One is a global shoe brand celebrating their 190th anniversary, one is a world-renowned museum; both are British icons. Clarks announce their world-first partnership with the UK’s leading art and design museum, the V&A, by headline sponsoring their major 2015 exhibition; Shoes: Pleasure and Pain. They have then extended the partnership (and here’s the good bit) with an exciting collection of men’s, women’s and children’s shoes. Who stocks the brilliant Clarks Originals X V&A Museum range I hear you ask? Why we do, of course.
The first shoe collection the V&A has ever been part of, the collaboration is inspired by subculture classics discovered in the V&A and Clarks archives, and infused with beautiful British heritage. And with both parties sharing a passion for design and craftsmanship, it’s not hard to understand why the V&A chose to launch into new ventures with Clarks. Join us as we take a look at some of our favourite pieces from the A/W ’15 collection, with design references from the fabulous ‘50s.
An era that props up repeatedly in modern fashion, the ‘50s holds a wealth of ground-breaking movements in the industry, with the Teddy Boy look being one of the most prominent. The rock ‘n’ roll subculture’s uniform consisted of white shirts, drape jackets, high-waist drainpipe trousers and of course, chunky crepe-soled brothel-creepers. By delving into the V&A archives, Clarks has reinvented the iconic shoe profile into a modern style staple with their Rockn Ankle boot for women and Rockn Low shoe for men.
Clarks also drew inspiration from the textile design trends that began to emerge in the ‘50s, including wallpaper prints documented by the V&A. They then injected this influence into their classic Desert Boot silhouette, as can be seen in their Desert Rockn for men and women, and their Desert Boot V&A for kids.
Check out our full Clarks Originals range now and shop all the styles from the collaboration.
