Revenge

Kind of a weird title, but it's one of my favorite lines in a great movie (with great art direction!), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
 
Someone asks Steve what the purpose of killing an animal, most likely nearly extinct, would be.  Of course, it's revenge.

But this post isn't about jaguar sharks or avenging the death of our friends.  It's about shoes.

There are lots of great things about this movie, but what stands out for me is the styles and the colors.  Starting with the poster, they set a theme of shades of blue with shots of yellow.

Even better than this poster (love that single fish in front!), is the Criterion collection art.

I just love these colors, and they fit the mood of the movie perfectly.

Now, Wes Anderson movies have no shortage of visual inspiration.  Design Sponge did a "Living In" feature on the Royal Tenenbaums that was so great (and includes a few of the actual products used on the movie - love that zebra wallpaper).  This movie has a totally different feel, but just as much inspiration.  It might be my favorite Wes Anderson movie.

But shoes, right?  I can take a lot of inspiration from this move, but my favorite is the colors.  Those fresh blues with the bright yellow, plus the nearly white sky.  Gorgeous.  Team Zissou knew this, and they got themselves some awesome tennis shoes to show it.

Now, I actually kind of need a pair of tennis shoes.  All I've got is some Tretorns.  They have kind of a slippery bottom, and they're canvas so I don't want to take them out in the rain.

And I just love these shoes.  It would crack me up every time I put them on.  I am totally iffy on a mostly white shoe though.  Not sure if I'm a fan.

You've long been able to have these shoes custom made via etsy or ebay.  But $145 seems a lot to pay for tennis shoes, even though they're custom.

Enter MiAdidas!

Custom sneakers are getting to be a big trend.  You can now customize Nike, New Balance, and Adidas.  Adidas seems to be the most reasonable, at $90 for their simple, iconic shoe (the Samba, very close to the shoes worn in the movie).  For comparison, the New Balance 574s are $115, and the Nike Cortex is $115 as well.

With each of the brands, you can customize the color of every piece, down to the eyes for the laces.  The Adidas Samba can get you everything but the yellow laces (which you can get separately) and the shape of the sole.  You can even have "Zissou" printed in gold along the stripe.

This is a really fun idea, and I think it's great for the shoe companies to realize this market is out there.  I've always wanted a pair of Tigers for the fun color combos.  but now that I can make my own, I think I'll stick with an old favorite.