AARON ROSE x DC ARTIST SERIES

Yeah I second that! Ok, let’s talk about the shoes you did for DC. You’re an avowed student of mod and a scooter rider from way back, so it’s logical to go for a definite mod classic, the desert boot. How nostalgic was the choice of model for you?
The foundation of the shoe I did for DC was based on a Clarks shoe from the late-1960s. I have an old photo of the Small Faces and Steve Marriot is wearing shoes like that. I had this photo when I was a teenager and I always wanted a pair, but Clarks discontinued the model in the mid-70s, so I could never get them!

It made sense for us to recreate something similar. It was like fulfilling a childhood dream. However, I’m not one to copy, so I looked at a way to combine the look and feel of a Clarks with the casual style of winos, those cheap Chinese shoes you can buy at army/navy stores. I’ve been wearing those since I was a kid as well. I guess that’s how the shoe was designed. The red stitching on the side was also added to give the shoes a DIY/handmade feel and then we did teardrops on the sole to shout out 96 Tears, my scooter club (Damon from DC also a member), and also Teenage Teardrops, the record label that puts out my band’s records.

I was a big fan of the Airwalks or Brothel Creepers as we used to call them. I liked the ripple sole and chunky platform. Anyway, I was glad to see that there wasn’t a bullseye or Vespa scooter anywhere on the packaging. What a relief! The DIY ‘50s Mexicana theme was a curious choice but had a nice feel to it. What was the idea there?
The artwork on the box is all taken from original paintings of mine. I don’t know why I paint like that actually. I can tell you though that the first time I ever did something like that was right after an LSD trip. Maybe I tapped into some shamanistic Mexican entity while I was ‘out there’ and brought back a visual style? Hmm. In terms of why we didn’t use Mod images, I guess that I’m not into just copying things from the past. Doing a shoe that had a mod vibe, but without the trappings of any particular subculture seemed much more interesting to me.