Creativity, Femininity and Breaking Down the Binary with Metagirl
The battle against ‘shrink and pink’ syndrome has been long fought within the female sneaker community; however, not at the cost of authentic feminine design. Over the past 12 months, women’s releases have embraced the concept of hyper-femininity, spurred on by new collaborators, customisers and concept artists looking to push the boundaries. On the front line of this is , a sneaker customiser whose goal is to inspire us to embrace our authentic feminal aesthetics one bow and lace-covered step at a time. We caught up with her to discuss her process, her view on the industry’s current offering, and whether Leonardo da Vinci would have made a good fashion designer.
Can you give us a quick introduction and tell us about Metagirl and what inspired you to start the brand?
My name is Caterina (or Cate), I'm a creative from Italy and my channel of expression is footwear design and footwear customisation. And I'm also the founder of Metagirl, which is the brand, or let's say the state of mind through which I express this footwear-related artistry. I'm currently based in Boston and what inspired me to start Metagirl dates back to my time in adidas. And that time I was in product marketing, so I was responsible for a lot of storytelling, creating briefs for designers and so on. I think my brain became hyperactive and addicted to thinking of concepts and further developing the ideas I was giving to design. Part of my job also included researching what was going on in the industry, which not only included what brands were doing, but also what creators and independent creatives were doing. It was really inspiring for me to see how creators and customisers would take a concept and drive it beyond. I was fascinated by that in the first place, and then it just came naturally to me to keep thinking of my own concepts. From there, I would spend my time after work or at weekends creating. I don’t know if I can say it was an addiction, but I was a freak. I gave up so much of my social time just to do this and to follow my passion, and that’s basically how Metagirl started.
Let’s talk about your journey into the sneaker industry as a young girl. Were sneakers ever something that you could see yourself being involved in?
Not at all. I didn't even know it was an industry or there was a culture. We have to keep in mind that I'm from Italy. I'm not from the US or the UK where sneaker culture is so prominent. Maybe now in Italy it is, but back then, let's say 10-15 years ago, it wasn’t. Back then I wasn't aware there was an industry, but I was always obsessed with shoes. Me and my mom have this belief that shoes tell so much about someone's personality: how they take care of their shoes, what shoes they are, what the shape of the toe is, the point, the forefoot shape, you can tell so much about a person by looking at their shoes.
Growing up, I didn’t like going to buy shoes but I could barely ever find something that I liked – I think this settled in my subconscious and that’s why I try to change them now. There were always a couple of models that were on trend in specific colourways and everyone was wearing those. I couldn't get them because they were too expensive and my mom wasn't buying them for me – they had other financial priorities. So I would always get something from the season before or the takedown of the original version. For example, when the Onitsuka Tigers were massive I couldn't have them, so I had a takedown of a Nike Cortez in ‘Triple Silver’.
But even then I definitely had an interest in sneakers. I remember shopping with my mom and begging her to buy me some Air Max. I bought the Air Max 90 in ‘Triple White’, and then they would be my one shoe for a whole year. I got gifted my first Nike collaboration when I was 18 or 19. It was like a Nike Air Max 1 – the Liberty version. Then I fell in love with the Nike Huarache Mid Premium ‘Iridescent’ – that was my go-to shoe.
I randomly fell into the industry because I was obsessed with running. I was a track and field runner for so long, and I got an internship at adidas working within the running team. I didn't know that my team was going to take care of Ultra Boost. Although it was conceived as a running shoe, everyone was using it as a lifestyle shoe and people were customising them. So I started getting into it.
Was there something at adidas that made you think, ‘This isn't creative enough, I need to inject something into this?’
I’ll start from the beginning of the story. I always dreamt of being a designer, but instead, I went to grammar school and focused on scientific subjects. Then I went on to study business, as I couldn't study fashion in Italy because of economic restraints. So I went on down this road and this whole time I felt alienated from my real essence. When I got to adidas, I didn't even know I was going to go into a semi-creative job, but it was like a dream for me because I could use my creativity every day. Slowly, the more ideas I had and the more I was evolving this side of me, I realised that there was so much more that could be done.
