The crazy story of the tabby thief, Margiela’s luxurious ballet flats

Some will do anything to get their hands on a pair of tabbys, including breaking the law. These iconic shoes by Belgian designer Martin Margiela are at the heart of a story that captured the social network TikTok in early September. The main character of this romance, Alexis Dugue, also nicknamed Lex, a 25-year-old New Yorker who is responsible for social networks, tells about his unfortunate adventure in a video. It all started on the dating app Tinder, where she met a certain Josh, with whom she shared the same interest in fashion and, in particular, the famous luxury shoes, the price of which starts at 650 euros.

After the first date, the two have a second date, which ends up at the young woman’s house. The next day, Josh rushes out of the apartment and clearly not empty-handed. Sure enough, a few hours later, while Lex is telecommuting, he notices an empty spot on his shelf where he used to put his pair of Tabs.

Transferred New York Times

Lex then tries to contact his flirt and ask him if he saw the couple “without intending to incriminate him,” he notes. The experiment ended unsuccessfully. Josh made sure to remove her from the app and delete her contact information from the young woman’s phone. The next day, the New Yorker recounted her experience in a TikTok video titled “New York fashionistas, beware.” and urging users to “take action” to find the perpetrator. With over a million views, the video went viral within hours and was even shared New York Times, Vogue: or even DailyMail.

Fascinated by the story, users investigate to find Josh. On this occasion, they discovered the existence of his girlfriend, who, according to the photos published on Instagram, gave the couple a gift. Being trapped, the latter finishes the confession. And brings back the expensive shoes two days after Lex posted, asking him to exchange, delete his videos. Despite this ending, the series-worthy story continues to fascinate the owners of Tabi shoes. The latter then film themselves hiding their partner at home, or engage in parodies by reenacting parts of the story. This case adds to the aura of these shoes, which first appeared on the catwalk thirty-five years ago, and which “tiktokers” between the ages of 15 and 24 are excited about.

Japanese inspiration

The model appeared in Martin Margiela’s first fashion show, spring-summer 1989. In 1984, a Fine Arts student from Antwerp traveled to Japan and found on the feet of workers the famous shoes characteristic of the country’s history, used since the 15th century. This inspiration guided the design of the house’s most popular shoes. Originally designed as an ankle boot, the model is available in all forms (sandals, ballet flats, moccasins, etc.) and fans can’t get enough of it, as confirmed by the hashtag. #margielatabis On TikTok, which has over 54 million views. “The most important imprint of my career,” as Margiela described himself in the catalog for his 2017 exhibition at MoMu, continues to be written in the present tense.

In the video: the best moments of the Maison Martin Margiela spring-summer 2014 show