France)—at Rick Owens’ Paris Fashion Week show yesterday. It was a fairly surreal moment that threatened to steal at least a small amount of thunder from Pharrell Williams and his debut Louis Vuitton Men’s collection.
If I have this right—and, let’s be honest, there’s every chance I don’t—the New York based collective that dropped their Big Red Boot during last year’s New York Fashion week, craft deliberately wild items to poke fun at the obsessive eccentricities of sneaker culture and the fashion industry at large.
Which is all fine and dandy until the fashion influencers start wearing said item, and it becomes the must-cop product of the summer.
Does that kill the joke or does it tumble into some sort of unwitting performance art at this point? What if they’re wearing them ironically? Does that switcheroo put the gag back onto Mschf? And even if it does, do they care? Heck no. They’re charging an extortionate amount to basically make you look like a cartoon at this stage. Maybe there is no joke and I’ve entirely made this narrative up in my own head. It really is a minefield out there—one that you should apparently navigate in massive, clomping boots.
Anyway, the item set to infiltrate your social feeds over the next few weeks follows the same oversized proportions of the original Big Red Boot, only with an upper in the Crocs Classic Clog style. While it does feature the Colorado brand’s logo on the heel, there’s been no official confirmation of a collab. We’re also reminded of the recent comment from Mschf COO’ Kevin Weisner in The New York Times stating, “We are big in the ‘ask forgiveness, not permission’ school.” However, as of this morning Crocs had images of the boot on its social feeds, so it’s all looking legit.
At this point it’s difficult to know the endgame here, but I’m guessing somewhere around the 3D-printed inflatable underpants that only become visible when you speak French to them, stage. Jake Paul wearing a pair as he screams “BONNE NUIT, BONNE NUIT,” tapping out in the Octagon to an Elon Musk choke hold seems about right for our current trajectory.
I genuinely can’t wait.