By Aliya Couillard, Staff Writer
American art collective MSCHF, based in Brooklyn, NY, came out with a big red boot that seems to resemble the ones worn by the Japanese anime character “Astro Boy.” These boots retail for $350 and have been going viral on social media for their unique and silly appearance.
Students on campus had similar impressions of the boots.
“I think they are very very interesting and they are big and red just like the name of them,” senior sports management major Ivan Jara expressed. “I personally wouldn’t wear them and I have personally never seen anything like them, but they are very unique boots.”
Sophomore education and psychology major Yaneila Fernandez shared her aligning opinion.
“I think they are definitely unique, but I do think they are taking advantage of what is going on [in fashion] right now,” Fernandez said. “I was previously discussing with someone how Lil Uzi Vert wore clown shoes on the [2023] Grammy red carpet.”
The shoes Fernandez is referring to are by the Spanish fashion brand Balenciaga.
There is no doubt that the underlying word to describe these shoes is unique. The goofy look of the boots is part of a whole new up-and-coming era of “silly” fashion. An era of fashion that doesn’t take itself too seriously and allows lots of room for creativity.
Junior fashion merchandising major Anna Johnson shared her take on this arising era of fashion.
“I think it’s interesting. I think sometimes, luxury fashion especially, has the tendency to take itself too seriously and puts itself on a level of superiority but I think adding some comedy to it and a level of absurd makes it a little more relatable and takes it down a few pegs almost,” Johnson voiced. “In the fashion industry at this point, there is nothing new, it’s all just recycled and updated looks from the past and I think there’s always going to be people who try and challenge that as much as possible and try to generate what is going to be the next big thing in this coming age.”
However, along with this “silly” era of fashion comes a level of impracticality. The garments aren’t necessarily staple wear and some don’t even seem like they should be worn off the runway.
That being said, Post students gave their outtakes on what they think designers are trying to achieve with this type of wear.
“I mean I don’t think fashion has to be comfortable all the time,” Fernandez expressed. “Designers are artists and they are trying to put their creative outlook on the world through their clothing so obviously if there is a runway show or if it’s [clothing] to explicitly take pictures of, it doesn’t necessarily have to be comfortable that type of fashion already exists, like athleisure. When fashion designers are creating things like [these designers] are portraying, they are creating something unique from their mind and that is something special.”
Jara gave more of a simplistic take by summing it up in two words.
“Be different,” he said.
The fashion trend cycle comes into play when we talk about these new eras of fashion. A cycle that appears to be getting faster and faster with access to social media where new material gets sifted in and out by the day.
Jara shared his views of the fashion trend cycle.
“Fashion changes every day, new things come up every day, even things from the past come up and come back and I think it’s really interesting to watch but it’s hard to follow,” he commented.
Johnson gave more of an environmentalist standpoint on the trend cycle.
“It can be detrimental to the environment so I don’t like [the trend cycle] all the time. I think it’s fun to get new looks in, it gives designers a lot of room to kind of experiment and bring new stuff to the table, but yeah I hate how that allows a lot of room for waste.”
With the fast pace of the trend cycle and bringing it back to the impracticality of “silly” clothing, specifically the big red boots, we see a huge environmental issue surface. Because the boots are almost entirely made to take photos in, they may be thrown out or resold within as little as two months.
This reiterates the waste factor that Johnson touched on. She continued with her environmental viewpoint with regard to the big red boots.
“There are so many people just wearing things once because it’s like a shock factor almost. I think that mindset can be hard because I definitely fall on the total opposite of that spectrum. I’m a total outfit repeater. I love using the same pieces multiple times and having more staples in my closet personally. I think from an artistic standpoint it’s fun to have certain outfits or models take things out and about to generate conversation and spark inspiration. [However,] in the long term it’s not something that people should make into a bigger trend,” she added.
Fernadez gave some good advice on these kinds of purchases being a lover of the environment herself.
“I think for consumers it’s just very important to really think about, especially [when it comes to] expensive purchases, are you going to use this long term? If you are, are you gonna use it consistently? If it’s not comfortable, how will you use it? Just be very logical about your purchases, especially with the environmental state our earth is in right now,” she said.
Without considering any environmental or monetary factors, students shared their thoughts on whether they would ever consider owning a pair of the big red boots.
“Yes, just to have them, but I would never wear them. I would resell them for more money because I know they are sold out and in high demand,” Jara said.
Fernandez shared a similar opinion.
“Personally, I don’t think I would purchase them. I don’t like colors. I wear a lot of black. If the boots were in black and I was doing some type of photoshoot I would buy the boots. The size isn’t so much an inconvenience, it’s more the color but that’s my specific preference,” she said.
Johnson reiterated the point of the boldness and flashiness of the shoe being a drawback.
“Well, I will say I don’t know if they fit my personal style. Maybe if they were in black and they weren’t super expensive but like no. They’re giving mickey mouse and I just don’t know if that’s my vibe,” she said.
The boots are currently sold out on the MSCHF website but are available for purchase on numerous online second-hand markets.
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