Bleu de Paname – Lookbook printemps/été 2011

La marque française Bleu de Paname nous présente sa nouvelle collection nommée “Apache”, une thématique en référence au style vestimentaire des gangs du Paris de la Belle Époque. Comme à son habitude, la fabrication des produits Bleu de Paname est exclusivement française, ainsi que les développements des matériaux et tissus utilisés par la marque à l’exception du denim (Made in Japan).

Pour en savoir un peu plus sur le thème Apache :

“En 1902, deux journalistes parisiens, Arthur Dupin et Victor Morris, nommentainsi les petits truands et voyous de la rue de Lappe et marlous de Belleville, qui se différencient de la pègre et des malfrats par leur volonté de s’afficher. Originaires des quartiers hauts de l’est parisien, comme Ménilmuche (Ménilmontant) ou Belleville, ils investissent à la nuit tombée la Bastoche (Bastille) ou la Mouff’ (Rue Mouffetard). Les Apaches se déplacent en bandes, avec des accoutrements spécifiques qui leur permettent de se distinguer :  veston semi-ouvert sur une chemise fripée, pantalon taille haute dissimulant une lame de 22, foulard et la casquette vissée au-dessus d’une nuque rasée.”

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Jordan Brand x New Era

Jordan Brand a travaillé avec la marque New Era pour sortir une collection de casquettes (fitted) au mois de mai. Plusieurs coloris seront disponibles avec le Jumpman brodé.

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New Era GoodFoot ATC

Voici une nouvelle NEW ERA qui permettra aux adeptes du matching d’assortir leur ATC II. Elle est disponible dans les boutiques canadiennes GoodFoot.

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Nike Air Max LeBron VIII V2

While we're trying to catch up on shoes we slept on over the last month before February is upon us, the Nike LeBron VIII V2 is an excellent sequel...an 'Army of Darkness' rather than a 'Scorpion King' in the follow-up stakes, even if it is a sequel to a sequel...or something like that. Like the Kobe VI, the eighth LeBron is comfortingly familiar, but innovative enough to live up to the hype. 360 Max Air is always welcome. We loved the quality of leather on the debut version, so when we heard that it was getting lighter and significantly more synthetic as the big man's first season at Miami hit the New Year, we weren't too optimistic—then we got to handle a pair and understood the purpose of the alterations. It's all about the performance, but when a shoe looks grounded enough to pass the denim test, we're doubly sold.

Implementing a light mesh and Flywire combo on the upper strips weight to the bare minimum, but trims the width a little too. The glossy applied paneling offers reinforcement where it's necessary and follows the Jordan XI and LeBron VII dress shoe formula, but this one's more formidable than it is formal. The lion face is still present—something that still amuses us in its total design indulgence, simply because it genuinely works on this design. Who else could pull off something that audacious on their signature shoe? And hell, we don't know why there's a transparent section on the outsole, but it sure is pretty. Branding still nicely tweaked but it's notable that it's on both sides of the shoe this time, rather than confined to the lateral side. Seeing as this is part of a trilogy, V3 drops shortly with something that looks even more warm weather friendly, implementing Hyperfuse. Having said that, V2 is hardly a cold or wet weather pick, but at least—unlike V1—you don't need to be 6 ft 8 in to wear this shoe with shorts. This model's a modern basketball classic. Just wait and see.

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Nike Air Force 1 Hi Duck Boot

This shoe is that crack for the feet. We weren't of that opinion when we first saw pictures of them. We actually thought this level of modification was downright shitty after the more subtle nods to Red Wing and Timberland that capitalised on the Uptown's undisputed bulk. Shifting from those staples as an inspiration point to the Sorel Caribou seemed a little lame...that's the new point-of-reference and given our fandom for the Pointer Pluckrose, Visvim Decoys and the Gourmet Quadici, we thought we wouldn't care much for another reinterpretation. That was until we saw this Nike Air Force 1 in the flesh. These are actually incredible.

The level of detail is what elevates this Quickstrike to necessity if vast shoes are your thing. Those who favour some extreme tapering on their denim or pin rolls might want to step back, but the premium leather, woolen collar, fleecy lining, rubberised forefoot and Watershield protection all work well together. That lone metal D-ring, and a fully modified outsole where even the pivot circles have gone Mad Max on are further proof that the designers weren't half-arsed when they approached this project—even the laces are on point. That would sound like some trite justification if the shoe didn't work so nicely as a whole.

