Instagram/@plies
Plies stirred up a buzz over the very first flex of his footwear-cum-hallmark: white Balmain cleats with a fur trim worthy of a runway or a soccer ground. The Florida glamour boy dropped a video of himself eyeballing the laces, excitement dripping from his eyes, captioning it with his trademark unfiltered flair: “I Gotta Get These Mthfckas!!!! What Y’all Think??? BALMAIN!!!!” But then the internet had its own… thoughts.
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The frontend of the cleats is open, fur roaring from the top in the most outré high-fashion gutsy statement that an athlete ever needed to speed on. In the video, it appeared Plies was genuinely excited about this shoe: He happened to ask the viewers repeatedly, “do you like them off?” while handling the shoe with great enthusiasm. But as for the feedback? Mixed is just not doing it any justice!
One person went straight to the point: “All you got to do is add a designer name and people will buy it.” This commenting stirred a brief debate in the replies, with some agreeing that branding commonly overrides aesthetic concerns (“shyts be ugly asf ion get it”), while others came out strongly defending the freedom of taste. Another user said, “Why can’t u just think he like em fr?” implicating that design is a matter of subjective preference. And this back-and-forth is a good representation of an age-old opinion in luxury: where does personal style stop and label hype take over?
Then, the roasts started. “1k to look like a furry soccer player? I think not,” one follower countered, suggesting that the shoes should be paying the wearer rather than having a price tag. Another likened it to winter football gear, while they had an equally candid one referencing Trespass: “Remind you of when the man had cleats on.” A Miami-based commenter went on to question the functionality of the cleats: “You gonna get water in your knees wearing those in the club,” picturing just how useless those open-backed sharp would be anywhere but the actual field.
There were those who weren’t skeptical. Some of the groupe encouraged Plies to “do a video playing with them on,” while others just respected his un-apologetic taste (“Buy what you like”). The rapper looks pretty happy at the thought of the polarizing effect that these shoes would have. It wouldn’t be the first time that he made such bold fashion statements.
The discussion took a metal turn with one wondering, “I promised I majored in the wrong field. Cause people will buy anything…,” sparking responses about consumer psych and racial dynamics in branding. A biting retort came back: “Long as you use someone of Caucasian descent to be the face they’ll go broke for it,” digging yet deeper into the culture of luxury marketing.
A lux house of edgy designs balanced between street and class is Balmain under Olivier Rousteing’s direction. These cleats probably came out of one of their sportswear collaborative efforts. Hit or miss for everyone, meanwhile, Plies is finally getting some chatter going. And in celeb fashion, that’s already half the battle.
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From the comments, “Fam leave those,” to “Go get water in ya knees with them,” this is not just about the shoes. This is the circus of celebrity clout, branding power, and the endless debate over what counts as good design. Plies seems content letting the madness play out, cackling somewhere in those cleats. One consistent trait about the rapper has been that he has never once betrayed his vibe, fur-lined shoes and all.
This story originally appeared on Celebrityinsider
