Dr. Martens goes even more goth thanks to Rick Owens
It’s been 3 years since ‘The Lord of Darkness’ – AKA contemporary fashion phenom Rick Owens – first teamed up with Britain’s iconic footwear label Dr. Martens. Now, the pair are back for yet another gothic pair of stompers.
The shoe arrives as part of the first wave of Dr. Martens’ 14XX – a new incubator launched at the back end of 2023, which focuses on innovative, fashion-forward design and tech. The collaboration borrows the beefy DMXL sole unit, first introduced at the end of 2023, from Dr. Martens 14XX’s first collection; meanwhile, the upper of the shoe is unmistakably Rick Owens. With a massive, heavy-duty sole and the signature ‘Megalace’ system that litters the footwear of his mainline collections, Owens manages to outdo the pentagram lace pattern that adorned his first collab with Dr. Martens.
To announce the new collaboration, Owens tapped Turkish musician Sissy Misfit, who is featured wearing the shoes in new black-and-white photos released today. “I love using our collaboration to celebrate raw and ferocious self-invented abandon like that of Sissy Misfit, blasting techno with trans power,” Rick Owens explained in a statement. “Dr. Martens always represented an inspirational subculture to me, and I like honouring that tradition.”
It seems as though Dr. Martens’ mantra for 2024 is embracing the gothic spirit that’s always been infused into the cult brand’s DNA. Earlier this year, the label released their Gothic Americana range, which included the brand’s platform shoes, Chelsea boots and other styles presenting a Wester-meets-emo aesthetic.
Meanwhile, Rick Owens recently went viral with his FW24 collection presentation in Paris, where he introduced inflated rubber pull-on stretch boots on the runway, designed in collaboration with Straytukay, a South African Australian, Finnish-born designer from Moscow based out of London.
Owens’ FW24 show, all things considered, was a wildly bizarre affair in line with the designer’s outlandishness, and while he might be slightly pulling in the reigns for his Dr. Martens collab, they’ll certainly still make for one of 2024’s most eye-catching pair of shoes, even at this early stage.
