“I like to have a proper story to my collections as opposed to just product,” said Giuseppe Zanotti. For spring 19, that story was about ready-to-wear and the designer drew inspiration from many of the fabrics a man might find in his closet.
And every man has a pair of jeans, right? Yes, denim represented a key motif. “I looked at the denim culture of the last 50 years,” he said, joking that he’d cut up all the jeans from his own closet. Taking recycled fabrics in around 60 different washes and treatments, he applied a 3D collage of patchwork to sneakers and western boots.
He borrowed techniques used in the denim industry to treat his leathers as well, painting them, bleaching them and washing them in a water machine with stones inside to create a distressed effect.
From jeans to genes. Creativity certainly runs in the Zanotti family and the designer’s son, Riccardo is a street artist. The two worked together on a limited edition canvas run of 1,000 of the designer’s zipped Kriss high tops.
Watch on FN
“My son said ‘your shoes are too boring; you need to destroy them,’” laughed dad. “So he distressed them and painted the word Chaos on the sides.”
It was a metaphor for fashion, he said. “Because fashion is chaos, you build it and then you destroy it.”
Elsewhere he also looked to more formal tailoring – albeit with a twist. Loafers came in pinstripes and cravat inspired patterned silks. The twist? A bolt where you’d expect to see a snaffle.
The collection was all about breaking the rules, and making up new ones. Case in point he’s just launched a new logo edition of his Jump sneaker in a mid season drop, a strategy borrowed from big sneaker brands like Adidas and Nike. And why not? These days, anything goes.
Click through the gallery to see more shoes from the collection.
Want more?
Roberto Cavalli’s New Sneaker Resembles the Aerodynamics of a Cobra Head
The 7 Must-See Sneakers From Pitti Uomo
Olivier Rousteing’s Epic Resort ’19 Boots Are Cuissard Couture
