'Black Panther' fashion: Oregon man creates custom Wakanda Forever Dame 4s

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) - An Oregon man's custom Wakanda Forever Dame 4s went viral Tuesday afternoon, featuring "Vibranium" and elements of King T'Challa's suit.

Stephen Perona said he walked out of the wildly popular "Black Panther" movie "totally enamored with the costume and set design."

He said he had a pair of Portland Trail Blazer Damian Lillard's Adidas shoes around the house. Perona noted the Dames seemed like a natural fit to customize with a Wakanda (the fictional African nation featured in the film) theme.

"The shoes were geared toward Lillard's dynamic play style, and I thought would also be a cool way to integrate the Vibranium idea, giving the idea that they're absorbing some of that energy like T'Challa's suit does in the movie," Perona explained. "The lace cover claws were something I sculpted digitally and then had a local Portland company, 3DV, 3D print them for me. The rest was just done with Angelus acrylic paints."

Perona said he has been customizing sneakers for the past few months in his spare time. He said he's surprised by all the attention he got Tuesday for his Wakanda Forever Dames; ESPN, NBA on TNT, and several shoe culture Twitter profiles have posted about them.