“The Air Force 1 is universal, yet somehow very personal,” says designer eminence Riccardo Tisci.
Tisci’s own interpretation of Nike’s iconic basketball shoe (the original came out in 1982) was released on Friday. The collection, dubbed Nike + R.T. Air Force 1, includes a low top, a mid- and a high. For those with more extreme tastes, Tisci came up with a boot that comes all the way up to the knee — if paired with basketball shorts, no skin would show, perfect for fashionable types modest with their bodies.
The predominantly white sneaker has unusual color flourishes: a brown and orange swoosh with school-bus yellow and baby blue details. (A black version of the shoe arrives in May.) Somehow, this union works — the result doesn’t stray from the tried and true Air Force 1, but exudes real designer verve.
That the shoe is a slam-dunk is no surprise, as Tisci’s day job is creative director of fashion house Givenchy.
“I travel all over the world,” says the 39-year-old designer, “and I see people wearing the Air Force 1, and they wear it in so many different ways. So I was thinking, what is the essence of the Air Force 1? And how do I take that essence and make my own statement?”
This isn’t Tisci’s first stab at hoops-inspired paraphernalia this year. His January men’s show in Paris was staged on a runway mocked up to look like a basketball court with glowing neon pink outlines. The models wore nets on their faces, and shirts and trousers were embellished with lines emulating patterns on a court. One sweatshirt featured a close-up of an orange basketball. This all might sound extreme, but it was subtle and clever in Tisci’s hands.
But that Fall 2014 show and this Nike endeavor aren’t representative of some new infatuation with the sport. When Tisci was growing up in Italy, basketball was the only athletic activity he had any interest in, and he often played. It wasn’t just a game, but a window into connecting with a decidedly American pastime. Also, Air Force 1s have been his personal footwear staple for years.
On updating the shoe, Tisci says in a statement, “I have been allowed to express myself 100 percent in everything. For me this was like a ‘wow’ project.”