Skaters like Tony Hawk are almost synonymous Old Skool Vans. But the sneaker has also been worn by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Rihanna, and A$AP Rocky, as well as Kim Kardshian, Kristen Stewart, and Emily Ratajkowski. It’s the kind of classic shoe—one color, one side stripe, white laces—that's permeated every echelon of culture. Still, this Milan Design Week, the brand's OTW by Vans line managed to make it new again.
First launched in 1977, the Old Skool sneaker has been reimagined in a wavy, modular silhouette drawing from the music scene it has become embedded within. The Old Skool 36 Future Make's midsole is run through with a design echoing a soundwave, while the upper has been given a tech-reminiscent update with a sleek side stripe and paneling.
To celebrate the revamp, Vans arranged an immersive installation, “CHECKERED FUTURE: FREQUENCY MANIFEST,” held at the Triennale Milano art and design museum. The event was designed by French-Canadian creative director Willo Perron, with sound by fellow Canadian musician Tim Hecker.
“I have known Willo for over 25 years and his experience and body of work in the world of sound, and its relationship with environments, over the years has been both compelling and inspiring,” says OTW by Vans Vice President & Creative Director Ian Ginoza, who discovered his own love of the Old Skool while skateboarding as a kid in Hawaii. “[Willo] was my first choice to bring this concept of visualizing sound to life,” he emphasizes.
“CHECKERED FUTURE” makes tangible the invisible qualities of sound, staging immersive scenes of lights and mirrors, all infused with the visual identity of Vans. The project extends out into the museum’s gardens, where the balcony was transformed into a checkerboard-coated stage for performances by Björk, Vegyn, and Evissimax earlier this week.
Design Week may not be the imagined setting of an old school rave, but when the stage is this electric, the Milanese came out in droves—many, of course, wearing their new set of Vans sneakers. Let’s just hope they didn’t get too scuffed up in the mosh pit.
