AIR FORCE 1 in 1982 Nike’S Air Force 1 Made Its NBA Debut, Launching a Footwear Franchise That Would Be the Blueprint for Status Sneakers for Decades to Come

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AIR FORCE 1 In 1982 Nike’s Air Force 1 made its NBA debut, launching a footwear franchise that would be the blueprint for status sneakers for decades to come. This durable and playable high-top shoe incor- porated the design innovations of earlier basketball sneakers but offered the enhanced comfort of Nike’s proprietary Air Sole technology. The athletic footwear giant had been using its Air technology (based on an air-cell system developed by aerospace engineer Frank Rudy) in running sneakers since the release of the Tailwind in 1979, but the Air Force 1, designed by Bruce Kilgore, marked the first instance of this lightweight midsole cushioning in a basketball shoe. Histori- cally, basketball shoes had featured a supportive and flexible upper attached to a simple rubber sole (see Adidas Superstar and Converse All Star). The integration of the full-length pressurized Air unit into the footbed of the Air Force 1 resulted in a thicker midsole, which gave the shoe its trademark profile and its capacity to absorb the shock of impact. Other features included a removable “proprioceptive belt” (ankle strap) for additional stability and a notched collar at the Achilles tendon for ankle support without compromising mobility. On the sole, the tread pattern of concentric circles at the ball and heel of the foot was designed with the pivoting motions of a basketball player in mind. Adopted by NBA players like Moses Malone and stocked at select sportswear retailers with minimal marketing, the Air Force 1 intrigued amateur basketball players, who were drawn to its unique look and performance-driven features. Following industry custom, the shoe was discontinued in the early 1980s, after its initial run, but within several years 3 a cadre of shrewd Baltimore footwear retailers (the owners of Downtown Locker Room, Cinderella Shoes, and Charley 40 Rudo Sports), backed by popular demand, persuaded Nike to reissue the “outdated” model in a limited range of colorways.1 2 Released in staggered lots, these editions had pre-Internet sneakerheads plying the I-95 corridor to Baltimore to collect the latest hues in what became known as the Color of the Month Club.2 At the behest of the public, Nike had effectively initiated the first “retro release”—now standard practice for footwear manufacturers. In New York neighborhoods like Harlem and the South Bronx, where streetball tourneys and the burgeoning hip-hop scene shared close quarters in the 1980s, basketball sneakers became increasingly common off the court.3 For sartorially smart hip-hoppers, looking “fresh to death” required an immaculate pair of sneakers. By the 1990s, pristine white-on-white Air Force 1s (or a pair in every colorway) were status objects that 4 tacitly signaled one’s purchasing power; the shoes were notably more expensive than Nike’s other basketball high-tops.4 As the Air Force 1’s role as a street-style staple superseded its athletic origins, it became collectible, and sneakerheads began seeking out the rarer mid- and low-top models. In the thirty-five years since the shoe’s launch, Nike has issued nearly two thousand versions of the Air Force 1, from mass-market releases emblazoned with flags or city names to ultra-exclusive celebrity collaborations that fetch four digits on the resale market. —LB

