crooked tongues magazine News Features

We can never quite fathom just how much work Stüssy puts in across its offices and stores worldwide every year. For sheer product they go in, but the volume of collaborations across brands is astonishing too. Doing a couple of partner projects is difficult, but keeping that number on the go is near enough impossible We still want to see a definitive book on the Stüssy brand's past, present and future so we can take stock of their work up to this point, but in the meantime, their work with Converse has been fun in 2012, veering between the wildness of the NYC chapter's patchwork Pro Leather, the year's most omnipresent pattern with the camo Sea Star (and let's be honest, Stüssy are more entitled to use it on a shoe than the majority out there getting militaristic in recent seasons), ripstop textures and a hiking Elm makeover.

To end 2012, these versions of the CVO design are classy but simple, with suede and leather on the upper and details confined to a heel tab and tiny tonal SS branding near the forefoot. Those quietly contrasting heels and collars are as wild as these get but it's worth noting that this is a debut for the CVO as a mid-cut silhouette and if you're noting the similarity between this and a couple of other iconic deck shoe style designs, bear in mind that Converse had the Circular Vamp Oxford in production a long, long time ago (back in 1961 as we understand). Nothing wild, but two simple colourways of a basic shoe that works well with a couple of extra vertical inches at a good price and well-made enough to take a battering during the festive season's social activities. The Converse and Stüssy CVO Mids are on sale in the Crooked Tongues store right now.