Dropping the vowels from its name does not make MSCHF less of a mischief. On the second and fourth Monday of every month, the Brooklyn-based art collective becomes irreverent and downright gonzo.
Think of the weirdest drops (read product): Jesus shoes with a drop of holy water, bath bombs shaped like toasters and XXXXXXXX products that need level 2 access.
The collective’s latest drop: the Satan Shoes, customised Nike Air Max 97’s with a drop of human blood in the midsole, had the shoe giant hauling MSCHF to court.
As MSCHF readies to drop its new drop on Monday, April 12, here’s a look at MSCHF’s most mischievous products:
Birkinstock
Plain Jane would panic at the sight of the sandal’s price tag: $35,000-$76,000 (Rs 26-56 lakhs).
But if Plain Jane had ever hung a Hermes Birkin bag on her wrist, she would have anticipated the hefty tag.
Made of a deconstructed Birkin bag with authentic Birkenstock cork footbed and gold vermeil buckles, there were very few MSCHF Birkinstocks on sale. Described by the collective as “the most exclusive sandals ever made”, the Birkinstocks walked off the shelf in a hurry—one into the home of an avid art collector.
Medical Bill Art
No one really monkeys around with medical bill debts. MSCHF did. It created paintings from the medical bills of several Americans and sold them off as art to erase medical debts totalling $73,360. MSCHF diligently created the bill art that included precise details like $4940.25 for a CT scan and $116 for urinalysis. Each artwork was sold for the exact amount as the medical debt of the individual. This is not the first time MSCHF has played with art - it once snipped a Damien Hirst artwork and sold each piece separately.
Death of the Influencer
It was an influencer that died. An unnamed influencer who was the “son of Andy Warhol and Paris Hilton” (MSCHF says so), who was apparently killed by a password reset. RIP. When the fictional influencer died, he willed an Instagram account to MSCHF (MSCHF says so), an Instagram account @deathoftheinfluencer that has not posted anything, yet has 1 million followers. MSCHF says anyone can post from the account. No one has. Not yet.
In the Year 2024
MSCHF is domain squatting in the hope of making truckloads of money in 2024. Picking possible 2024 US presidential runners, the company has bought domain names such as ElectWest.com (for Kanye West) and MikePence4America.com (for Pence, of course) and now waiting for the candidature announcement to sell the domain name for a heavy price. This one surely is a mischievous investment idea.
Satan Shoes
One drop of human blood in a customised Nike sneaker’s midsole caused a media bloodbath. Created by MSCHF in collaboration with the rapper Lil Nas X, only 666 pairs of the $1,018 (each) Satan Shoes were made. Sneaker heads chuckled at MSCHF’s audacity, but Nike was outraged. At the time of writing, Nike has won a court battle to stall sale of Satan Shoes.
Lil Nas X - 'MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)' video.
Axe no. 5
MSCHF describes Axe no. 5 as ‘Limited Edition Perfume: The most treasured brand in luxury fragrance meets the most reviled scent in the locker room everywhere’. That’s what Axe no. 5 is: a bastardised version of Axe and Chanel no.5 perfume. Priced at $400, the lime-green coloured perfume sold out before sweat could drop off the armpit.
Jesus Shoes
The shoe’s sole has holy water from the River Jordan injected into it. A crucifix, a red insole and a Matthew 14:25 inscription complete the picture. The shoes bring along the fragrance of frankincense, the same one that the wise men had brought as a gift on the night Jesus was born. Originally priced at $1,425, the Jesus Shoes can fetch much more now in the resale market.
Times Newer Roman
This is the old lady (Times New Roman is 89 years old) with an extra x-height that can pad the essay and the professor wouldn’t notice it. MSCHF tweaked the old font to make it 5-10% larger without any noticeable difference. Times Newer Roman font is a boon for the laziest student - if you were to write a 15-page document in the 12 point classical typeface, you’d need 6,680 words. With the fatter Times Newer Roman, you’d only need 5,833 words. That’s a lot of word saving for the work-shy student.
Puff the Squeaky Chicken
It is a canary yellow chicken with red open mouth, bloodshot eyes that speaks squeakily when you smoke her. Not smoke the chicken but the weed through the food-grade silicone chicken. The high does not get higher because of the squeaky chicken, it certainly gets more fascinating, though.
Cuss Collar
Instead of barking, if your dog could curse, would it? No dog ever confessed its love for swear words but the $60 Cuss Collar could do the curse-job for the dog. MSCHF’s Cuss Collar spits an expletive every time the dog barks. MSCHF warns it is not an anti-barking or training device.
This Foot Does not Exist
This one is tempting for those with foot fetish. Send a message to a specified number and a bot will serve a foot photograph. If you are expecting Cleopatra’s feet in the phone, shed the dream. The AI generates weird foot/feet--crooked, misshaped, bruised, stained, proportionally wacky… Feet that can inch their way out of a foot fancy.
MSCHF never restocks its drops, so if you miss tomorrow's drop, stay thirsty. And if you do not have an iPhone, mischief is forbidden.
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