Bandana Fever

Blondie singer Debbie Harry’s fearless femme fatale attitude and urban-chic fashion style can be seen in many of today’s hottest rockers, from Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O to Paramore’s Hayley Williams.

Now Harry’s aesthetic is back in the spotlight with an upcoming Blondie record and line of iconic Converse sneakers, both of which hit stores this spring.

Blondie exploded onto the new wave scene in the late ’70s with hits like “Call Me,” “One Way or Another,” and “Heart of Glass”; they sold 40 million albums and were inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Their seamless mix of fashion and music made them unique among a New York City scene that featured bands like Talking Heads and the Ramones.

Harry’s street-smart mash-up of skinny jeans, thriftshop finds, neon colors, and vintage tees complemented her chopped blonde bob and cherry-red lips. And the guys wore slim suits, skinny ties, and Converse Chuck Taylor’s sneaks.

This last fact helps explain why Harry has been working with Converse to develop an iconic line of shoes featuring Blondie designs. “The shoes have been such a staple in rock ‘n roll and fashion for so long,” Harry tells SPIN.com. “It seems like a real genuine kind of relationship.”

The new Blondie sneakers incorporate album graphics, animal prints, and neon — and retail from $55 to $85 for both men and women. Check them out here.

Blondie has also been busy recording a new record, due later this spring.

“It sounds like a mature Blondie album,” Harry says. “We really wanted to have a combination of different elements — that’s sort of been a tradition with us.” Various songs incorporate reggae, pop, and rock — and the lyrics go deeper. “I think that this record will help people understand that one can write rock lyrics that go further into the realm of poetry and literature, that just don’t make simple statements,” guitarist Chris Stein wrote on the band’s blog.

Blondie will tour in support of the new record throughout the summer, and are booked to open for the Strokes at the Isle of Wight Festival in the UK June 11-13. You can order tickets here.

Of today’s musicians, Harry counts psychedelic rockers MGMT among her favorites. But it’s the creative (and sartorial) spirit of Lady Gaga that she really admires: “I think she’s waking up people, giving them a sense of fun and a sense of flamboyance and creativity. It makes people want to party.”

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When plaid flannels and ripped jeans have come back to the forefront of street wear fashion, why not launch a shoe named for those who first made the look popular in the 90’s?

Apparently that is the logic employed by some execs somewhere up the corporate chain at Converse: meet Converse’ s “Music Collection” series of Chuck Taylor All Star shoes.

The Music Collection All Stars include models of Chuck Taylor All Stars inspired by Kurt Cobain, Blondie, The Clash, and Metallica. The shoes feature graphics from the bands, song titles and lyrics. One of the Kurt Cobain models reads “Punk Rock Means Freedom.” Aside from the irony that this collection plausibly goes against everything that punk rock stands/stood for, the Kurt Cobain series is especially troubling.

Presumably, a member of the other music groups had some say in okaying the shoes designed that bear their names. However, Mr. Cobain most certainly was not available to weigh in on his signature model of Chuck Taylors.

This isn’t the first time that Converse has produced a Kurt Cobain product: The first sneaker was introduced in 2008, 14 years after his death. The deal was hatched with Primary Wave, a group that purchased a large portion of Cobain’s back catalog from Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love in 2006. The exploits of that transaction are said to be one of the biggest reasons that Cobain is ranked among one of the richest of dead celebrities.

According to Jeff Gordinier in his article “Here we are now,” that appeared in Details of March 2009:

You might say he’s the victim of posthumous gentrification: Memorializing Kurt has turned into its own industrious wing of the media business. In 2006, Forbes crowned Cobain No. 1 on its list of the most lucrative dead celebrities—higher than Elvis Presley and John Lennon

Devin Lasker, of Primary Wave, defended the decision to strike the Chuck Taylor deal with Converse saying “It wasn’t like it was, like, some artist who never wore Converse before.” As a matter of fact, Lasker is absolutely right.

Many photos show the former Nirvana frontman wearing Converse sneakers. Even photos of Cobain’s discovered corpse reveal that he was wearing Converse’s when he died.

The shoes that Cobain died in are the Converse One Stars, which Converse incidentally also created a Kurt Cobain model for:

Are Primary Wave and Converse expecting consumers to take this as some sort of posthumous endorsement? A lot of Nirvana and Kurt Cobain fans would most likely argue the contrary.

Despite all of the troubling moral and philosophical questions raised by this Converse marketing scheme, not everyone sees it as a blight on Cobain’s legacy. In Gordinier’s 2009 article, the writer spoke with Ben Gibbard,  of Death Cab for Cutie about Converse’s 2008 Cobain Chuck Taylors.

