It’s never an easy thing for a brand to reimagine an iconic design – a truth that must feel doubly obvious when you’re talking about footwear silhouettes people know and wear religiously (think your Air Jordan 4s and NB550s, to name but a few).
Still, that hasn’t stopped skunkworks-type outfits like Sense of Symmetry from trying, with the Italian footwear studio focusing its efforts this time around on a design that is part court-shoe; part galosh; and all kinds of divisive.
Conceived, in the studio’s own words, as a “[silhouette] for those who are ready to move into a new era of style without letting go of their past entirely” the ‘Stan Tip’ – as no one is sure to call it – fuses the construction and basic support systems of a brogue with the characteristically clean uppers of Adidas’ best-selling tennis shoe – a staple on courts, city streets and runways for more than four decades.
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Variously described by Sense of Symmetry’s designers as “an oxymoron” and “link between past and future”, it’s not a design that everybody will readily be inclined to embrace – but does raise interesting questions about whether the next wave in sneakerdom might involve some kind of compromise between Tom Sachs’s ‘General Purpose Shoe’ and the $600 loafer.
Despite being definitionally of niche appeal, the Sense of Symmetry guys have done a good job incorporating the Stan Smith’s more recognisable details into what otherwise looks (and probably wears) like a straight-down-the-middle chunky dress shoe.
The perforated uppers blend into those decorative elements that wearers will see all over the ‘wing’ of each shoe and in certain of the colourways – namely ‘Offwhite Black’ and ‘Black Blue’ – there’s even a good bet that you could wear these, complete with braces and dinner jacket, should you feel obliged.
The catch? Only 10 pairs in each style will be made, with delivery requiring five weeks of lead time thanks to the bona fide brogue-style channelled stitching and chunky, Vibram-esque rubber sole.