Obviously in a corporation you have restrictions and not everything is feasible on a physical level. So yeah, this was the tipping point where I was like, ‘this world feels tight for me, and I cannot express myself anymore to the extent I want to’. It's not just about self-expression because that's very, in a way egoistic, but it's more like ‘how can I nourish my soul and how can I develop my brain further?’ It's also a matter of exploration – scientists explore things to come out with new solutions for the world, and artists explore things to make it possible for people to dream more. I felt like I couldn't put out these dreams enough, and so eventually I quit.
What's your favourite shoe to customise now?
I think I'm going to go with the Vans Knu School, the Cowgirl customs.
Is there a reason for that?
I think it's just a primordial love for shiny things. I am a magpie. I say this all the time. Also, my bow and lace customs, because the pearls are still shining. I've done them so many times for clients, and I’m still so in love with them. I could look at the pearls for years and not get tired of them.
You work on a lot of Y2K-inspired styles. What do you think it is about that era of sneaker design that’s so appealing, and what makes those sneakers so great to customise?
When I think about the Y2K era, I think of energy and ‘dumb’ positivity, but also self-expression at the cost of being tacky. With fashion being a reflection of the societal state, I think that the collective is longing for those same feelings now that the world bears such a heavier weight – we hang onto a utopia of the past. This positivity was also reflected physically in those Y2K archive shoes: more budgets for products and less financial pressure from investors peaked in executions exuding quality, more details, and expensive components even on a commercial level, for example, the adidas_1, Saucony Virtue V2, and a lot of the PUMA low profile racing shoes. Most of these models were born pre-hype era and pre-social media, resulting in a lot of amazing pieces not getting the credit they deserved. It’s almost like we are experiencing some of them for the first time now. I’m not surprised to see so many underground accounts dedicated to selling Y2K archive sneakers.
As for what makes them fun to customise, I can at least speak for the models I worked on from that era, which are 2000s runners and puffy skate shoes. I would say they all have a certain presence given by either proportions or details and I find it easier to have the right ideas for a shoe with character as opposed to a white canvas. This synergy allows me to amplify the existing DNA of a silhouette.
Let's talk about the current state of women's releases. In the past, they’ve come under fire for this kind of pink-and-shrink approach, but recently we've seen brands branching out into creative silhouettes – more feminine designs like Mary Janes. As someone whose designs are on the feminine side, how do you think brands can better cater to women and still manage to strike a balance there?
First of all, I want to say that I love where we are right now, it’s exciting. It’s like a bullet coming out of a loaded gun that has been kept captive for so long. I think it could be further improved, but it's just a matter of time and it's part of the process. Right now, these releases are sometimes used as a tool to tick a box, generate conversation and create newness. So the next step would be for brands to not label it as a separate category, like women’s colabs. Here you have colabs and then you have women’s colabs. Why don't you just have one category called colabs and you do whatever you need to do within that space to cater to different consumers? Right now, I feel like it's more of a tool.
I understand what you're saying. Why is preserving that kind of ultra-feminine aesthetic so important to you?
So my goal with Metagirl is to cater to the feminine aspect that is within each of us. My followers are not just women, they're every type of gender, and it's just about whether you're confident with your femininity or not. Metagirl is about catering to the yin, to the yang, and it's also something I naturally gravitate towards. At the same time, I see femininity as secondary in our society. I want to use hyper-femininity as an instrument to launch the message that femininity is just an integral part of nature and who we are as humans, whatever our gender is. I'm using hyper-femininity to celebrate the feminine archetype or whatever you want to call it.
Also, the reason why I'm called Metagirl is because meta is a Greek prefix that you add when you want to signify going beyond or further than something. So with Metagirl, I just want to show how you can evolve concepts. Also, the concept of femininity is not just like one tie. It can be in many different ways and versions.
I love that you’re encouraging all genders to embrace their femininity - it's important that we keep pushing for things to be inclusive. With that in mind, how would you define your audience?
I create for Metababes who are comfortable expressing themselves and know who they are. Someone always seeking visual stimuli, but also someone sensitive, because all sensitive people are appreciative of the smallest of details. They love sneakers obviously, but it’s part of a more holistic approach to fashion for them.
