Are Tom Ford’s new sneakers the ultimate normcore kicks?
Tom Ford took a stylish first step into the sneaker arena with the launch of a men’s collection for fall 2014.
Offered in both a high-top and low-top silhouette, the debut collection is available with leather calfskin uppers (in seven subdued colors including burgundy, cognac and chocolate) and velvet (in five colors, including red, navy and white). Both versions have white rubber soles, and prices range from $690 (for a velvet low-top) to $990 (for leather high-top).
According to the official announcement of the collection (the shoes had their runway debut during the London men’s shows in January) a whole lot of work goes into the unassuming-looking kicks. Among the highlights: they’re made in Italian workshops in a week-long process that involves stitching, polishing and resting the leather, and the hand-polishing alone takes three days (in order to achieve a deep patina).
The result is a handsome, well-made sneaker devoid of overt logos and branding. In discussing Ford’s low-pro approach to a usually eye-catching category, Times fashion critic Booth Moore suggested these might well fall into the category of normcore -- the kind of luxury so stealth the wearer may well be the only one to know.
We’re going to go one better, throw down the gauntlet (since we’re talking Tom Ford, we’ll go with the $9,000 crocodile and cashmere gauntlet), and say that Tom Ford’s foray into the ultra-luxe sneaker category might just have resulted in the ultimate pair of normcore kicks.
The new Tom Ford sneaker collection is available now at all Tom Ford brick-and-mortar locations globally (including the Rodeo Drive boutique locally) as well as online at Tomford.com.
