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Highlighting six exceptional pieces of contemporary footwear design from the recent years, traversing the realms of fashion and fine art, Something Curated takes a closer look at some remarkable boot concepts and the creatives behind them.

 

Pierre-Louis Auvray || Bedtime Socks, 2018

Central Saint Martins fashion graduate Pierre-Louis Auvray’s BA collection looked like it had come straight from the wrestling ring, with inspiration drawn from images of medieval fighters in tight clothing. These boots created by the French designer earlier this year are part of a more recent body of work comprising reconstituted sporting garments.

 

Christian Stone || Mutant Artisanal Boots, 2018

Designer Christian Stone graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2017. Post graduation, he founded Mutant Artisanal, a clothing line gravitating towards couture sensibilities, with experimental designs and all-hand crafted textiles. Each garment is in some way an amalgam of seemingly disparate elements, resonating with the hybrid nature of the handmade and digital technologies, an overlap present in so many everyday objects.

 

Tenant of Culture x Marko Bacovic || Deadstock, 2018

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bjew39Zl8da/

Artist Hendrickje Schimmel is perhaps better known by her moniker Tenant of Culture. Originally from the Netherlands, Hendrickje lives and works in London. A 2016 graduate of the RCA, earlier this year Schimmel presented a series of boots made in collaboration with footwear designer Marko Bakovic, at the Sarabande Foundation. The pictured pair were shown alongside brown and white versions, created in a similar patchworked style.

 

Miu Miu || Fur Boots, FW 2017

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqnIWEsge4k/

Appearing in Miu Miu’s Fall/Winter 2017 show at Paris Fashion Week, these faux fur boots in white and green were part of a series of memorable shoes made up of snakeskin, crystallised brooches, and metallic heels. Miu Miu’s furry footwear is among the many examples of mesmerising shoes featured on tongue-in-cheek Instagram account @larslala.

 

Xander Zhou || Monster Feet, AW 2018

Fashion writer Yu Masui’s eclectic taste is well documented on his Instagram page, @yumasui. Masui’s monster feet look like they are part of some gruesome Halloween costume, but are in fact from Xander Zhou. The designer’s distinctive aesthetic, coined as techno-orientalism, is influenced by Oriental mysticism and the futuristic modernity of Asia, a diverse continent with a blend of cultures and an energetic virtual community.

 

Isabel Bonner || Blue Plastic, 2017

For a shoot back in 2017, NYC and London-based jewellery designer and stylist Isabel Bonner fashioned this intriguing concept boot from what appears to be plastic packaging. The twisted heel, formed with hair curlers, supports a translucent blue film, encasing the wearer’s foot, finishing with a pointed toe.

 

Feature image: Install shot Deadstock at Sarabande Foundation, 2018. Image by Oskar Proctor. Boots in collaboration with Marko Bacovic. (via Tenant of Culture)

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