How else would you say the sneakersphere has become more inclusive over the past few years?
There's just more space within the structure of a company. It all comes from there. Companies have woken up and given physical space within their company structure and therefore budget. They've allocated budget to it because, at the end of the day, it all comes down to that.
Sure. Do you think there's anything that still needs to change?
I think maybe the moment we stop talking about it, it means that something good happened. I think we're just in the process of changing and at some point, nobody's going to talk about it anymore, and it means that the job is done and we can just coexist.
How women are taking control of their narrative in the sneaker industry is a theme that we've been focusing on for quite some time now. As someone who's actively doing this, what does the phrase mean to you?
Yeah, so I have a corny answer for this, which is to just be yourself or better listen to yourself. Everyone has a unique point of view, you just need to have the ears to listen and the courage to speak out about it. And when I say ‘speaking out’, it can be metaphorical. It can be done through different means. It could be through creating and things like that. And then you have the dark side of it, which is before you take control of the narrative, you also have to know yourself. So you have to spend time alone and reflect a lot and then go out back in the community and share what you have to say. But to know yourself, it takes a lot of internal inner work first and maybe some suffering as well.
Definitely. That's where the growth happens.
Exactly.
So how are you using Metagirl to improve things for the next generation of sneakerheads? We've talked about how you're all about expressing that femininity and being comfortable with whatever gender you are. How does that factor into your work?
My customs are not for everyone. So it's not about the customisation itself or who's going to buy it, but it's more about the message and the metaphor behind them. I want to use it to tell people to just experiment and go beyond what they see, that there is more than what they see and that they can create. We are all creators. I don't want to go too philosophical, but I think each of us has God inside of us because we're an image of God. God creates, so we are also a creator. I want to tell people to look beyond what they see as the most day-to-day aspects of life. There is more, and we can make it happen anytime. Sneakers are quite a superficial way to tell that message. It's not that deep. I'm not making an essay about it, but I hope that this is the result on a level.
It's all about taking that step and just experimenting, that’s great advice. On that note, what’s the best piece of advice you've had from someone in the industry?
Yeah, I think it’s this: If I give 10% less in my input, I can still get the same output. It was a revelation to me. I tried it and I confirmed it. It works. It's true.
That sounds life-changing. Please explain this to me. How did you implement it?
Well, I'm someone who always over-gives. I over-do everything. Sometimes I over-explain myself, and then if there is a task, I go very deep into it. In environments where you have to be fast and you have to deliver things efficiently, this doesn’t really work out, so I had to cut some of my inputs and eventually the result was as good as before. I am still an advocate of overthinking, but it doesn’t make for a productive environment. Since we work in an ecosystem and everyone has to do their job and everyone works on the same timeline, this is what I applied to my work.
That’s so true. So, what is your ultimate goal for Metagirl? What does the next step in your career look like?
My goal for Metagirl is to make my designs more accessible to more people. And I don't want to say how because when you say something that you're going to achieve, you release dopamine and then you don't go after it anymore. So let's stick to that. The next step in my career is just to keep evolving Metagirl, which is intrinsic to the world itself. So it's always going to be an evolution, and maybe it's not going to be the same in a year from now. It's not going to be the same or look the same as it does now.
Is this something that you want to do on your own? Do you want to be working with brands on it? How does that look for you?
Yeah, both with brands at a collaboration level and on its own at the same time.
And who would your dream colab be with?
I think MSCHF. They are very playful, which I love – but at the same time very provocative. When I work with brands, I always try to bring out their essence in the customs I do, especially if it’s a collaboration, so I would like to play with the provocative aspect as well.
Finally, who or what is inspiring you right now?
The first one is Leonardo da Vinci. I know he is not a sneaker designer, but I’m constantly inspired by how he encrypted the geometrical laws of our universe in his frescoes. It's fascinating how he used art to deliver important messages to humanity while hiding them from the distracted eye. I’m sure if he had lived now he would work in fashion, as it’s one of today’s most palpable and accessible forms of art.
The second one is Kiko Kostadinov. I’m in awe of every footwear release and colab he has worked on. The subtle uniqueness and unexpected POV of Kiko’s approach to ASICS colabs prove that boredom can still be defeated.