Interview

We visited New York-based designer Tim Hamilton's studio in Paris, where he's showing menswear for a third season. For Fall 2010, he's transitioning from streetwear to trench-ready ready-to-wear by channeling World War I. That means lots of T-shirts; distressed, tailored and textured looks; and an emphasis on stitching that recalls both wartime craft and surgery. What stopped us in our tracks were these densely textured and distressed  military-style lace-ups. Hamilton describes, "I wanted a laborious looking military boot that had artist-made rubber-dipped surfaces," referring to the shoes' production. They were dipped in liquid rubber and tar gel. Of course there's booty at stake in any war, so Hamilton's encrusted Swarovski crystals into the rubber treatment, making it the shoe that might just keep on giving.

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