Everyone in the shoe colabo world was wondering when it would ever happen--holding their collective/collector breath if it would ever happen. And now it's happened!
The Keith Haring Foundation has finally teamed up with the all-American, uberhip, hyper-downtown kicksologists at Tommy Hilfiger to bring an exclusive, limited edition, hard-to- --well, actually, as long as you're willing to spend EUR75 on a pair of kid's shoes, you can just order them online from Colette.
Some day, we may start calling such "colabos" or "mashups" what they are: "licensing agreements negotiated by agents, branding consultants and business development executives where a lamer brand rents a halo of coolness from a nominally cooler one." In this case, that would be David Stark, whose licensing agency Artestar represents the estates of Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, and a couple of other 80's-era East Village artists. Stark, who had been the president of Haring's foundation throughout the 90s before spinning off the for-more-profit Artestar in 2000. Stark, whose previous shoe licensing deals include the Haring-on-Adidas deal in '08, and the Basquiat-on-Reeboks contract of '06.
But today is not that day. Vive la Colette! Vive les colabos pas de tout commercial mais tres artistique!
Tommy Hilfiger X Keith Haring shoes for kids and adults [colette.fr]
Unfortunately that's more than I spend on even grown-up shoes, or I'd get them for myself. Keith Haring was my first favorite artist after I saw a mini-special on him on Nickelodian (who says tv isn't educational) when I was ten or so.