Wacko Maria is fucking weird. And we mean that as a compliment. The Japanese streetwear brand, founded by former soccer player Atsuhiko Mori in 2005, is known for its idiosyncratic style, animal prints, and religious imagery. Additionally, Wacko Maria has frequently collaborated with artists such as DJ Harvey or Rage Against The Machine and cites music (Reggae, for instance), design, and architecture as major influences in designing new collections. Weirdly, listing the brand’s ingredients — icons of a Latin American Virgin Mary, extensive leopard prints, and dashes of old-timey typography mixed with ample references to popular culture — sounds like someone drove a truck headfirst into a souvenir shop. Total fucking chaos. Also, slogans like “Guilty Parties” or “Paradise Toyko” get thrown around willy-nilly, with no apparent rhyme or reason. In theory, you’d be forgiven for having a hard time imagining that this sort of being-into-everything works out. However, when confronted with the real thing, Wacko Maria’s aesthetic hullabaloo is formed into something palpable: it’s weird, yes, but it’s a coherent weirdness that’s oddly attractive. It’s a typical the-whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts kind of situation. It’s also making Wacko Maria a highly desired brand not only for customers to buy but also for other companies to work with. And so, by way of an unnecessarily long introduction, we arrive at the purpose of this writing: Nike SB’s collab with Wacko Maria. The drop includes a Blazer Low GT and a Zoom Janoski CNVS (OG tooling, not RM!), both of which have received the Wacko Marina treatment: by far the less outrageous of the two, the gum-soled Blazer comes with a black suede upper and a (fake) snakeskin swoosh. It also features embroidered Kanji signs on the heel that read “Tokyo Paradise” and “Guilty Parties,” respectively. The Janoski OG, conversely, is covered in an all-over leopard pattern printed onto a canvas upper. It also features the Kanji mentioned above and includes an embossed Wacko Maria label on the tape of the sole. It’s wacky, alright. But then again, that’s precisely the point. The release of both shoes is on Saturday, October 31st, 2020. All information about how to get the shoes will be published on our Instagram story (@bonkers_frankfurt).
