Crocerella
A brand riddled with bad press is enough to make even the most daring to turn their backs, but not Christopher Kane. He embraced it. He owned it. He made it his, and welcomed the challenge with open arms, and that is the definition of a visionary. Someone who sees things nobody else can. It’s almost as rare as seeing one’s future in a crystal ball. They predict things unimaginable to the rest of us, and within that lies an undisturbed yet remarkable gift possessed by few.
It’s a fact that crocs were shunned by the world back in the day. Most squirmed at even the thought of them, despite many relishing their practicality in secret. The true reason why their design grew such backlash isn’t entirely known, although it probably had to do with their unique design. A combination between a sandal and, something else? Never seen before grooves and dimensions, it was redesigning the wheel taken to the extreme, but in a weird way it worked. It grew a following, not a particularly trendy one at that, standing in the same circle as battered mini-vans and floral gardening gloves. The fashion world was beyond its realm, and realistically as the years went on, they were no closer to touching it. The growth of social media was another hit to the kookiness, and the influencer era not only overshadowed it, but humiliated it for years. That was until one man said enough.
In 2016 at London Fashion Week, THE event in the fashion calendar, Kane sent his collection onto the runway with a twist. Designers had grown increasingly impatient with themselves, and the race was on to see who could be even outlandish than the next, so models swooning out with bare feet was lingering in the back of everyone’s minds. Remarkably though, Kane’s concoction of bejewelled crocs was not, and sent attendees, and later the world, into overdrive. Phones overlapping each other like a dam, flashes seizing, people had to document it so they could be believed, or believe it themselves, but the once neglected innovator, Crocs become something else. They had the ultimate glow up and even the haters couldn’t stop them owning the event. “The Ball” if you’re a Disney fan.
After that Balenciaga was on the phone and even Bieber was believing.
Christopher Kane’s collaboration offered something new on the table. It took crocs into a different realm where it undoubtably had a place. Luxury fashion is by nature divisive. There are pieces by loved brands that not even an ultra-fan would touch, but someone entering its radar for the first time cries for. (It happens). That’s what differentiates it from high street fashion where the most controversial you can get is balloon sleeves.
Kane allowed crocs a taster of a completely different world, but one where it flourishes to date, instead of the mainstream rails where it lied unappreciated and doubted.
Doing such a thing was a risk, but it drove a new movement of embracing the “ugly”. Brash patterns were in, and baggy tie dye developed a heftier price tag. All things once abandoned by the mass.
Since the debut, crocs have invested in jibbets, little charms which make the generic pumps your own, and in a world which loves nothing more than to feel personally valued, success was inevitable.
Kane has done something very few brands have. Walked the walk. His brand’s messaging has always been “More Joy”. Doing what makes you happy and never being sorry, and that’s exactly what he did. In a way croc, had too. Despite the haters, they pushed on, so in a way both can be considered visionaries, and when put together they created every designer’s dream. A creative breakthrough. A storm.
