|
| |
|
|
FASHION AND HISSY FITS
Fluevog gives Dandy Warhols the boot
BY MATT ASHARE
|
|
|
|
|
Dandy Warhols frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor has wanted his own shoe since he was 14. John Fluevog is one of the most renowned shoe designers on the planet. It’s a match made in Satan-resistant sole heaven. Fluevog’s new Dandy Warhol boot ($329), which hits stores — including the Fluevog shop on Newbury Street — this week, is fairly toned down by Fluevog standards. It has none of the designer’s signature colorful swirls, playful buckles and straps, or outrageous heels. It’s a direct reflection of what the Fluevog describes as a genuine "artist to artist" working relationship, not the kind of "artist to agent to agent to artist" situations that are so common when a celebrity puts his or her name on a product. But then, Taylor-Taylor isn’t exactly a household name, and the Dandys aren’t top-of-the-charts rock stars. It’s part of what made the project attractive to Fluevog, whose only other dalliance in the rock world was creating a shoe for Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler several years ago — a boot that wasn’t commercially available. "The Dandy Warhols have been around for a while and they have a certain credibility, I think," Fluevog says. "[Taylor-Taylor’s] got cult following and so does Fluevog. So the Dandy Warhols have the same kind of market that we have. Plus, Courtney is kind of a dandy himself. He’s a style monger. Part of his shtick is picking up on the trends and feelings of our culture. And, according to him, he’s wanted a shoe since he was 14." The release of the Dandy Warhol boot was wisely timed to coincide with the release of the band’s new Odditorium or Warlords of Mars (Capitol) and a tour that runs through December 14. But Fluevog says he was less concerned with meeting a particular deadline than with getting the design right. "The basic foundation is something that I did on my own after talking to Courtney on the phone about it. And then Courtney went off on his own and said he wanted it to be a certain height and to be made of a stiff leather, and other little things. He definitely had a certain sensibility in mind. He even threw a hissy fit at one point, which was cool. He didn’t like something or another, so we fixed it."
|
