Converse putting Andy Warhol images on All Star sneakers, T-shirts
With all due respect to Sen. Joni Ernst, why wear bread bags on your feet when you can wear Campbell Soup cans?
The same day Ernst gave the GOP response to the State of the Union address (which included tales of a hardscrabble childhood involving shoes protected by plastic bread bags) Converse announced a spring 2015 collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts that puts the late artist’s pop art imagery -- including those iconic Campbell soup cans -- on a range of high- and low-top Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers and T-shirts for men and women.
Versions of Warhol’s Campbell Soup can prints, perhaps his most well-known work, appear on both low-top and high-top Chuck Taylor silhouettes either as a single image (as in the tomato soup high-top in the photo above) or layered in multiples. The footwear also includes a range of Chucks bearing motorcycle prints and newspaper prints inspired by Warhol’s Ads and Illustration series circa 1985-86.
In a meta move that Warhol himself would no doubt find amusing, one of the three graphic T-shirts that make up the apparel side of the collection is an image of a Converse Chuck Taylor All Star high-top sneaker -- from an original Warhol work titled Converse Extra Special Value.
The Andy Warhol Foundation has a long history of licensing its namesake’s work to fashion and style brands. Past collaborators include Paul Frank and Levi Strauss & Co., to name just two. This week’s announcement notes that a portion of the proceeds from the Converse collection will support the programs of the Manhattan-based foundation.
The Converse All Star Andy Warhol collection ($35 to $95) will be available for purchase starting Feb. 7 at select brick-and-mortar retailers and online at converse.com.
For the latest in fashion and style -- from soup cans to nuts -- follow me @ARTschorn
