The fact that fashion firms find inspiration in the most unsuspected places or objects is nothing new. Neither is the adoption or “appropriation” of elements, whether pertaining to folklore or created by a region or community. The latest to see one of their own designs become a trend, no more and no less than on the Paris Fashion Week runway, are the inhabitants of Matehuala (Mexico).  

In 2009, the men of this city, located in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí, decided to lengthen the tip of the “cowboy boots”. Little by little and with the use of a plastic hose covered in hide and modeled with screws, as the Vice documentary explains, the tip begins to grow, reaching –in extreme cases—a height above the knee. The design became the best partner of tribal music and of DJ Erick Rincón, one of those greatly responsible for the export of these boots to the South of the US (in states such as Texas, they were enormously popular). 

It took about five years for them to travel through the ‘distance” separating Matehuala from Paris Fashion Week, making a stop on a David Gueta video clip –the ‘pointy boots” or ‘Guarachero boots’ appeared on the French DJ’s ‘Play Hard’ video--. It had only been a few months since its ‘fashion’ baptism, when Commes des Garçons was turning them into the star footwear of their 2015 Spring-Summer Men’s Collection. 

'Guarachero boots' by Commes des Garçons vía Ssense.com.

 

The boots that caught practically all the attention of the company’s fashion show are already available for a price that is, however, not suitable for all wallets: some US$515 for a pair on the Ssense.com website. 

The ‘Guarachero boots” may be revolutionizing the narrow Paris catwalk, but in Matehuala they are far from being a novelty. There the boots have been customized simply by color, glitter or different materials. Will the Guarachero boots return this spring? Only the streets of the world will tell.