Balenciaga, Crocs Team Up to Make Uncomfortable Shoes

And the resulting negative reaction about stiletto crocs is likely the whole point
By Liz MacGahan,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 12, 2021 7:30 AM CDT
Balenciaga, Crocs Team Up to Make Uncomfortable Shoes
You're not imagining it.   (YouTube/New York Post)

Crocs are having a moment. They were hot sellers during the pandemic lockdowns, which makes sense. They put out a KFC-branded pair that looks—and smells!—like fried chicken, which really doesn’t make much sense. They’ve turned up on the famous feet of Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber. They’re foam shoes most charitably described as comfortable. And now there’s a pair that probably isn’t even that. Because fashion house (and noted trolls) Balenciaga went and stuck a stiletto heel on them, NPR reports. A common reaction among the shoe-buying public was “why?” Another one was “WE DON’T WANT THIS,” according to at least one tweet.

And it’s true—lightweight, soft shoes best used for shuffling around your apartment or gardening or maybe a quick coffee run don’t make sense as haute couture, $1,000 shoes. Unless you’re trying to drum up controversy to draw attention to your brand or really sell your line of clothes as subversive. Balenciaga designer Demna Gvasalia "has a habit of toying with proportions and construction techniques, and of reinterpreting common mass-market items, occasionally turning out viral products that capture the internet’s attention with their weirdness or plain audacity," writes Marc Bain at Quartz. The last Balenciaga-Croc collaboration, a platform shoe that sold for $850 a pair, wound up in a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit on campy fashion.
(More fashion stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X