The classic Chucks isn’t the only pair of Converse the designer is experimenting on.
The classic Chuck Taylors Converse goes by many names: Chucks, Cons, All Stars, Chucky T’s. Whatever name you choose to call it, though, there’s no denying that it has become a wardrobe staple for its functionality, comfortable design, and easy-to-style silhouette ever since it was first introduced over 100 years ago.
Today, it gets a new look courtesy of American fashion designer Rick Owens’ sub-label DRKSHDW.
In the collaboration, Owens reshapes the shoe’s iconic silhouette “with a punk mindset and modern minimalist aesthetic,” a style approach he’s always been known for. The result are square-toed, black and white Converse low and high-cut sneakers, aptly called TurboDRK Chuck 70 ($195).
Unlike the traditional Chucks, Owens’ edition also features the shoe’s tongue and sole extended.
“When I think of Converse, I think of the black and white Chuck Taylors and the punk rock generation,” he says in a GQ report. “Wearing [it], you align yourself with a generation that was experimental.”
More collabs underway
The classic Chucks isn’t the only pair of Converse Owens is experimenting on. Just a few weeks after the Turbodrk Chuck 70 drop, the shoe brand unveiled TurboWPN, a spin on the iconic basketball shoe from the 80s called Weapon.
Worn by the likes of basketball superstars Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, the high-top now looks every bit like an Owens fashion piece—distorted with an elongated tongue, a double-sized outsole, and in black and white.
“When I discovered how powerful just oversizing something a little bit was, which I’ve done with a lot of my clothes, that became one of my tools,” he adds, referring to one of the shoe’s unmissable qualities—its exaggerated proportions.
Both Turbos feature the Converse star logo similar to the DRKSHDW iconography, which is a pentagram.
“A pentagram, in this day and age with all of its associations, I like the fact that it refers to an alternative system,” he says in a promotional Instagram post for the collaboration.
It suggests the pursuit of pleasure, this pursuit of sensation,” Owens continues. “But one of the main things that I think it suggests is empathy and a consideration of systems of living that might not be standard. So that leads us to be more accepting and tolerant of other systems, which I think is a good thing.”
TurboWPN will officially be available online via Converse on August 31.
Banner Photo from @converse on IG
