P448 PARTNERS WITH ARTIST ALEX KATZ ON FOOTWEAR CAPSULE BENEFITTING COOPER UNION

Alex Katz, the 96-year-old American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints, has developed an artistic style that is immediately recognizable worldwide. Wanting to create a unique footwear silhouette, Katz reinvented Italian sneaker brand P448’s key style with the Limited Edition P448 x Alex Katz Capsule.

Designed by the world-renowned artist as a rare limited-edition collector’s unisex dress shoe, the capsule consists of an all-over satin dress shoe hand stitched with Katz’s signature in a minimal palette of either black or blue. Ultimately envisioned to be paired with a suit or tuxedo, Katz’s slipper-like dress shoe is styled to be worn without laces. Noting that artistic interpretation can be fluid, laces are included within packaging for those consumers looking for the alternative.

Katz is known for his relationship with immediate quick light, and his deep connection to it led to his choice material of satin. Satin absorbs the light naturally when worn, thus making the shoes distinctively, characteristically, and elegantly Katz. Each style in the capsule is numbered outside to showcase its exclusivity. Available in unisex, European sizes (36-48), the blue silhouette will retail for $3,000 and will be made in only 100 pairs, while the black silhouette will retail for $7,000 and will be made in 25 pairs. All net profits from the sale will be donated to Katz’s alma mater Cooper Union School of Art.

Keeping these irreplaceable and unique Katz creations secure, the P448 x Alex Katz packaging is a mini shoebox-size art shipping crate, which wraps up the purchase in true art style.

Katz’s paintings, which are typically found only in museums or private collections, are divided equally into the genre of portraiture and landscape and defined by their flatness of color and form, as well as their economy of line and cool but seductive emotional detachment.