On the American designer's birthday month, L'Officiel looks at Owens' ongoing impact in the realm of high fashion shoes.

Rick Owens&#39; deconstructed design aesthetic begs for virality, even if it&#39;s the designer&#39;s last intention. From his namesake label&#39;s start in Los Angeles to leaving a mark from its Paris base today, Owens never fails to provide fresh ideas on the runway, with&nbsp;highly-anticipated spectacles&nbsp;each fashion week. Known for memorably accessorizing models with other models and casting step dancers in a move that departed from the&nbsp;waif-thin models that usually&nbsp;dominate shows, the designer&#39;s creative vision knows no bounds. And amidst these bold moves, a more subtle impact was at play&ndash;accompanying&nbsp;Owens&#39;&nbsp;dark fantasy fashions is a legacy of footwear.

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If his futuristically grungy&nbsp;clothing presents the unexpected with their unique silhouettes, then his shoes break the same barriers. Since his brand&#39;s New York Fashion Week debut in 2002, Owens has been at the forefront of anti-fashion, underscored by footwear that varies from minimalist sneakers&nbsp;to ultra-chunky sandals&nbsp;that beat Yeezy&nbsp;in the fashion cycle by several seasons. Perhaps most prominent among his footwear contributions are boots. Owens made the ever-popular over-the-knee-boot&nbsp;cool long before fashion girls started sporting the style. Influenced by his post-apocalyptic&nbsp;rock &#39;n&#39; roll&nbsp;style, Owens&#39; signature sky-high platform Kiss boot&mdash;with variations including chunky, lucite heels and grills&mdash;are unique not only in their design but their gender-breaking intentions, seen on the likes of Luka Sabbat&nbsp;and fashion duo Fecal Matter.

While many of Owens&#39; in-house styles cater towards more experimental fashion enthusiasts, his collaborations have gathered a&nbsp;different but equally enthusiastic fan base. Fostering a four-year partnership with Adidas, Owens&#39; became a&nbsp;favorite&nbsp;among sneakerheads with drops that gathered&nbsp;elements from his more athletic high-tops&nbsp;and rubber sole sock boots,&nbsp;bringing&nbsp;elements of high fashion into the streetwear&nbsp;community.&nbsp;

<img alt="Rick Owens Geobasket Dunks" src="https://image.goat.com/1000/attachments/product_template_pictures/images/007/857/907/original/rickog.png" style="float:right; height:250px; margin:5px; width:250px" />The designer has also been known to play on iconic sneaker styles, coopting recognizable elements for his own footwear. With resale value hitting a few thousand dollars, the Rick Owens Geobaskets (also known as Dunks)&nbsp;are among the designer&#39;s most notable upgraded dupes. First debuted in his Fall/Winter 2006&nbsp;collection, the black and white leather hightops bear a resemblance to Nike&#39;s Airforce 1s, complete with a swoosh-like check on the side. The reference was obvious enough for Nike to allegedly send a cease-and-desist to Owens, who subsequently redesigned the Geobaskets to have a triangle marking instead. Owens also introduced the Ramones,&nbsp;a toe-capped leather hightop that is inspired by Converse&#39;s Chuck Taylors. Playing on already ubiquitous footwear, Owens inverted the usual high fashion knockoffs and instead elevated everyday styles through his designer shoes.&nbsp;

Other labels have given Owens the creative liberty to remix their signature footwear. Now in the third year of a fruitful collaboration with Birkenstock, the designer will launch his own take on the shoe brand&#39;s&nbsp;Arizona and Boston sandals in spring 2021. Owens also has a three-year partnership with sneaker label Veja, recently launching a joint capsule of sneaker-sock styles.&nbsp;The designer was drawn to the collaboration because of Veja&#39;s commitment to sustainability.&nbsp;The&nbsp;collaboration with the French footwear brand was a slow, intentional process, melding elements of his design choices with the brand&#39;s organic, recycled materials.

Throughout his decades at the forefront of fashion, Owens has developed a distinct style which he seamlessly translates to footwear. Whether with commercially successful collaborations or avant garde creations that challenge traditional notions of fashion, he&#39;s made shoes a part of his signature one step at a time.

How Rick Owens reinvented footwear

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