With various incarnations of Hot Swamp Girls continuing to own the catwalks of Milan, London, Paris and beyond, there’s no better time to slide your feet into your favourite Vibram FiveFingers by SUICOKE x Midorikawa. Grounding yet transportive, familiar yet otherworldly, this the footwear choice of now.

“I love this collaboration,” self-taught digital universe designer Nico Mureş explains over email as she shares her reimagined pre-capitalist swamp utopia to showcase the Vibram FiveFingers by SUICOKE x Midorikawa release. “The footwear mirrors our fragile extremes, exposing what’s underneath but at the same time protecting our vulnerability… It's a beautiful contrast.” From the moment this playful, tongue-in-cheek approach to highly functional footwear was first unveiled, as part of the 2021 LVMH Prize-shortlisted brand’s autumn/winter 21 collection, opinion has been divided. Whether framed as weird or wonderful, innovative or horrifying, they aren’t for everyone, but what is? As Tokyo-born, Bunka-educated designer Taku Midorikawa produces yet another fresh take on the iconic Vibram FiveFingers model for spring/summer 23, LN-CC toe-tally loves them and you should too.

From teaming up with artists, fashion or design brands, SUICOKE uses considered collaborations to create unexpected encounters and cultivate new expressions of growth. This on-going collaboration with Midorikawa provides that, and so much more. "We’ve always been most passionate about working with collaborative partners that we have an organic relationship with,” Suicoke tells LN-CC. “Midorikawa's understanding of the SUICOKE and Vibram DNA leads them to produce something that is simultaneously fitting yet alternative to our usual approach to footwear. We hope that the collaboration reflects the fun and creativity found in subversive concepts and ideas, and helps to continue pushing creativity and design into unique directions."

Keen to amplify the subversive nature of this collaboration, LN-CC invited one of our favourite surreal digital artists Nico Mureş to create the perfect setting for them. Her Cluj-Napoca-based practice provides continuous observations of the virtual body under different situations, anxieties, and fears, while investigating the possibilities and limitations that put the flesh, be it real or imagined. This commission digitally daydreams the swamp refuge we all need. So, wiggle your toes and float away with us.

Vibram FiveFingers by SUICOKE x Midorikawa launches on the 15th of March
Credits
Visuals Nico Mureş, @nicomures