Burning love in a pair of sneakers

The Paris concept store Colette is undeniably considered one of the world’s most prestigious boutiques, and every new window display is an event in its own right, just like a Vogue America cover.

Since November 21 the site’s homepage and the store’s vitrine de droite have been exhibiting a capsule collection of limited edition sneakers made under a special partnership between Italian brand Santoni and one of the world’s most prestigious independent fashion magazines, Purple of France, edited by a great character and outstanding photographer, Olivier Zahm.

The “canvas” on which Zahm and Purple worked was Clean Icon, a minimal sneaker that is a Santoni bestseller, presented in two versions for the occasion, white and orange, for men and for women, with an explicit message on its tongue: Make Love.

“I was really happy when Santoni asked my magazine Purple to customise the Clean Icon sneaker. We wanted the product to underline what counts most of all for us: LOVE. Giuseppe Santoni and I decided to be perfectly clear and write MAKE on one shoe and LOVE on the other, so that when people walk they repeat the mantra with every step,” the Purple editor said at the unveiling party at Colette.

“We liked the idea that an element of our everyday wardrobe could convey a political message in which the second part goes without saying: ‘MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR’”.

And on the subject of love, passionate love that burns the soul and makes its mark, Purpose for Santoni’s Clean Icon shoes in Colette’s window will be surrounded by photographs by a talented young Chinese photographer, Ren Hang, who has immortalised Purple and Santoni’s message in his own explosive way with fetish-like images of naked bodies and burning shoes with a sensual kiss printed over them.

The capsule collection is sold exclusively in the Paris store and on the Santoni and Purple web sites.