It is not every day that you get to pierce the bubble of high fashion, but once it happens, like in this TikTok video, it’s a marvel to see. And here, a faceless video of a man in much too small flip flops seems to have been dropped straight out of a Balenciaga designer’s whiteboard.
2024 has been a year of wild events, including but not limited to: two eclipses, the collective thirst over Luigi Mangione, and a meteor shower. But delightful accidents don’t always happen in the sky, sometimes they are fashionable coincidences that happen at a McDonald’s in Australia. But as all the wacky fashionistas say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Remember, fashion is subjective!
The video in question was posted by TikTok user @LaraMarassa, and captioned “An Aussie Tiger in the wild,” has amassed 7 million likes and over 40 thousand comments. The perplexing video shows a faceless man at a McDonald’s counter wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and what either used to be full-length flip flops that were then halved or very small flip-flops with too-large straps. The video, which has crossed 68 million views has since spawned thousands of comments stating how similar Aussie Tiger’s flip-flops are to another footwear made by the brand Balenciaga.
This recreation of the viral flip flops in @LaraMarassa ‘s post is perhaps the ironic opposite to another fashionable viral tiktok, that of user @bachbuquen who went viral for his “makeup for the boys” series.
Balenciaga’s reputation for pushing boundaries
Balenciaga has a long history of “crazy” shoes which go viral on the internet for either their avant-garde styles or eye-watering price tags. Most times, it is both. In 2022, the fashion giant unleashed what was perhaps its most controversial shoe design to date; a line of wrecked footwear selling at roughly $1800 per pair.
Fast forward to December 2024, Balenciaga once again unveils a uniquely designed shoe: The Balenciaga Zero Slip-On. The new Balenciaga Zero shoe is the unique idea the world now owes to Balenciaga Creative Director Demna Gvasalia. The Zero Slip-on is an ultralight, minimalist shoe “meant to make the wearer “feel as close to being barefoot as possible”.
What makes the zero different?
Over the last few years, barefoot shoes and sneakers have made a resurgence in online spaces, specifically amongst fitness circles and health technologists. These shoes are said to offer a series of benefits, from alleviating feet and back pain to correcting posture and strengthening legs. Unfortunately, barefoot shoes are unpopular with most people outside of health spaces where they are regarded as weird-looking or ugly.
The Zero slip-on is vastly different from most of these however, not only is it backed by a top fashion brand, it is probably the only barefoot shoe created purely for aesthetic reasons. The Zero slip-on is also different from most barefoot shoes mostly because it is 3D modeled and retails for a back (and probably toe) breaking price tag of $450 per pair. Maybe Balenciaga and this Aussie need to strike up a partnership deal after all.
Published: Jan 2, 2025 05:55 am