It’s been a weird couple of years for high fashion footwear.
Granted, shoes have always been a space where designers get a little extra creative — in 1930, Salvatore Ferragamo released a sky-high pair of platforms which appeared to be crafted out of rainbow playdough, the 2000s had the Lady Gaga-favoured Alien shoes, courtesy of Alexander McQueen, and we hadn’t even reached peak Crocs popularity before we got the Balenciaga heeled versions.
But from 2020 onwards it’s reached peak extra footwear as brands scramble to make a dent on TikTok and Instagram. Christian Cowan, the Central Saint Martins grad rumoured to be dating Sam Smith, is the latest to attempt a viral moment.
Cowan has announced a collaboration with Teletubbies, the ‘90s children’s TV show which stopped airing in 2001. The collab includes a series of Teletubbies-themed garments: graphic tees emblazoned with pictures of models posing with Tinky Winky, denim jackets picturing a Po photoshoot on the rear, a pair of denim jeans that have Dipsy superimposed over the legs.
And the piece de resistance — a £2,000 pair of slime green boots which bleed into a Teletubbies toy around calf height. Okay, you probably have some questions.
Is this surprising from Cowan? Not entirely. He recently collaborated with crisps brand Doritos to forge a triangle-laced runway collection in support of Doritos’ sponsorship of the 2023 Super Bowl.
Speaking about the reasoning behind the Teletubbies collection, Cowan wrote on Instagram: "When deciding what our next collaboration would be, we were throwing around lots of pop culture icons, and then it struck us, let's do THE icons.
"We treated Dipsy, Laa-Laa, Po & Tinkey-Winkey like the legends they are, shot in an Avedon-esque style, these garments tell the story of our four legendary characters, who have come to step on everyone's necks and have autographed these pieces for their adoring fans."
Your next question, therefore, is likely: Who would pay £2,000 for Teletubbies boots? More people than you think. Before the Teletubbies boots, the most recent viral shoe was MSCHF’s Big Red Boots, which took over Twitter, TikTok and Instagram just a few weeks ago.
They sold out almost immediately. Granted, they retailed for $350 (so roughly £287), not £2,000, but the boots are now listed on resale site StockX for £1,082.00 to £1,375.00. Oof.
Cowan’s website crashed as soon as the Teletubbies collection went live — it looks like more people are going to be copping those Teletubbies boots than you might reasonably expect.
