After Nike, now Converse releases collaboration with Satanic symbolism

Converse has released a limited-edition collaboration with Drkshdw and its designer Rick Owens that featured Satanic symbolism in its design.

Converse announced on Instagram that it was launching a new collaboration with Rick Owens, a 59-year-old fashion designer who has often been called the "Lord of Darkness".

The design in question incorporates the DRKSHDW logo, Owens' brand, which features a pentagram. Pentagrams are considered Satanic imagery, although Wiccans and other pagan religions also use them.

Owens stated in the Instagram post that he had "been using this pentagram for a long time because, obviously, it has adolescent occult associations." Owens says that he's fond of geometric designs like the pentagram because: "In a very primal way, they are a culture's grasp for control and a way to organize thoughts and systems. And a pentagram, in this day and age, with all of its associations. I like the fact that it refers to an alternative system. And that suggests openness and empathy. It suggests the pursuit of pleasure, this pursuit of sensation. But one of the main things that I think it suggests is empathy and a consideration of systems of living that might not be standard. So that leads us to be more accepting and tolerant of other systems, which I think is a good thing."

The 59-year-old designer often focuses on a "gothic aesthetic [that boasts] a fashion-sportswear hybrid with gender-neutral design in the hottest color of the season…always black." In this case, the design behind the sneaker is intended to be bombastic, "grotesque," and "corrupting."

Some Christian outlets have reported that Owen's design will replace the classic Converse star. However, Snopes has confirmed that the shoes will still feature the brand's imagery; it will also incorporate Owens' pentagram-based logo in the design.

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