Anna Wintour has swapped her heels for sneakers as Vogue makes a bid for street cred with a new Nike partnership.
The magazine teamed up with Nike to help design and promote two pairs of limited-edition Air Jordan sneakers, which are reimagined versions of the classic Air Jordan 1 and Air Jordan 3 SE. The exclusive pairs will drop on July 21 and September 7, respectively, and retail for $200 at select stores including Kith, Nordstrom and Hirshleifers. Remaining stock will be released on the Nike Snkrs app.
The collaboration was announced in a video shared on Vogue’s and Air Jordan’s Instagram accounts on Thursday. In the clip, Wintour, who is editing magazine pages, pauses to shoot a basketball into a hoop mounted on her office wall, before revealing a glimpse of the shoes beneath the hem of her dress. The sneakers bear an “AWOK” stamp on the sole, the much coveted approval sign-off from the editrix.
The custom shoe, which comes with an “Edited by Vogue” Nike tag
Though Vogue has forayed into fashion partnerships in the past, this is the first time Wintour has been the public face of a collection, according to Vogue’s special projects director, Selby Drummond.
“[Wintour’s] enthusiasm for this project inspired all of us to try to define something truly iconic, especially given the weight of Nike and Michael Jordan’s Air Jordan brand being the partner, and the important place that sneaker cultures occupies in this moment,” Drummond wrote in an email.
A video announcing the Vogue and Nike collaboration on Vogue’s Instagram account
The partnership is a nod to the growing intersection between streetwear culture and luxury fashion. For Vogue, streetwear has not only increasingly crept into the pages of the magazine as it appears on runways around the world, but also in its events and programming. During Vogue’s inaugural Forces of Fashion conference last year, the publication hosted an array of designers shaping the industry, including Vetements creative director Demna Gvasalia, Off-White founder Virgil Abloh and designer Heron Preston.
“We are always interested in reflecting and collaborating with the forces that impact style and fashion around the world,” Drummond said. “We have embraced the streetwear industry just as Vogue has always championed traditional fashion houses and runway shows. Creativity in all of its forms is central to Vogue’s values, and we love being able to operate at the intersection of so many different cultural movements.”
Both Vogue and Air Jordan will share a portion of the sales though Vogue declined to share the percentage breakdown.
