This second joint name focuses on the classic 8-hole boots and 18-hole boots, giving full play to Martin’s architectural aesthetics in addition to his pragmatic design concept. The 2 boots are based on the 2-inch (about 5 cm) high Quad Retro sole, and are additionally equipped with a heightened and enlarged exaggerated tongue. The black lunar soft leather with dark grain contrasts with the tough and upright outline.
It wouldn’t be Rick Owens without that signature layered strap design, and it’s on our 1460 eight-eye boot. The thick, extra-long pearl laces wrap around the shoe in layers and are supported by heavy dark silver hooks. Finished with a textured and heavily engineered inner zip, black and pearl white colorblocked rear ear straps follow and finish with Martin’s signature yellow edge stitching.
In addition, we also reshaped the towering 1918 eighteen-hole boots, linking the extra-long pearl white laces with dark silver hooks and eyelets, and then running through the outside of the shoe with exaggerated heavy-duty zippers. Colorblocked in pearl white, the back ear straps are accented with the must-have yellow edge stitching.
The joint Dr. Martens x Rick Owens will be launched on December 2nd in Martin’s official mini program mall, Dr. Martens Shanghai TX Huaihai offline store, Rickowens.eu official website and flagship store, as well as designated partners.
Price:
27977001 1460 Quad Pent RO Black Lunar 3199
27979001 1918 RO Black Lunar 3699
To celebrate the launch of the latest joint series, we interviewed Rick Owens about the story and inspiration behind this collaboration with performance artist Ron Athey:
“I met Ron Athey in the 1980s, when we were in every underground LA nightclub I could find. Ron was arguably the most beautiful being I’d ever seen, which fascinated me. At the time he became a nightclub A gogo boy, and led the popular hardcore piercing subculture at the time. Eventually, he developed dance into performance art, and gradually became the performance art work he is known for today.
DR. MARTENS X RICK OWENS
These works were created during the AIDS crisis, when artists confronted that moment of despair with a physical display of anger. The most controversial of his works is his printing press performance, in which he carved symbols on his friend’s back and pressed them with paper towels, then clipped the pressed blood prints on a pulley system and hung them from the above the performance space. Although receiving only minimal support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the work has since become part of the political discourse and controversy over which works of art are eligible for public funding.
DR. MARTENS X RICK OWENS
His work speaks to the most eternal primordial desires in all of our humanity, and the common experiences we all share—fear, shame, sex, death, and faith. In blood ritual traditions throughout the ages, from human sacrifices on Mayan altars to the Messiah on the cross, to childbirth, blood tests and our current wars, the list goes on and on.
I chose Ron to perform this Dr.Martens collaboration series, aiming to use him as an example to illustrate how elegant and authentic our extraordinary behavior and our personal exploration of transcendence can be.”