Up Close With Frank Ocean’s Fave New Prada Sneaker

So, what has Frank Ocean been up to? In the past decade since the elusive musician released his last album, he’s started a luxury jewelry company using exclusively lab-grown diamonds called Homer, begun working on a film with A24 and indie UK production company 2AM, and… not much else. But we do know he keeps that Prada on. 

Yesterday the artist published a few-and-far-between Instagram Story flexing Prada’s updated America’s Cup sneaker. The shoe itself is a callback to the original 1997 America’s Cup sneaker, a performance shoe designed specifically for the Prada Luna Rossa sailing team’s first race (called America’s Cup, hence the name).

Today’s America’s cup is made of brushed leather and bike fabric, engineered to be lighter and more streamlined than the original sneaker, a similar technical mesh shoe intended to be a bit clunkier for on-boat-wearers. (There’s an obvious pun here between Frank Ocean wearing the updated version of a shoe literally intended to be worn in the ocean.)

Check out our exclusive up-close photos of the bike mesh kicks below, as worn by our fashion director and styled as elegantly unbothered as Mr. Ocean himself. 

The thing about Frank Ocean and Prada, is that he wears the good Prada. His relationship with the brand often leans into everyday-wear vibes like these America’s Cup sneakers and even his 2019 Met Gala look. Ocean prefers the bread and butter Prada silhouettes, as we’ve seen in his black gabardine anorak look for the 2019 Met Gala, and his three-piece Homer collaboration with the Milanese brand from 2021 that included a backpack, belt bag, and another triangle-logo anorak.

Two things can be true — Frank is alive and well, and he’s still in Prada.

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