{"id":1077630,"date":"2022-07-13T14:48:05","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T19:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=1077630"},"modified":"2022-07-13T14:49:56","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T19:49:56","slug":"tola-oseni-clarks-wallabee-five-boroughs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/tola-oseni-clarks-wallabee-five-boroughs\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Boroughs, One City: How Tola Oseni Reimagined the Clarks Wallabee"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Clarks Wallabee<\/a> is a staple in the fabric and DNA of New York. From Wu-Tang to Kith, the Wallabee is an icon in every sense of the word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate the silhouette, Clarks partnered with ONE School<\/a>, an advertising school for Black creatives (the first of its kind) to give an opportunity to its students to pitch, design, and rollout their own iteration of the Wallabee to reflect New York. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tola Oseni (@cocat0la<\/a>), designer and art director, completed the 16-week course which led to a live brief that led to the creation of the NYC-inspired & dedicated Clarks Wallabee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want to make experiences tangible, artwork accessible, and the past present.<\/p>Tola Oseni<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We spoke to Tola about the process, her inspiration, and what it means to add to the Wallabee’s already rich legacy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Snkrs Day: What was the creative process like? How did your mind gravitate to the five boroughs theme?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tola Oseni:<\/strong> We got the brief midway through the semester. We were learning how to craft advertisements at ONE school. We started with a universal truth or an insight. For me, it was hard because New York is such an amazing city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to capture the essence of it in just a shoe. It took a bit of time. I had to think through why I love New York City so much. I realized people always have this love\/hate relationship with the city emdash they\u2019re always very proud to say where they\u2019re from and they\u2019ll have some complaints. But what overpowers it every time is the love relationship that they have. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, I wanted to make a very bold & vibrant shoe. I wanted to make sure that this was a New York shoe that said \u201cI\u2019m from New York.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NK: Were there any challenges? Or was it easy once you had that breakthrough?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO: <\/strong>It was easy after I came up with the concept \u2014 that was the hardest part. Trying to hone in on something emblematic of New York. I didn\u2019t want to touch on things like the subway system or the bodegas because I feel like it doesn\u2019t truly get to the essence. It\u2019s about the people and their feelings towards the city that make it different than other places.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main element is the pattern. Each borough has a different color tag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the white, there\u2019s a subtle New York script paying home to Clarks\u2019 roots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the black, it says \u201conly in NYC\u201d in the back. The front has a golden outline of the city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are some nuggets on the inside. \u201c5 boroughs, 1 city\u201d in one shoe and \u201cOnly in NYC\u201d in the other.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NK: What inspired the color choices for the five boroughs?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO: <\/strong>I was inspired by my favorite Black movies that had to do with New York, trips to the city, and trips to Bed-Stuy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NK: The Wallabee is an East Coast staple but especially in New York. What was it like to not only design your own Wallabee but pay homage to New York at the same time?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO: <\/strong>It was a huge task to take on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In designing the shoe, I wanted to pay the right respects to the people of the city. Not only just have the ability to design a shoe about New York, but to have such an iconic canvas to work on was mind-blowing. It was the best thing that could happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a lot of my work, I say that I want to make experiences tangible, artwork accessible, and the past present. This collaboration hits on all three of those things. I see them as a wearable piece of art as much as they are a shoe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, people don\u2019t have to go to an art gallery, which has been seen as exclusive and elitist,\u00a0 to see this artwork. They can just be walking around in the city or anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a great experience. So appreciative of the opportunity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NK: How\u2019s the response been?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO: <\/strong>It\u2019s been insane. The day before they got released and Clarks started posting them, my friend called me crying (she recently broke up with her boyfriend, so I thought she was going through it) and she said \u201cI\u2019m so proud of you\u201d and then I started bawling.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had people DM me from different countries saying that they can\u2019t get the shoes, but they want the shoes badly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been amazing to see so many people around the world love the shoe and all the comments and reshares. It\u2019s been such an uplifter. I\u2019m so happy that this happened, that people love the shoe, and that they\u2019re excited to get their hands on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been great seeing it in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s OneSchool. How did you get involved?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OneSchool is an advertising school for Black creatives, the first of its kind. I found out about it because I worked at spotify didnt apply the first time around. I creative director  16 week process answer diff brief every week – clarks live brief – set up with an advertising book to pitch yourself <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NK: Where do you go from here? What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO: <\/strong>I want to work on more projects as an art director. I like these collaborations that hit on culture, I want to see myself doing more stuff like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m working on a musical short film with a mystery element right now. I\u2019m trying to work on my own projects. Heading more so in that art direction very firmly is what I want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tola Oseni’s Clarks Wallabee is available online now at select retailers and ClarksUSA.com in black (here<\/a>) & white (here<\/a>). Keep it locked on Snkrs Day and the Sneaker Release Dates<\/a> page for more information on upcoming releases. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Clarks Wallabee is a staple in the fabric and DNA of New York. From Wu-Tang to Kith, the Wallabee…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":328301,"featured_media":1077649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1239143,1218113],"tags":[1207423,1257705,1207424],"cultivate_rss":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTola Oseni x Clarks Wallabee "Five Boroughs" | Snkrs Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tola Oseni pays homage to NYC with the Clarks Wallabee "Five Boroughs" with the help of ONE School. 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