Artist Blanche Yu Lends Romantic Inspiration to Clarks Originals Desert Riders Collection
BOOTS FOR WALKING:Chinese artist Blanche Yu has created a romantic, desert-themed fall 2026 collection in her latest role as guest creative director for Clarks Originals.
The artist drew on her background in ceramics and spatial design to create the new Desert Riders collection. She redesigned some of Clarks' signature silhouettes, melding symbols of the American West with Mongolian nomadic craft.
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Yu, who lives between Beijing and Inner Mongolia, said she looked outward rather than inward when she designed the collection, and swapped imaginary worlds for physical landscapes.
The artist said she found connections between Inner Mongolia and the American West through horses, movement, the land, and the relationship between people and nature.
An image from the Clarks Originals Desert Riders collection.
She was particularly drawn to the mixed materials used by each culture. She worked in a palette of rich colors, created furry cow prints, added studded metal to soft suede, and flourishes in the form of beads and leather ties to the classic Clarks Wallabee and Desert Trek shoes.
The artist said she finds the contrasts in materials compelling, and that the tensions create a sense of balance within the work.
Yu said she wanted to work with Clarks because of its strong heritage and distinctive identity, which has endured for decades but can also be reinterpreted across generations.
She said the brand has "the ability to respect tradition without allowing it to remain fixed in the past."
An image from the Clarks Originals Desert Riders collection.
As part of the collaboration, two new styles were added.
The first is called Desert 2456 Rock, and was inspired by the Desert boot , with padded edges and a wider toe. The second is Wallabee Lace, which is Clarks' signature Wallabee plus extended woven laces down the vamp.
Prices start at 135 pounds.
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