A$AP Rocky Ditches Regular Ugly Sneakers for Gigantic Skate Shoes
When the rest of men’s fashion zigs, A$AP Rocky zags. Flacko's willingness to mix trends, try new things, and wear pretty much whatever the hell he wants is how he earned GQ’s title of “The World’s Flyest Human.” With great power comes great responsibility, though—his effortless flyness means that he has the supernatural ability to pull off looks most of us couldn’t dare dream of. Case in point: last week, he posted a shot to his Instagram where he's wearing a pair of Osiris D3 sneakers, the infamous marshmallow-like skate shoe from yesteryear. Of course, like most things Rocky wears, he pulls it off without breaking a sweat.
Some quick backstory on the D3: it was the signature shoe of skater Dave Mayhew, and its boundary-pushing heavy-bulk design was inspired by a hiking boot. The sneaker proudly sports multiple air bubbles, technical materials, huge lace holes, and an ultra-padded tongue. And then Osiris decided to add even more padding on top of that. In hindsight, the overpuffed shoe looks a little unhinged, but it wasn’t that far outside of the design lexicon when it debuted. In fact, it was one of the best-selling shoes of its time. The D3 is from an era of skate shoes where bulkiness was almost like currency—the bigger the sneaker, the better. Nowadays, most new skate shoes from brands like Nike SB tend to err on the side of streamlined performance. Osiris never got the memo and kept making the D3—just in time for fashion to catch up. (Tell us you don't see a trace of the Yeezy 500 here.)
While it’s somewhat surprising to see Rocky wearing a shoe from an old school skate brand like Osiris, it shouldn’t be a total surprise. The stylish rapper loves bulky sneakers: he was early to wear Balenciaga’s Triple S and Raf Simons’ Ozweego, after all. But the D3 is on a whole other level in terms of bulk. This is the sneaker that skateboarding magazine Jenkem dubbed “one of the most terrifying skate shoes of all time.” Plus, you can probably guess that Osiris doesn’t quite have the same high fashion cred as Balenciaga or Raf Simons.
And yet? The sneaker plays. We’re not saying that everyone should go out and by a puffy skate shoe, but if you happen to possess the same level of swagger as Rocky, then perhaps try it on and see how it feels. If anyone has the power to single-handedly make an unexpected trend happen in men’s style, it’s this guy. And in the crazy upside-down world of sneakers in 2018, anything seems possible—including the return of puffy skate shoes.
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