Rick Owens Inflatable Porterville Boots Make Winning $5,000 Impression in Fashion Competition at New York City Ball
A pair of inflated Rick Owens boots helped a contestant at a ball go home with $5,000. Meechie Lanvin, the overall father of ballroom’s House of Lanvin, competed at the Last Train to St. Laurent ball in New York City on Friday. With attendees like fashion designer Christian Siriano in the audience, Lanvin appeared in the “fashion duo” category. In a video posted to instagram by Jack Mizrahi Gucci, who was a writer and actor on the FX show “Pose,” Lanvin calls out the pieces he wore: earrings and rings by Jean Paul Gaultier, a helmet bag from Maison Margiela and more. Many of the pieces were from the Rick Owens Porterville collection included a coat, chain necklace and pants.
Meechie Lanvin’s shoes were also from the Rick Owens Porterville collection — named for his hometown. The range was for the fall 2024/winter 2025 season. The pull on style was made in collaboration with London designer Straytukay. They are a thigh-high style made of latex with the section from the knee to the sole being inflatable. Inside of the inflated latex, the boot features a wedge heel of almost five inches. A platform design of the wedge makes it so that the actual rise of the heel is only about two inches.
According to the brand, the boots are designed as a collector’s item and not intended for everyday use. “While these shoes may be functional footwear, their primary purpose is for display or for use in special occasions and they are not suitable for everyday use,” the website says.
In addition, according to Meechie Lanvin, he also purchased a Rick Owens air pump in order to inflate the boots. The shoe was originally $4,485 but is still available in some sizes and is on sale for $2,691.
Meechie Lanvin and his partner won the “fashion duo” category and were awarded with $5,000. Balls are competitive events of the house-ballroom scene which started in the 1970s. They include a variety of categories around fashion, appearance and performance. One of the most famed exports of this community is voguing, a dance form seen globally and most notably integrated into the oeuvres of pop stars like Madonna and Beyonce. Rick Owens is also a noted fan of the ballroom community, having cast members of the community for various projects and having attended various events in the past.
Fashion categories have long played a part in this community including “labels” which involves wearing designs by high-fashion brands, “sneaker versus sneaker” which pairs the most exclusive and ostentatious footwear designs against one another as well as “designer’s delight” where competitors designer their own garments.