Editorial: Diesel Footwear
THE PROTOTYPE
Ahead of the upcoming release of Diesel’s new shoe named the Prototype, we dissect the elevated functionality of the brand’s offering inspired by early 90’s proportionality. Setting the precedence for this new generation of product, this technical trainer introduces innovative construction to your everyday.
For one of the world’s most iconic denim brands, footwear represents a pathway for their most loyal followers to synergize their clothing choices. It also acts as an opportunity for the consumers who are non-denim inclined to participate in the brand’s increasingly strong and diversified range of product. In the Prototype, Diesel – led by Glenn Martens also creative director of Y/Project – have created a shoe that is both modern and technically apt but is firmly grounded in the brand’s 43 year history. While it is positioned within Diesel’s ‘Running’ category, make no mistake in thinking that the Prototype is anything other than a shoe built for the everyday. With a substantial, premium build and effortless versatility, this is an archetypal Diesel silhouette that the brand hopes will lead the charge in the future of their footwear.
White moulded overlays take on a unique wrapped form that flexes the muscles of the manufacturing process and acts as an external cage, intimately holding the closed mesh build in a rigid structure. Blurring the transition between upper and sole, this pseudo exoskeleton encompasses a ‘90s viewpoint of immoderate design. The embroidered typeface on the tongue is the only application across the shoe to use traditional techniques; everything else is chemical science and industrial process. This material approach is reinforced through the differing rubber motifs that are used in the overlays as four unique tessellations push the design further into excess and extravagance.
In short, the Prototype is a brash and self-assertive shoe that channels an idealistic visual identity from the perspective of two decades ago. The Prototype appears both futuristic and nostalgic simultaneously, with an asymmetric lacing system and an outsole tread that wouldn’t look out of place next to a Formula 1 racing car. Contrasting textured overlays in red and white take on the role of ‘go faster’ stripes, as this triple-hit colourway showcases the Diesel brand through tone, with an embossed logo being reserved to the heel of the sole. The skewed proportions of the shoe create an accelerated and nimble dynamic, taking cues from the functionality of sport-suited footwear to create a feeling of fast-paced athleticism.
For a brand from which we haven’t seen much footwear prominence, the Prototype represents a provocative and polarising visual that is part and parcel of the sentimentality surrounding the turn of the century. The era of the celebrity basketball player and the underground rave scene is firmly fused into this narrow-yet-chunky silhouette. The stylistic choice is clear; this is a shoe that should be suitably paired with a baggier trouser of the kind that Diesel and the great American denim brands produced so well during the late ‘90s. The initial pre-launch of the Prototype arrives in the aforementioned colourway of Black-Infra Red, with additional colourways set to debut in the first few months of 2022.
Prototype by Diesel
Editorial Created & Produced
By John Chen & Louis Flashman
Words by Rob Hallett
CONCEPTKICKS® Productions