The last testimonial was a few days ago Chloe Sevigny, photographed on the street in Manhattan with the Mary Jane-style Iona model at her feet. The most famous, inevitably, Barbie: in the film phenomenon of the summer, the abandonment of the stiletto heel for the Arizona model sandal was used by Greta Gerwig as the symbol of Barbie's exit from Barbieland and the entrance into the real world. At the unlikely intersection between orthopedics and fashion, the footwear giant now listed on Wall Street has a history that goes back a long way: the traces of the brand created by the Birkenstock family date back to the German shoemaker Johann Adam Birkenstock whose name emerges from a census of 1744.
Improbably worn with socks and shorts in cartoons that ironized the "spirit of German tourism", sandals became popular in the sixties as an iconic shoe of hippies and youth counterculture, both in the US and in Europe. The orthopedists appreciated them, but not the fashion victims. Always a prophet in terms of taste, however, Steve Jobs adored them: the Arizona worn by the Apple guru "during many key moments" in the history of the Cupertino giant were auctioned a year ago for 219 thousand dollars. Slow but inexorable the path in fashion, where comfort and style usually do not go hand in hand: in 1993 Marc Jacobs, who designed for the defunct Perry Ellis brand, sent them on the catwalk with a grunge collection, but almost 10 years had to pass before the debut of the fur-lined 'Furkenstocks' in a winter collection of Celine in Paris. It was then in the last two years, after the sale to the private equity group L Catterton, that the Birkens, as they are nicknamed by fans, have become a symbol of elegance thanks to collaborations with Givenchy, Valentino and even with the king of the stiletto, Manolo Blahnik. In the USA on average those who wear them have at least four pairs thanks to a multiplicity of different models and colors: in addition to the very popular Arizona, which this year turned 50, Madrid are very fashionable, with a single band, Boston closed in front of a plinth for the colder mediums and, for the summer, the Eva in plastic version, ideal for beach and pool and at a lower price. Advertising the Linz am Rhein brand is useless: Birken actresses like Sevigny, but also Kendall Jenner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry, Tracee Ellis Ross, Britney Spears and Kirsten Stewart think about popularizing the Birken actresses. In 2019 the Arizona acid yellow suede version landed on the red carpet of the Oscars when Frances McDormand put them on to accompany a pink evening dress by Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino.
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