Clot reimagines Timberland's 3-Eye Lug Handsewn boat shoe with a tilted toe upper reminiscent of a dragon.
Visual from the Clot x Timberland capsule.FEICIEN FENG/COURTESY
Clot, the cult streetwear brand founded by Canadian-born Hong Kong actor Edison Chen, is teaming up with Timberland for its first collaboration, featuring a range of footwear and garments inspired by China’s traditional dragon.
The designs are out Wednesday. Clot reimagined Timberland’s 3-Eye Lug Handsewn boat shoe with a titled toe upper reminiscent of a growling dragon’s head. The model is also topped with silk embroidery for the eyes and flames, rendered in a Chinese folk-inspired aesthetic.
“Dragon motifs have always shown up in our designs. It’s mystical, it demands power, and it’s very representative of Chinese culture,” said Chen, who became an advocate for the rise of the recent Guochao movement in China, after Clot presented its fall 2018 collection during New York Fashion Week.
“The embroidery is very much an ode to hand-stitch culture back in the day, and abstractly also tattoo culture because it seems to have translated into Chinese tattoos where dragons and all those old motifs are showing up on people’s tattoo artworks,” he added.
Guochao, which means national trend in Chinese, celebrates those who bring Chinese traditional elements into the modern age. Chinese sportswear giant Li-Ning, as well as fast-fashion brand Peacebird, are among players in the fashion sector spearheading the movement.
Visual from the Clot x Timberland capsule.FEICIEN FENG/COURTESY
To convey a sense of teamwork and showcase the beauty of a dragon, Chen hired a dragon dance team to star in the campaign video in Clot x Timberland attire.
“The dragon is an important guardian deity in China for its ability to control rain. With a livelihood dependent upon agriculture, ancient Chinese performed dragon dances to plead for rain and good fortune. The tradition remains generations on, translated into a celebration of unity and pride that connects all ‘descendants of the dragon’ across the world,” Clot explained in a release.
Starting from a logo T-shirt for $60 to $200 for a duck canvas jacket , the capsule will be available across Chen’s multibrand retail store Juice in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Taipei, Taichung and online.