This is ye olde but seeing as it was B.S.B. (Before. Style. Bubble.) and the microsite is still up and running AND they provide...high res images for us to merrily download (a rarity for most sites...) I felt the urge to indulge. It was Jeanie who reminded me of this Doc Martens project back in 2003 when they asked 69 creatives to interpret the original 8-eyelet 1460 work boot. Some might remember the touring exhibition that went with it going to London, New York and Tokyo. At the time, I was reading about it Flicking through the creations is a bit of a Brit designer blast-from-the-past as a lot of the 'older' generation of designers took part... people like...
Caroline Charles
Betty Jackson
Jasper Conran
Elspeth Gibson (I was a huge fan of her pretty prettiness...)
Joe Casely-Hayford whose deconstructed shirt I still wear obsessively and whose son spookily also is modelling Doc Martens' current Made in Monochrome campaign (he's also the impossibly tall, well dressed dude who works at Dover Street Market).
These boots by Preen remind me of their rougher-edged beginnings as designers... hence why I keep going to their sample sales in search of really early Preen buys...
The established of New York also gets a look in with this creation by knitwear designer Liz Collins...
Benjamin Cho's squishy fish boot makes me wonder what his very EARLY shows were like...
The real surprise goes to Sean John though. Yes, THE Sean John aka P. Diddy's 'sportswear' label with the annoying woman in the perfume ad whispering 'Shon Shon' in a faux French accent. Scrub away the little Sean John logos and you have a pair of simple and effective take on the 1460 boots...
