In its latest launch of the year, Vans Vault approaches the work of contemporary counterculture icon Cali DeWitt through a micro capsule made up of five silhouettes and three garments in which the artist reflects on different ills affecting today’s society.
More than 50 years of skateboarding and street fashion
When brothers Paul and Jim Van Doren founded The Van Doren Rubber Company in 1966 inspired by the fledgling West Coast skateboarding movement, they could not have imagined that today, more than 50 years later, their small trainer company would become one of the most famous and influential brands in the fashion world.
The visionary approach that the brothers and founders brought to the company was evident again in 2003, when Vans Vault, the premium division of Vans was launched. A line dominated by influences from the world of urban art, street fashion, music, art, surfing and skateboarding in which designers such as Taka Hayashi and Nigel Cabourn, luxury maisons such as Comme Des Garçons and Undercover, or artists like Ralph Steadman and Geoff McFetridge have already left their particular mark.
DIY art and punk transgression made in LA
In a world in full pandemic, dominated by social networks and the image we project on them and which is steadily moving towards the elimination of borders between the physical and digital planes, it is not surprising that Cali DeWitt is the protagonist of the latest launch from the Californian firm.
Born in Sydney (British Columbia, Vancouver) but an adopted Angeleno, Cali Thornhill DeWitt is a photographer, designer, editor, musician and blogger famous for his close friendship with Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love and, more recently, for being the creator behind the merchandising for Kanye West’s ‘Life Of Pablo’ tour in 2016.
But Cali DeWitt is more, much more.
An icon of the American countercultural revolution of the last 30 years thanks to his close relationship with art and music, DeWitt’s entire body of work revolves around the provocation and transgression that comes from the subversion of pop culture. Nowadays, the predominance of social networks and their effect on our ego, the evil with which the ruling classes govern us and the growing ‘stupidisation’ of human beings are recurring themes in his work.
(Counter)pop culture on your feet
Through this collaboration, Cali DeWitt uses some of Vans’ most iconic silhouettes – such as the Vans Era LX, the Vans Old Skool LX and the Vans Chukka Boot LX – as a canvas to capture fetishes, obsessions and thoughts.
The premium cotton upper of each of the legendary sneakers features a pattern of earth globes and coffins combined with words embroidered as opposing concepts on the sides and heel. An aesthetic construction that alludes to the moment of uncertainty we live in.
The collection is completed with a hoodie, a short-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of joggers in which the words ‘Global Warning’ coexist with the spooky pattern seen on the trainers.
The Vans Vault x Cali DeWitt collection is now available at FOOTDISTRICT.