Talk about shoe coup: Vans teams up with the Beatles for a sneaker collection guaranteed to tame even the bluest of Blue Meanies.
This week, it’s going to get Beatle-esque all up in here, with it being the 50th Anniversary of the Fab Four’s history- making appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th. So as legit Beatle geeks, we’re joining in on the festivities with dedicated Beatle posts sure to get you in the mood to twist and shout. Because really, the Beatles are like kittens and pizza — it is useless to resist.
And apparently, Vans feels the love like we do because launching on March 1st is their exclusive Yellow Submarine shoe collection. Four different models will be available, all embellished with hallucinogenic artwork lifted from the landmark 1968 feature. A lot of people credit Peter Max as the virtuoso behind the look of Yellow Submarine. However, it was German illustrator Heinz Edelmann who served as the film’s art director, dreaming up the animated versions of John, Paul, George, and Ringo in a swirly Art Nouveau spirit that was trendy in the late 60s. Edelmann, knowing that he couldn’t compete with Disney’s rule over the animated movie market, chose to structure Submarine as “a series of interconnected shorts” where the artistic techniques changed about every five minutes. Paul McCartney had actually wanted the movie to be more in the tradition of Walt & co. ‘I thought this could be the greatest Disney movie ever — only with our music.’ But the producers thought a style more akin to the Sgt. Pepper album cover would better fit with the band’s psychedelic incarnation in ’68. Years later, McCartney admitted, ‘Luckily, it wasn’t my decision.’
And below, two watercolor production paintings by Edelmann.
Sneaker images from Vans.com. Watercolor paintings courtesy EscapeIntoLife.com
Leave a Reply