If COMME des GARÇONS' CDG sub-label is famous for anything, its for those darn all-over-printed Vans sneakers. It's not terribly inventive to slap repeated "CDG" branding atop Vans' classic skate sneakers but who said it needed to be?

The CDG Vans are simple, effective, and frequently sold out.

However, the new round of CdG Vans shoes aren't for everyone. In fact, they're really only for the CdG heads.

That's because COMME des GARÇONS GIRL is dropping its own Vans shoes this go-round, rather than CDG. And, yes, it's confusing to be talking about CDG, CdG, and CdG Girl in one breath. I didn't name 'em!

But the point is that whereas CDG's Vans sneakers were extremely direct — black CDG branding on white sneakers — COMME des GARÇONS GIRL takes a more indirect route.

CDG GIRL is a similarly approachable CDG sub-label but it's not quite as direct as CDG, which mostly deals in graphic outerwear and printed T-shirts. Instead, CDG GIRL is priced just a bit lower than the other CDG mainline imprints, like menswear line CDG HOMME PLUS, but it's still a luxury line.

Its oeuvre is rich with CDG spins on conventionally feminine clothes, like satin maxi dresses and flower-shaped handbags. Its red polka-dotted Vans Authentic sneakers, releasing for the Spring 2024 season, both align with CDG GIRL's unashamedly, ahem, girlish design language and speak to a core CDG motif.

CDG has dabbled in polka dots since its early days and remains core to its ever-popular CDG Play sub-label. It's not as graphically satisfying as the CDG branding but it's a better fit for CDG GIRL, where Vans are more likely to be rendered in gingham than graphics.

COMME des GARÇONS' sneaker collaborations are consistent in one way: they are entirely inconsistent. In one season, COMME des GARÇONS and its various sub-labels will issue collaborations with brands as diverse as Nike, running imprint HOKA, and American sneaker giant New Balance, all unified solely by a fairly stripped-down color palette.

But other than being all-white or black, CdG does it all. Sometimes its collaborative shoes are simple, sometimes not so much.

These CDG GIRL Vans lean towards the former. But they're also a subtle self-reference suitable for CDG fans beyond the GIRL clientele. As for the CDG consumer, well, there's always CDG.