As Off-White™ trucks every forward, its design ethos remains rooted in the playbook sketched by late founder Virgil Abloh, a formula that holds true for even its latest Church's shoes.
Whereas the first Off-White™ x Church's collab was a very literal rendition of tried and true Abloh-isms — down to the quotation-marked "SPECIAL EVENTS" print — the Off-White™ c/o Church’s Meteor Consul relies on a relatively recent O-W development.
Only in the past few years did Abloh debut the Off-White™ "meteor" pattern, a series of circles often cut-out as if the object in question had withstood a barrage of tiny meteors.
Handbags, slippers, and Nike sneakers were all given the meteor treatment, with the requisite decrying of any fresh Abloh creation.
Despite the bemoaning of haters, Off-White™'s meteor stuff still sells out — all the whinging in the world couldn't slow the MLB collab's swift sell-out.
The Instagram reveal of Off-White™ & Church's Meteor Consul was similarly nitpicked by comments like Wtf with the holes," "This is a shoe with holes in it bro cmon," and, my personal favorite, "These ain’t it chief" (how original!).
And, sure, for $1,650 you may be getting a pair of well-made shoes with nice leather, Church's aristocratic Last 173, and that inimitable zip tie, but you are indeed getting some hole-y shoes.
That is, of course, part of the appeal. Fashion stuff doesn't exist to fill a need, it exists to express an idea. And these shoes are not intended to replace your scuffed biz cas beaters, they were simply designed to provide a unique canvas for Abloh's inimitable perspective.
Though the shoes are currently available on Church's web store and at each brand's physical shops, I don't expect them to move as quickly as some of Off-White™'s other recent drops but, honestly, it's not even because of the meteor detailing.
That's par for the course as far as Off-White™ goes, really. It's more just that these are "proper" shoes far less approachable than a cut-out baseball jersey or sneakers.
Still, should you be prepping for a summer wedding, fear not: Off-White™ and Church's have ensured that your tootsies are sweat-free.
