Schiaparelli Dips a Gold Toe Into Sneaker Culture
Schiaparelli only just began to explore the world of ready-to-wear and designer Daniel Roseberry is already dipping a gilded toe into the highly competitive world of designer sneakers. Look out, Converse: here comes Schiaparelli's Pour Le Sport.
Now, you may think that the first-ever sneaker unveiled by what was once exclusively a couture label would be utterly distinct. You wouldn't be entirely wrong.
Though Schiaparelli is clearly working off of a framework that sure looks like a Converse Chuck Taylor as redesigned by Mihara Yasuhiro, the end result is distinguishably of Roseberry's invention.
For one, there's the toes. Gotta talk about the toes.
Gilded digits are a Roseberry signature, a staple of his statement shoes and a smart addition to Schiaparelli's debut sneaker. This is the design language that distinguishes Schiaparelli's first-ever soft shoe as a Schiaparelli invention.
Other key features: a midsole warped by Schiaparelli's measuring tape motif with foxing to match; gilded eyelets; beige canvas uppers identical in tone to the cotton shoelaces; a custom outsole that, yes, also looks like a foot.
For all this, you can expect to pay €2,300 (about $2,450) on Schiaparelli's web store or at some of the world's leading luxury boutiques: Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, and Harrod's.
Though this is uncharted territory for the label founded by Elsa Schiaparelli, it's actually par for the couture sneaker course.
Maison Alaïa's first sneaker, a collaboration with humble Italian shoe company Superga, beefed up an otherwise ordinary canvas tennis sneaker that then retailed for $430 (canvas) and over $700 (embossed leather). An ordinary Superga sneaker typically retails for less than $100.
But that's merely the price of doing business with some of the world's most covetable makers of couture. Because, believe it or not, there are people keen to order bespoke Schiaparelli creations regardless of price. Exclusivity is worth the premium.
Hence why the debut sneaker, though it's available to everyone, costs about 40 times more than a Chuck Taylor. They're just built different.
