Hold fire on your Crocs memes, the brand is making like T-Swift and calling out its haters.
Crocs has collaborated with Balenciaga to take the shoe everyone loves to hate to new heights – both figuratively and literally.
The 10-inch foam open shoe caused a dizzying stir when it walked straight off the catwalks of Paris and into the critical opinions of the internet, sparking a new state of divide: Those who love, love, love… and those repulsed by the invigorated comeback.
British designer – and unapologetic lover of Crocs – Christopher Kane continued his quest to bring Crocs back, by sending his models down the runway a second time (the first being last September), wearing heavily embellished rhinestone versions of the opinion-dividing shoe and also launched a limited-edition collection of Croc-clogs for retail.
When prompted to defend his artistic direction, Kane explains, “I love that they are slightly awkward and might be perceived by some as ugly. They have a very naïve and childlike shape, which I especially like when they look extra clunky on the foot.”
Christopher Kane SS17. Courtesy of Crocs
Despite Kane being the first major designer to join forces with Crocs, it was the platformed Balenciaga rendition that has turned Crocs into catnip for fashion-forward influencers and icons. A colourful confection stood atop a 10-inch foam platform, clustered in childlike charms and ready to be paired with elegant eveningwear, the divisiveness of this infamous shoe might just see it reach sell-out status.
Until now, the Crocs brand has focused on die-hard fans such as Helen Mirren or Whoopi Goldberg as a testament to the shoe’s practical qualities, but with its latest campaign, Come As You Are, which taps Drew Barrymore and John Cena, it goes against the grain in an attempt to fight the haters. Coined as a politically-charged message about tolerance, the brand’s manifesto is typically tongue-in-cheek: “Come role changers and game changers, come free thinkers and free stylers, come label defiers… but whatever you do, come as you are.”
The question remains: Will Crocs succeed in rewriting its narrative? Will they empower the wearers and provide a case for individuality? And more importantly, will we be seeing any of our Miss FQ readers swap out their beloved Birkenstocks and adopt the reformed shoe this summer?