Left: 1— Rucker Park, Harlem, c. 1985. Photograph by Dave Parham 2— Cinderella Shoes, Baltimore, n.d. Unknown photographer 3— Advertisement for the Nike Air Force 1, featuring basketball players Michael Cooper, Moses Malone, Calvin Natt, Jamaal Wilkes, Bobby Jones, and Mychal Thompson, 1982 4— Sneaker supercollector Bobbito Garcia in Air Force 1s, New York, 1987. 41 Photograph by Ramón García NOTES to September 27, 2004, which showcased see Elizabeth Semmelhack, Out of the Box: The everyday marvels of design. Rise of Sneaker Culture (New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2015). 3—Bobbito Garcia provides a closer look WHO’S AFRAID OF FASHION? 1—This 501s 1—James Sullivan, Jeans: A Cultural at New York’s hip-hop sneaker culture, including line appears in The Museum of Modern Art’s History of an American Icon (New York: Gotham, firsthand testimonials, inWhere’d You Get Those?: founding charter. 2—The garment was a gift 2006), 32. 2—For more on denim, see Emma New York City’s Sneaker Culture, 1960–1987 by Mrs. Susan G. Rossbach. 3—The other McClendon, Denim: Fashion’s Frontier (New (New York: Testify, 2003). garments in the collection are a Fruit of the Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2016). Loom white T-shirt acquired on the occasion 3—Vogue introduced Lady Levi’s in 1935: “Your AIR FORCE 1 1—Thibaut de Longeville tells of the exhibition Humble Masterpieces in 2004; uniform for a dude ranch or a ranch near Reno this story in his 2010 documentary filmAir Kosuke Tsumura’s 1994 forty-four-pocket parka is simple-but-severe blue jeans or Levis, turned Force 1: Anatomy of an Urban Legend. 2—The for Final Home, whose pockets could be filled up at the bottom once, laundered before wear- series began life as the Shoe of the Month Club. by a homeless person with his or her belongings ing (to eliminate stiffness), cut straight and tight For more about sneakerheads’ pursuit of these or with newspaper for insulation; Issey Miyake’s fitting, worn low on the hips, in the manner of limited-edition colorways, see Bobbito Garcia, 1997 A-POC Queen Textile, collected with the your favourite dude wrangler.” Burt Strathers, Where’d You Get Those?: New York City’s rationale that it highlights a system of manufac- “Boccaccio in Chaps,” Vogue, May 1935, 73. Sneaker Culture, 1960–1987 (New York: Testify, turing rather than fashion; four Capsters, sports 4—Clare Sauro, “Jeans,” in The Berg 2003), 156. 3—Elizabeth Semmelhack, Out of headgear for Muslim women, entered in 2006; Companion to Fashion, ed. Valerie Steele the Box: The Rise of Sneaker Culture (New York: a Harry Gordon poster dress from 1967; and the (Oxford, U.K.: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010). Skira, 2015), 15, 108. For photographs from the 4-D-printed Kinematics dress, acquired in 5—Key examples include the Italian brand emerging hip-hop scene, see Jamel Shabazz, 2014 to complement a pioneering collection Fiorucci and American labels Gloria Vanderbilt Back in the Days (New York: Powerhouse, of 3-D-printed objects. Except for the T-shirt, and Calvin Klein. Jeans became the subject 2001). 4—Rapper Rakim rocked Air Force 1s they are all part of Items. The Museum of of sensational marketing campaigns, including on the cover of his 1992 album Don’t Sweat the Modern Art’s collection, however, does feature Calvin Klein’s infamous 1980 “Nothing comes Technique, with Eric B. Before rapper Nelly’s a distinguished selection of contemporary between me and my Calvins” ad, featuring a eponymous 2002 ode to the Air Force 1, New Japanese textiles and other textiles that may fifteen-year-old Brooke Shields. 6—This copy York rappers Pete Nice and Jay-Z had already be used for interior decoration or sartorial accompanied the sales listing for the jeans on shouted out the shoe in 1993 and 1996, applications. 4—The exhibition Nordstrom’s website. 7—“Denim Jeans respectively, as sneaker scholar Gary Warnett Deconstructivist Architecture was on view Industry Statistics,” Statistic Brain, August 9, noted in his 2017 article “The Forgotten History at MoMA from June 23 to August 30, 1988, 2016. 8—Levi Strauss & Co., “The Lifecycle of the White on White Air Force 1, Nike’s and was curated by Philip Johnson and Mark of a Jean,” 2015. 9—Greenpeace, “The Dirty Perfect Sneaker,” Complex, January 25, 2017. Wigley. 5—The Victoria and Albert Museum Secret Behind Jeans and Bras,” Greenpeace in London has collected fashion and textiles— East Asia, December 1, 2010. 