How much would you pay someone to wear your sneakers for a year? Maison Margiela contends that $1,050 is about right.

According to the Maison Margiela website, the brand’s Loved to Death sneakers are nothing less than a “manifestation of ephemeral memories” that you can wear on your feet. Whose memories exactly? They do not say. Remember wearing these shoes to that one concert or your best friend’s birthday party? Of course not.

Made to a degree typical of any luxury label, Margiela’s modern oeuvre has transcended its avant origins to become quintessentially elegant and high-end. The Loved to Death sneakers’ weathered aesthetic is so shocking because it appears to defy this notion but, really, it’s just doing a lot to conceal an impressive degree of craft. The design is meant to be divisive, but what seems undone is actually an expression of ultra-refinement. Margiela has shown a considerable amount of care and effort to achieve the impression of exactly the opposite: a shoe that has not been cared for. It took a lot of “love” to make the Loved to Death look so severely neglected.

In classic Margiela fashion, the brand creates a moment of tension, even confusion, by presenting a luxury product that looks quite grungy, even on the verge of falling apart. But upon close inspection, an array of thoughtful details reveal the intent behind it all, including hand-stitching near the ankle opening and frayed threads intentionally applied to reinforce a split heel that exposes cork underneath. Coiled metal lace aglets and metal studs on the upper reveal the purpose: this is not a haphazardly shredded shoe but one that’s been quietly reimagined with a personality all its own.

This is not the first time the famed fashion house has sold pre-worn-looking footwear. Margiela’s Fusion sneaker looked like it was pieced together in someone’s basement with a hot-glue gun. With Margiela’s 2013 Converse collaboration, on the other hand, you had to do the work yourself. The sneaker’s upper was painted in white as a nod to a signature Margiela motif and, over time, it cracked and flaked to create a personalized pair of Chucks.

Even with its cleaner in-house silhouettes like the Replica, a popular low-top shoe colloquially known as the German Army Trainer or GAT, Margiela has also expressed this lived-in aesthetic. Several brand-new pairs come spattered with paint, showing signs of life through what initially appears to be a mistake.

Certainly, a sneaker like the Loved to Death, with its four-figure price tag, still has the power to shock but the high-low contrast is the point. To put a spin on a classic Dolly quote, it takes a lot of work to look this cheap.

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