What are the big red Astro Boy-inspired boots that are all over social media?

The rubber boots by New York art collective MSCHF have gone viral for their cartoon appearance, spearheading a new trend dubbed 'clowncore'

New York art collective MSCHF's red rubber Astro Boy boots, as worn by US rapper Lil Wayne, right, have caused a stir in fashion circles. Photos: Instagram / @craftybjoern; Twitter / @Saint

If your social media feed has been filled with videos of adults stomping around in what can only be described as oversized cartoon-style boots, do not adjust your phone settings, they’re real.

Dubbed the Astro Boy boots thanks to their similarity to the footwear favoured by the Japanese manga character, the Big Red Boots are rubber footwear created by the Brooklyn art collective MSCHF.

Famous for their subversive take on art and fashion, MSCHF (pronounced: mischief) describe the $350 footwear as “not shaped like feet", but say they are "extremely shaped like boots".

The online blurb explains, “Cartoonishness is an abstraction that frees us from the constraints of reality. If you kick someone in these boots, they go boing!”

Going on sale on February 16, they sold out within minutes and quickly started appearing on eBay for more than $1,000. Owners of the boots were also quick to share their buys on social media.

Which celebrities are wearing the Astro Boy boots?

US rapper Lil Wayne was spotted wearing the boots at New York Fashion Week; Diplo wore them courtside at a recent New York Knicks game, and singer Coi Leray donned them to perform at the Brooklyn Nets versus Philadelphia 76ers half-time show on February 12.

A host of stylists have also filled their feed with images of themselves wearing the boots, which weigh 1.6kg each.

“The Big Red boot is a realisation of a specific sort of cartoonish abstraction of a shoe," MSCHF co-founder Daniel Greenberg told style website Highsnobiety. “In [the] cartoon world, representation works with reduced information to immediately imply an object, rather literally depict it.

"The Big Red Boot works on a similar principle, where it is an absurd, simplified form that conveys the idea of 'boot' without worrying too much about the particulars of realism.”

Who are MSCHF?

The New York collective was founded in 2016 by Gabriel Whaley, a self-proclaimed “internet mischief maker” and former Buzzfeed writer. Whaley describes MSCHF as “a creative studio that makes internet to tell stories.”

Josh Wardle, who created the word game Wordle, is also a member of the group.

Lauded for taking everyday objects and giving them a zeitgeist-themed makeover, MSCHF’s online store features the $450 AC1 shoe, which is shaped like a medical boot worn for a broken ankle. Also available is a single giant version of the popular cereal Fruit Loops, which comes boxed for $19.99.

The brand has focused on footwear in recent years, teaming up with US talk show host Jimmy Fallon — “a long-time MSCHF friend” — last year to create the MSCHF Gobstomper Jimmy Fallon Edition. The beige-coloured shoe is designed to reveal bright reds, blues and yellows as the outer layer wears away with use. .

Consumer culture's 'Banksys'

The group’s forays into art led to them creating Big Blur, a 43cm tall box sculpture decorated like a stack of hundred dollar bills designed to appear blurry. The piece, which MSCHF described as “reading value into an object”, sold for $56,000 at Sotheby’s in 2021.

The brand, dubbed “the Banksys of consumer culture” by The New York Times, also made fashion headlines when they unveiled the “most exclusive sandal ever made”. Made from a mash-up of the cork and rubber soles from a pair of Birkenstocks and leather straps from cut-up Hermes Birkin bags, they created the Birkinstock.

For their 2021 collaboration with popular YouTuber Mr Beast, Everyone Gets a Car, hundreds of thousands of people signed up to try and buy a Lamborghini for $35, not knowing if they would scoop a real Lamborghini Aventador Coupe or a 1/24 scale remote-control toy version. In total, the collaboration sold 2,755 Lamborghinis — 2,750 of which were toys and only five were real cars.