10—Paul Dillinger ARAN SWEATER 1—Muriel Gahan’s store and art, too—since its founding in 1852, albeit quoted in Elizabeth Segran, “Levi’s Is Radically was located on St. Stephen’s Green until the late from the perspective of design and the industrial Redefining Sustainability,”Fast Company, 1970s. For an excellent background on the birth arts. 6—Suzy Menkes, “Gone Global: Fashion February 9, 2017. 11—See Roberta Sassatelli, of the Aran sweater as part of mainstream as Art?”, International Herald Tribune, July 5, “Indigo Bodies: Fashion, Mirror Work and Sexual fashion in Ireland and beyond, see the didactic 2011. 7—These issues were discussed in The Identity in Milan,” and Rosana Pinheiro-Machado, materials accompanying the exhibition Romantic Brooklyn Rail, March 2017. 8—See Paola “The Jeans That Don’t Fit: Marketing Cheap Stitches and Realist Sketches, National Museum Antonelli and Michelle Millar Fisher, “Announcing Jeans in Brazil,” in Global Denim, ed. Daniel of Ireland—Country Life, Turlough Park, Items: Is Fashion Modern?”, Inside/Out—a Miller and Sophie Woodward (Oxford, U.K.: Castlebar, Co. Mayo, April 9–October 30, 2008. MoMA/MoMA PS1 Blog, April 5, 2016. 9—Press Berg, 2011). 12—Miller and Woodward, 2—See Heinz Edgar Kiewe, The Sacred History release for the exhibition Are Clothes Modern?, “Introduction,” in Global Denim, 3–4. of Knitting (Oxford, U.K.: Art Needlework The Museum of Modern Art, 1944. 10—Vanessa Industries, 1971). The pamphlet was first Friedman, “Lady Gaga Defines a New Role: A-POC QUEEN 1—Dai Fujiwara, “A-POC, published in the 1930s. 3—The knitted cap Fashion Enabler,” New York Times, March 30, A-POS, A-POM, & A-POE,” in Issey Miyake and (UC28150i) is in the collection of the Petrie 2016. 11—Yohji Yamamoto, Juste des Fujiwara, A-POC Making: Issey Miyake and Dai Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University vêtements, Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Fujiwara (Berlin: Vitra Design Museum, 2001), College London, and the socks (2085&A-1900) Paris, April 13 to August 28, 2005. 12—Claire 70. 2—Juan de Alcega, Tailor’s Pattern Book, are in the collection of the Victoria and Albert McCardell and the American Look, The Museum 1589, trans. Jean Pain and Cecilia Bainton Museum, London. at FIT, New York, October 1998 to January 9, (Bedford, U.K.: Ruth Bean, 1979), preface. 1999. 13—Utopian Bodies: Fashion Looks 3—Issey Miyake, “Clothing for the Future,” AVIATOR SUNGLASSES 1—See “1970s Forward, Liljevalchs museum, Stockholm, in Miyake and Fujiwara, A-POC Making, 68. USA Women’s Liberation Rally, Gloria Steinem,” September 15, 2015, to February 7, 2016. 4—Carolyne Cafaro, creative director of the YouTube video, 1:33 min., posted by “thekino- 14—Held May 15–16, 2016, it was composed of McCall Pattern Company, quoted in Steven library,” January 18, 2017. From the Kinolibrary an evening salon and a daylong “abecedarium.” Kurutz, “Do-It-Yourself Fashion Thrives at the Archive Film collections (KLR574). 2—“Airman During this latter event, twenty-six iconic McCall Pattern Company,” New York Times, Climbs to 40,800 Feet. Lieutenant Macready garments, accessories, and issues from the August 2, 2016. 5—Miyake, “Clothing for Breaks Altitude Record,” Chicago Tribune, fashion universe, spanning the early twentieth the Future,” 68. September 29, 1921, 1. 3—Sally Macready century to the present, were discussed by a Wallace quoted in Pagan Kennedy, “Who Made group of designers, curators, critics, scholars, ADIDAS SUPERSTAR 1—For more on the Those Aviator Sunglasses?,” New York Times, labor activists, and entrepreneurs—one for design and technology of the Adidas Superstar August 3, 2012. 4—“Ray-Ban Glasses,” Von each letter of the alphabet—in seven-minute and Supergrip, see the company’s online archive. Lengerke & Antoine mail-order catalogue, 1939, vignettes. 15—The term references the 2—For the development of the rubber outsole 33. 5—“Features: Vogue’s Suggestions for exhibition Humble Masterpieces, MoMA, April 8 and the early history of sneakers more generally, Christmas Gifts,” Vogue, November 15, 1925,

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