In the whirlwind of New York Fashion Week in February 2023, where trends rise and fall like shooting stars, one unexpected phenomenon took the fashion scene by storm – American art collective MSCHF’s Big Red Boots. A hilarious departure from the sleek Manolo heels and Prada boots, these cartoonish, larger-than-life boots became the must-have statement piece, capturing the attention of celebrities, street-style stars, and even athletes.
MSCHF, known for its avant-garde and sometimes controversial creations, have produced everything from browser plugins to a dog collar that turns a dog’s barking into spoken swear words. 😂 Their latest attention-grabbing release, the Big Red Boots, lives up to its name: a massive, cartoonish-looking boot with an outsize upper moulded to the wearer’s foot, turning them into someone out of a Mario Bros game. It is priced at $350 (R6659,59) and draws inspiration from the playful world of video games. As the brand’s press release irreverently puts it: “Cartoonishness is an abstraction that frees us from the constraints of reality. If you kick someone in these boots, they go boing!”
Stars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Diplo, and Janelle Monae embraced the bold footwear, wearing them to basketball games and events.
Meanwhile, TikTok videos highlighted the challenge of putting them on and taking them off, turning the act into a workout. Yet, the fashion world, ever drawn to a compelling gimmick, eagerly welcomed the Big Red Boots as this season’s standout accessory.
We can’t help but think upwards of R6k is a lot to spend on a gimmick, but hey, at least they’ll help make up a really epic Santa Claus outfit too, if nothing else. 🎅
This brief is part of our Year That Was 2023 edition. Read the full edition here.
