As usual, it’s the only story telling the story.
First things first: yes, that’s a real-life pair of co-branded Birkenstock mules walking down the Dior runway in Paris today. But it was an Instagram post after the show that really caught people’s attention. Continuing the Autumn-Winter 2022 collection of Dior Men’s high-end shoe designer Thibo Denis shared a closer look on Instagram, starting with a shot of the story-telling embossed shoes, printed with a faded Dior Oblique motif on the bone-patterned upper of Birkenstock.
They’re a sample of Birkenstock’s Tokio mule, with five Dior-ified neutral shades (including an embroidered flower) in suede and heated felt. They have rubber toe boosters (which are great!) and a cross-legged set of what you can bet is a very small one, Design by Matthew Williams roller coaster lock.
Birkenstock is hardly new to the haute couture game — they’ve partnered with Rick Owens, Proenza Schouler, and Jil Sanders up to the end — but that doesn’t mean Birk’s so-called Jesus shoes haven’t been mentioned once or a thousand times. That’s what creative director Kim Jones, once interested in collaborations, seems to have realized from the leap: “We did a Birkenstock, but only because we didn’t want to make a shoe. gardening by Christian Dior and copying it”, designer speak while previewing the program. So why not make the real thing? Keep an eye out for these in stores, on Instagram and everywhere there are celebrity footsteps later this year.
