Crocs have become a trend not only in urban fashion, but also when combining them with a suit
We won’t see it because the sixth will be the last, but if there were a tenth season of ‘The Crown’, the wardrobe team of the series might have to face the day of filming in which he combined a checked suit worthy of Henry VIII when he was Prince of Wales in yellow Crocs. In this way, the veteran English artist David Hockney appeared a few days ago to enjoy the Order of Merit lunch at Buckingham Palace. Hockney is worthy of the Order for his clothes, but this look elevates him to the altar of the elect also for his wardrobe. And by the way he reminds us why these clogs are fashionable footwear.
In order not to be inaccurate, we should start by pointing out a detail: all clogs are in fashion. Although it is true that the Crocs, iconic rubber designs with holes in their classic surface —now there are designs that vary the original aesthetic—, they have a lot of blame and a lot of prominence in the aforementioned trend. The David Hockney anecdote at Buckingham Palace is just the tip of the iceberg.
Founded almost 20 years ago by a group of friends during a trip to the Caribbean, the crocodile logo clogs are famous throughout the world. And they were in record time, because fame is not recent. First, they positioned themselves as the perfect footwear for professions that involve many hours of standing and demand a high dose of comfort for the feet. This is the case of doctors, hairdressers and also sailors, the latter being the target for which Crocs were originally intended. Later they were popularized among young people by Frank Cuesta, the herpetologist who entered the Thai jungle as if he were going to play a tennis match against Rafa Nadal, and finally they also became an alternative to beach flip-flops, especially for children. , due to the fact that they hold the foot more when walking.
But it has not been until recently, no more than five years, when the dimension of the Crocs has changed in an outstanding way, if not radically. And it is that they have ceased to be unsightly footwear, almost typical of style provocateurs, a bit like wearing sandals with socks, to be an option for “moderns”, icons of urban style among young people such as Bad Bunny or Justin Bieber, Valid even to combine with the suit.
We are not saying this because of Hockney’s example. His is not an isolated case. There is more: for example, the two occasions, one of them from home, in which the actor Nicholas Braun, famous for being “cousin Greg” in ‘Sucession’, wore them like this, with two suits, at the Emmys.
From accompanying the swimsuit to accompanying the suit
It was in 2016 when the turning point occurred that has brought Crocs to the pinnacle of footwear within men’s fashion. So, the firm dressed the feet of the models for the Christopher Kane first summer collection show. They achieved it in record time because the request arrived with hardly any margin of error, and they liked that so much that it did not escape the eyes of the designer Demma Gvasalia.
Nicholas Braun in suit and clogs
Nicholas Braun in suit and clogs – Instagram @Nicholas Braun
The creative director of Balenciaga, ahead of his time, a forerunner of the introduction of sports fashion on the catwalk and the entry of luxury brands into the sports footwear sector, presented his version of the fashionable clog —with platform— at the 2018 Paris Fashion Week. The most difficult thing for Crocs had already been done: to the undoubted charisma of the aesthetics of their clogs they added a brand image, no one doubted that they could be much more than just ironic and fun footwear .
It only remained to take advantage of the fact that the wind was blowing in their favor. In a propitious context, with ‘ugly’ footwear being a big trend for several seasons first and then the clog becoming fashionable after a long time, it was a matter of time before Crocs designs emerged as the favorites of the new young generation of icons. masculine style.
The surprising thing has not been that the aforementioned Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber and company design and wear their rubber clogs, the striking thing is that they have managed to permeate this link with the most formal and luxurious clothing woven a few years ago on the catwalk. And with the push given by popular men who have seen in Crocs an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon of those who challenge traditional style codes, crocodile clogs have become the footwear of the moment. So much so that in the second-hand market, fueled by ‘sneakerhead’ fever, they are reaching a level of sales close to that of top brands in this segment such as Yeezy.
The die is cast. You just have to decide if you want to go out and play with your Crocs, and if you mark an ‘all in’ by combining them with one of your suits. You dare?