Thursday, January 1, 2009

Godelieve "Love, Live, Life" custom sneakers



Hello world!
I am proud to introduce you to the Godelieve "Love, Live, Life" Creative Recreation custom sneakers! This pair of custom shoes mean a lot to me for so many reasons. The first one is because these were made for my sister, she is the "Love" of my life, she is the sweetest thing a"Live", and she is my "Life" long best friend, now you know where the title came from.
The Creative Recreation "Love, Live, Life" custom shoes also mean a lot to me because I got to experience new things that I have been impatient to jump on.



One of the first things I wanted to do was to make a pair of custom kicks on a shoe DIFFERENT THAN SOME NIKE AIR FORCE ONES! Now don't get it twisted, I love my air ones and any one who knows me will tell you I am a fiend for a pair of all white forces. Nevertheless I have painted on so many of them that it gets old and repetitive after a while.
The second thing was the use of animal prints combined with bright colors and metallics. I intended to release the mutant pack this summer, for those who do not remember this pack from www.pimpmykicks.com, it was a pack of 4 pairs of customized Nike AF1 with 4 different African animal prints, with 4 neon colors, and metalics. This was the result of a crazy story I came up with, but in the process of painting the custom sneakers, I seen a release of a pack of custom sneakers by another artist, and the result was similar to what I was going for, so I discontinued it.
And finally, I figured a way to make a smooth and effective pattened leather effect.



The concept of the shoe is all about my sister. The use of black and white is not only because of my notorious adiction to the combination of these two colors, but in this case to express the mixture from our parents, my father being a caucasian european, and my mother being african. The metalic color is a mix of coper and gold, it is to represent my sisters skin complexion. It took a good hour just to mix it, and about 15 coats to lay it the way I wanted it!!!
The color on the toe represents her support. Anything I do she is my number one fan and she feels like I am the best at it, she makes me feel like the sky is the limit.
The leopard prints are to to express the fisty side of her loverly personality, those who know her, know that she is like her mother, heart big enough to fit two worlds, but fisty little thing!
The portrait is obvoiusly her, it is from a picture that I retouched on photoshop. She liked it so much she wanted to print some shirts ouf of it.
The font I used on the white area was simply from a shirt I seen, I liked it and I thought it would be apropriate with this shoe.
On the left heel I have the title of the shoes, and on the right heel I have her name "Godelieve" which translates "God's Love".
Finally the laces, the original laces were your regular flat laces, and I chose some skinny round ones to symbolize the fact that she is skinny lol it pays her bills because she is a model, but she still is a skinny butt! lol



Well here is another one for you to enjoy. If you have a family member that you would like to show some love to, you know what to do! Let me know the concepts you would like to emphasize, what you would like to express, and I will tell my imagination to go to work for you!!!
Just like always, remember thta you can get what ever you whant in any way you want it!


XCLSV X Godelieve "Love, Live, Life" X Custom Creative Recreation


CHE GUEVARA AND FIDEL CASTRO "LA REVOLUCION CUBANA" CUSTOM SNEAKERS



Hello world!
I thought since January was the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution, that we should recognize the struggle, determination, and success from the the "Guerrilleros" that fought against Batista, giving freedom to the Cuban nation. Now, what was done in the country and the changes from that date on will be things that could be discussed, but this is not the topic, these shoes are just giving tribute to the movement that took place about 50 years ago. But this being said, I am pretty sure this pair of custom sneakers is going to be another controversial one, another one of those "why?" or "I don't like the fact that you have Fidel on there" or one of my favorite ones "the work is nice, but not sure I like the theme", kind of like the Obama's customs nike air force one "hope for change". This reaction will come more than likely from Cuban natives, or from people that are politically and historically cultivated. And I can honestly understand where that idea could come from, but if you give it a little time and read about the concept may be it will make more sense after I explain for you to see the depth in it.




The idea and the concept behind this pair of custom sneakers is very similar to the Obama custom kicks "Hope for change". How you may ask? Well the intent on both pairs of custom sneakers is to send two messages, one obvious "hope for change" in the case of the Obama custom sneakers, and freedom in the case of the "Cuban revolution"; and two more a little deeper "my people are destroyed by lack of knowledge; Hosea 4:6" for the Obama custom shoes, also touching on keeping it real with yourself and others; in the case of the Che Guevara and Fidel Castro custom sneakers "La revolucion cubana", is to keep your eyes into what really matters, what you stand for, why you started what you started. Fame, or simple success in any levels can blur if not block our vision, as a result we loose focus, orientation and sight or the goal and direction we are going to.



Many got lost on the portraits on the Obama custom sneakers, and went past the two statements clearly made: "hope for change" and "out with the old, in with the new", this was due to the fact that two characters that represent two groups of people that are separated by a set of believes and expectations. Well this pair of custom sneakers might inflict the same reaction, due to the feelings individuals might have for both characters, the poem traduces "the fight for life, the voice of hope, the light to the utopia, this is revolution", that was the ideal they were fighting for and that is basically the message of this pair of custom sneakers, but the end of the story was not so nice, there are rumors and theories in which I will not get into, I will just suggest for you to do the research, but the outcome of that story takes me to the second part of the message which is to keep your eyes on your goal, don't forget what you stand for and the principles you were raised on.



The purpose of my personal jobs is not simply to deliver a pair of sneakers that can be worn, but to deliver a message, touch on topics that I feel need to be addressed, and the aproach is to use a concept that might be provoking but only to get attention, while challenging the viewer to see past a barrier on the first level, just like in life we should look at things with more depth. Please do not take any of it as an offesive gesture.
Now as always, remember that you can also get your own pair of custom sneakers, something that would represent you and what you stand for, or simply something that you like, something that you support, something that you always wanted!! I am here to deliver that on your own pair of custom sneakers!!!
For orders email xclsvworld@gmail.com




XCLSV X El Che y Fidel "La revolucion cubana" X Custom Nike Air Force 1