Photograph by Andrew Dosunmu exclusively for GQStyle.

A$AP Rocky Calls Those Balenciaga Dad Sneakers "The Larry Davids"

Plus: the rapper has secret dreams of being an interior designer.

by Rachel Tashjian
|
Oct 23 2017, 3:50pm

Photograph by Andrew Dosunmu exclusively for GQStyle.

In the cover story for the holiday issue of GQ Style, rapper and style god A$AP Rocky mints the perfect nickname for the Balenciaga Triple S Sneakers —the dirty, chunky dad sneaker that's divided families and inner circles or whatever, and which Rocky also wears in the accompanying photoshoot: "the Larry Davids."

Asked to defend his love for the shoes, Rocky says, "I seen those early, and I like them 'cause they remind me of a Raf Simons sneaker, and on top of that, those shits are fire." A$AP Ant then chimes in with the popular counterpoint to the Triple S's appeal—"Shit is trash"—to which Rocky says, "He's hating 'cause he got the fake Rick Owens Balenciaga shits. I don't fuck with them shits. I only fucks with the ones I got. I call 'em the Larry Davids, you feel me?"

Yes, we do!

Rocky, a longtime Raf Simons acolyte, is known for peppering his music with avant-garde fashion references (he released an ode to the Calvin Klein designer this past summer, and attended Simons's Chinatown Blade Runner-themed menswear show), and the interview proceeds in much the same way. When asked to recount a story about a fight he and A$AP Mob got into at Santos Party House in 2008, Rocky sets the scene with a lengthy listing of outfit credits from seeming photographic memory—Rocky was in Marc Jacobs with D&G pants; Ferg in black Acne pants with a jean jacket; and Nast in "the blue jean jacket with the seam"—before explaining the actual fight.

Several of the magazine's questions were sourced from Rocky's friends and inner circle; Simons asks what Rocky would be doing if he weren't rapping. "If I wasn't doing this, to be real with you, I'd probably be an interior decorator," Rocky says. Later, in response to a question from André 3000 about what hobby he'd like to pursue outside music or fashion, he says, "I want to design furniture. Maybe a sofa. Or a bed." How about a line of Rocky-designed cabrioles upholstered in Rocky-designed velvet, maybe with some feet that channel the ugly-cool of those Balenciaga sneakers? Into it!

Read the whole interview (and see the photographs—for the love of A$AP, see the photographs!)—at GQ.com.

Photograph by Andrew Dosunmu exclusively for GQStyle.
Tagged:
Life
Balenciaga
ASAP Mob
ASAP Rocky
Larry David