The Great Wave off Kanagawa meets street style for a new generation.

Iconic British footwear and clothing brand Dr. Martens has been stepping out of the box recently by teaming up with various companies for a number of limited-edition releases. However, their latest collaboration, with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, looks to be one of their best yet, as it features the art of Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), the Japanese ukiyo-e artist famous for works such as the Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji landscape series, from which this release takes its design cues.

The three-piece collection consists of the original 1460 boot and original 1461 shoe — the numbers are a nod to the respective 1 April and 1960 and 1961 release dates — with the three-eyelet shoe adorned in Fuji from Gotenyama at Shinagawa on the Tokaido from Hokusai’s Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji.

The boot features The Great Wave off Kanagawa from the same series, with careful placement of details to create a wearable piece of art.

The Great Wave also features on the backpack, which is bound to turn heads wherever you go.

This first collaboration between Dr. Martens and The Met is said to pay tribute to “the timeless energy and inspiration of Hokusai’s work”, while expressing the artist’s worldview on Dr. Martens products as a canvas.

▼ Take a look at this video made to promote the collaboration, featuring London-based Japanese woodblock artist Hiroko Imada.

While The Met encouragingly reminds us that whoever wears the products is an art collector, you’ll need the budget of an art collector to purchase the products, as the shoes retail for 24,200 yen (US$171.41), the boots for 27,500 yen and the backpack for 35,200 yen.

Still, if you have the money to splurge on Doc Martens, these are investment pieces you won’t regret buying. The collection will be available at Dr. Martens stores and online from 26 November.

Source, images: PR Times
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