V&A
White Leather High-Top Sneakers with Diamante Crystals
1990s · 1990s · British
Designer
Rifat Ozbek
Production
one-of-a-kind
Material
leather with diamante embellishment
Culture
British
Movement
Luxury Streetwear · Supermodel Era
Influences
athletic wear elevation · luxury streetwear fusion
White leather high-top sneakers featuring extensive diamante crystal embellishment across the upper surfaces. The Converse silhouette maintains its classic basketball shoe proportions with rubber toe cap and sole, but the surface is transformed through dense application of small reflective crystals creating an all-over sparkle effect. The customization work appears professionally executed with crystals applied in consistent coverage. White laces thread through metal eyelets. The transformation represents the 1990s fashion trend of elevating everyday athletic wear into luxury fashion statements, bridging streetwear and high fashion through decorative surface treatment.
shoe
Connected To
Movement·Luxury StreetwearTechnique·leather-working
SHARED20 years · cross-culture
These sneakers trace the arc of luxury's courtship with the street, from Versace's crystal-crusted high-tops that brought disco glamour to athletic silhouettes in the '90s to Balenciaga's aggressively chunky Triple S that made ugly beautiful two decades later. Where Versace bedazzled the familiar basketball shoe with diamanté sparkle—luxury as ornament—Balenciaga deconstructed the very idea of what a sneaker should be, layering sole upon sole until proportion itself became the luxury gesture.
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