MM6 Maison Margiela enters the world of dad shoes with Fusion, a leather and mesh shoe that arrives looking as though it’s already logged many hours standing at the grill barbecuing. In addition to frayed laces, the shoe’s outsole is constructed to look as though it’s being held together by duct tape. There are also blobs of dried glue, further adding to a patched-together aesthetic.
Priced at $1,645, the shoe also fits right in with typical luxury sneaker pricing, which appears to have no ceiling.
Back in 2000, Maison Margiela designer John Galliano was roundly criticized for a couture collection inspired by lifestyles of the poor and homeless. At the time, Galliano dismissed the critics and insisted there was nothing wrong with being inspired by the poor.
In a NY Times article from 2000 discussing the Dior collection, Galliano explained, ”One is allowed to have women mincing about in high heels and combat trousers and a scarf around their head, inspired by the war in Bosnia. One is allowed to be inspired by India, even though there is enormous poverty there. One is allowed to be inspired by Africa, even though the Masai tribe is a disappearing race. One is allowed to have bohemian chic inspired by Gypsies even though we all know now where Gypsies are coming from.
”I don’t get why, just because this is on their own doorstep, it’s any different. Because they don’t want to know about these people?
”Children are brought up to watch ‘Lady and the Tramp’ and Charlie Chaplin and ‘The Little Rascals.’ I didn’t set out to make a political statement. I am a dressmaker. But jogging around the Seine has thrown Paris into a whole different light for me. I call it the Wet World. There are shades of Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando.”
While MM6 line is designed by an in-house team, one could see where the designers perhaps took a page out of Galliano’s playbook for the Fusion sneaker.
Maison Margiela’s Fusion sneaker is now available to purchase at nordstrom.com.
