Andrew Rizzo We’re not entirely sure which Vans projects SZA has been involved in, but what we can say is that the brand has been on quite a hot streak since appointing her as Artistic Director last year, thriving off banger collabs, some boundary-pushing, and several strong in-house releases that ranked among the most elusive pairs of 2025.
With Paris Fashion Week in full swing, SZA attended the Louis Vuitton Menswear Show wearing 1-of-1 Authentics made by up-and-coming jewelry designer Rachel Goatley. Goatley works under Greg Yuna out of Mulberry Street in NYC (just across the street from Aimé Leon Dore) and has helped create jewelry for multiple brands and celebs, including Kith, Bad Bunny, and Nigel Sylvester. Sufficient to say her name is a familiar one among the sneaker world’s top players.
SZA’s white Authentics have been named the “Ladybug Garden” and feature a variety of flowers, ladybugs, and additional playful touches made from a range of different gems. Custom gold lace tips and lace dubraes round out the look, the latter playing off the Vans logo with red “Vansza” branding. Four additional sneakers – three Old Skools and one Authentic – have also been created for SZA to wear around Paris this week, which you can find embedded below.
This custom spread won’t see a public release, but it does continue a recurring theme of gems, crystals, and pearls being used on Vans icons, albeit they’re usually not actually authentic, of course (excuse the pun). Satoshi Nakamoto is taking its talents to the Vans Era with an upcoming “Lucky Charms” collab, and the brand released a number of “Pearlized” Old Skools that performed extraordinarily well at retail last year. Vans is also coming off a $750 Authentic collab by Mattias Gollin, that shoe featuring actual pearls and gold beads.
Scroll through images of each of SZA’s custom Vans sneakers below and keep our Sneaker Release Dates page handy to track Vans drops all year long.
