Advisory Board Crystals & Diemme’s Hiking Boot Is an Absolute Gem
On the day of Halloween, October 31, the Los Angeles-based fashion label Advisory Board Crystals (also known as Abc.) offers us a treat.
Linking up with Diemme, a traditional footwear maker handcrafting rugged shoes from a small town family factory in north-eastern Italy, Abc. has dressed up a pair of old-school hiking boots with gemstones.
Peaking out from small windows cut into the textured leather body of the boot’s upper, colorful opal gemstones line the sides of the shoes.
The gemstones in question are opals, and that is not a coincidence: apal is one of the birthstones for October. (This shoe is releasing on the final day of October, remember?)
The various stones decorating the shoe are a novel twist, however, elsewhere things remain decisively traditional.
Silver metal lace hooks, hairy suede, a thick lugged sole… these boots have all the features of an old-school hiking boot.
While its practice is rooted in tradition, Diemme is not afraid to push the boat out in terms of design — just take a look a the upcycled slip-ons it made with Nicole McLaughlin — and these sit up there as the most unconventional hiking boots the brand has released this year.
Gemstones? On a hiking shoe? Yeah, that's a first for me.