If they were making ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ into ‘Eight-Piece Box’ for, like, Kentucky Fried Chicken, yeah, that would offend me… But if it takes a Kurt Cobain Converse to remind people to go buy Nirvana records, that’s fine with me.

April 5th of 2010 will mark the 16th anniversary of Cobain’s self-inflicted death. What is your opinion of Converse using Cobain’s namesake in their “Music Collection?”

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Recently Converse Skateboarding threw a bash to mark the launch of Anthony Pappalardo’s first signature shoe, the CONS (PRODUCT)RED Pappalardo Pro (check it out here). As a nod to Anthony’s family, who own Pappalardo’s Pizza Cove on Long Island, the event went down at Arturo’s pizza parlour in downtown Manhattan. Also on board was jeweler Gabriel Urist who bronzed two hundred keyring replicas of the shoe as a special gift for friends and family. Check it all out below.

I finally managed to find out some details about the Converse/Missoni collaboration I’d been hearing about since the men’s European runway shows back in June (where a pair were spotted on the feet of a Missoni family member at the label’s runway presentation in Milan).

The classic Chuck Taylor All Star high-top shoe will be served up in two different versions of Missoni’s signature zigzag pattern printed on the sides and tongue, with colors that tie back to Missoni’s Fall/Winter 2010 menswear collection. The circle patch (the design that sits at about the ankle bone of the wearer) is rendered in brown leather, and the traditional “license plate logo” at the heel is monochrome.

In the prepared press materials, Missoni’s creative director Angela Missoni explained the decision to use the Chuck Taylor All Star silhouette: “It’s mythical to me; [it's] the one that girls and boys of all times have liked to wear and is still the coolest today.”

The Missoni for Converse Chuck Taylor All Star kicks will retail for $200 and be available to the public in early April. They will be sold at the Missoni boutiques in New York City and Beverly Hills, Jeffrey (in New York and Atlanta) as well as select boutiques internationally.

– Adam Tschorn

Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Hi Top White customized with Navy Bandana paisley scarf. The entire shoe is covered except for the area surrounding the eyelets. Care is made to not cover the Converse logo on the sides of the shoes as well.

These shoes are available in Men’s Sizes [7.5-16] and retail at about $160.

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Elton Brand’s second signature basketball shoe known to be the Converse EB2, a successor to EB1 is now available in White/Black/Red colorway. The sneakers’ main features include the Black Velcro strap across the midfoot with Red stitching with two-strap design across the same area, Converse logo on the side panel, and Elton Brand logo on the collar area. The White base also acquired a White midsole with Black forefoot and Red heel outsole.

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Vintage Chuck Taylors get a modern makeover.

Comme des Garcons and Converse have collaborated on a line of foursneaker styles called Comme des Garcons Play for Converse Collection.

Digging into the Converse archives, Comme des Garcons’ Rei Kawakubo resurrected a Chuck Taylor style originally made for the U.S. military in the 1950s, and stamped it with her signature red heart-face.

The collection is unisex, includes two high-tops and two oxfords and retails for $100.

The Comme des Garcons Play for Converse Collection comes out at the end of this month and is available in L.A. at Satine, Opening Ceremony and Legion.

Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star Hi Top Red customized with Red Bandana paisley scarf. The entire shoe is covered except for the area surrounding the eyelets. Care is made to not cover the Converse logo on the sides of the shoes as well.

These shoes are available in Men’s Sizes [7.5-16] and retail at about $160.

Buy Custom Hi Top Converse

Tribute to Converse Chuck taylor style shoes. Custom bandana Chuck Taylors. Bandana Fever shoe line on display.

Rocker Eddie Van Halen is taking Nike bosses to court amid allegations they copied his signature black, red and white guitar design for a new range of sneakers.

The Van Halen frontman filed a federal lawsuit in a Los Angeles court last Friday, accusing brand executives of copyright infringement in regards to their Dunk Lows line of tennis shoes.

Van Halen, who is suing via his company ELVH Inc., claims Nike designers failed to ask his permission to use the streak pattern which has featured on his electric guitars since 1978 and was trademarked in 2001. The legal papers allege the sports brand’s shoes are doing “irreparable harm and damage” to his colorful design.

Van Halen is seeking general and punitive damages for the infringement, in addition to profits made to date from the Dunk Lows. And he’s demanding Nike cease all production on the shoes – calling for “the impoundment and destruction of all footwear”.

Van Halen actually has his own range of sneakers, which he designed with manufacturers Converse.