Hedi SlimaneEven though Dr. Martens are sold at Hot Topic, the first chapter of their story isn't exactly fashionable. When German doctor Klaus Meartens damaged his foot skiing in the alps his good old's boots were no good. During his recovery he customized a pair of boots to cushion his injured foot and decided that he'd had goldmine. It took two years for the air cushioned boots to take off in 1947. Housewives over forty were his usual customers. Eventually mass sales led to the the first Dr. Martens shoe factory and then international marketing. Dr. Martens did not enter England (where most people know them from punk and skinhead subcultures) until 1960. The cherry red, 8 eyelet style was embraced by workman and police officers first. Later in the decade Skinheads began wearing them and in the punk explosion of the 7o's they're popularity amongst subversive youth grew. Dr. Martens joined the ranks of other forms of work wear (t-shirts and denim) to become fashionable. They've even been on the runway recently (Gareth Pugh, Chloe, Yohji Yamamoto)and come in a multitude of styles and colors. I'm feeling a bit partial to the floral pair.
info-wikipedia
Emma Cook Fall 2008^
11 comments:
theyre so nice, too bad its like wearing cinder blocks on your feet
I've never actually worn combat boots. I'm not that...intimidating and cool? And I walk like an elephant,even when I don't wear boots, so I don't think that would go over too well.
I'd have to agree with Eli's comment. I once owned a pair that never quite broke-in properly, so I gave them up. But they do look quite nice, as you've shown here. Is that Sienna Miller in the bottom photo?
nice post.
i love that you dug up doc martens' not-so-subversive roots to share with us all. "housewives over forty," i love it. i'm definitely going to have a pair by this fall, but i'm trying to figure out if it's even worht getting them now and trying to wear them in the new york/paris summer..
great pics! That last one though,,...I say those boots in a mag and they were priced in the thousands$$$!!!! Crazy!
great article
I've worn mine for about 10 years and thrown them away only because they were completely broken. After combat boots, I started wearing jeune fille shoes. Reaction ;-)
I love the picture of the pug! I´m totally going to have a pug when I get a dog in a few years!
Wow, great info on the origin. I really want a pair in either white or floral, seems like a best idea.
I'v had like three pairs of those things at least, and for some reason they never fit me properly. By the time they break in it's too late to realize their hopelessly big on me :-(
Boots, boots, they're backin', that sounds good
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