ACG Soakers tried the look a little too early and the Woodside's cool and all, but these are the ones for us. They're hardly lightweight either and are built to take the force of several cold snaps to come—brown is our favourite part of the duo, but despite our initial skepticism and borderline contempt, it's clear that duck rocks. Both are in-store now. They aren't cheap, but they're genuinely premium in execution. By next winter we'll have burnt out on the Sorel-alikes, but at present, there's still mileage in this concept.

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Nike Vapor TR Max

Nike’s Training releases have been crushing the competition lately on the design front. The Trainer SC 2010? The Trainer 1.2 Mid, and Low? The Zoom Huarache Trainer? All significant releases. The Trainer 1.2 Hyperfuse indicated that there were even more possibilities in the training range, using a technology that was created within the basketball division.

Mixing some of the running styling of the new Air Max 2011 on the upper with the Free TR silhouette and a touch of Trainer 1.2 Low equals Nike Air Vapor TR Max. Like many hybrid styles, the Vapor TR sits in a strange netherworld between genres, that’s destined to never get the promo push that some of its siblings leave the production line to, but having worn them for a while, they’re comfortable, light and versatile. They never reach the heights of the Free Winter TR (an underrated Free classic in the purple and orange colourway), but they're strong shoes.

You can give us all the invisible technologies you like, but at the end of the day, we’re simpletons, weaned on visible aired styling…and maximum levels on it. Hidden and ultra reactive never has the immediacy of a transparent bubble in the heel. We’re set to see Fuse all over the place in coming months, but these are one of the better examples — ultra accessible but capitalising on the colourway benefits this unique material mix offers. We’ve got a selection of makeups in-store now…

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adidas ZX 380

The ZX 380's been lurking in the Crooked store lately, looking sullen in some neutral colourways, but we’ve been holding out for the shoe in some original palettes that mix gloomy tones with a spot of red. This one’s a classic, dating back to 1986 when it messed with our minds and it reflects the adidas knack for the simpler, ageless combinations and ability to throw a pop colour in to increase visibility while on the move but retain the grown man looks of the model. We’re still none the wiser as to how this one was picked for return over some other ZX favourites (just to reiterate, we want the ZX 930 back asap), but we're just glad it's back and hasn't been stripped down, remade in patent or themed after Chewits in some kind of "confectionary" pack. The ZX 380 is perfect shoe in shape, fit (especially if you go up half a size).

We actually assumed we weren't getting this in the Crooked store, because the brown suede version was our entry into the reissue. It turns out that we were wrong and that adidas Originals had their pairs first because they're adidas, and they're getting a release elsewhere (including us) in April. 1986 styling with Dellinger and Vario technologies from a time when modifying a shoe didn't make it look remedial and gimmicky keeps us coming back to these. We don't want to get bogged down in the past, but did it ever really get much better than the era when these classics dropped? Probably not. We love the 380's width too — there's some other runners from the mid '80s that are evocative and equally pure in the looks department, but this model ticks all the boxes.

No other makeup (incidentally, Livestock's excellent Toronto collaboration has shades of this makeup in the design) of the shoe can compare, and one day, anyone interested to didn't grab some will face the eBay markups — adidas Originals seem to be doing a decent job of resurrecting some fan favourites, and we suspect that these are just the tip of the archive iceberg for 2011 when it comes to raiding those archives for inspiration. Anyway, they’re on pre-order now in the store (alongside two other variations) for a release next month…

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Another adidas EQT Support Running makeup

Finally. More adidas Equipments. There was a time when we thought these would never return to these shores — let alone the Crooked store — but here they are. These are one of the best newer makeups (though we saw plenty of shelved colourways in the US adidas offices around 2007) in a while, matching the ALIFE editions and the phenomenal neons in the Footlocker exclusives offerings that appeared a few years back. Blue, grey and red brings out the best in the EQT Support Running, and the suede, mesh and plastic combo creates early '90s performance alchemy that can't be beaten and an approach to the 3-Stripes that represented a new golden era for the brand.

For Peter Moore to have involvement in both these and the Jordan I as part of his design portfolio ensures he remains a genius in our eyes. On first glance we can't imagine two more differing styles, but they both channel the best of each decade. We still bug out over this model, whether it's on the desk or on the foot — the branding as a functional supportive element, the futuristic heel counter...the sole unit's update of expensive late 1980's Torsion bases. You can update it, pay homage to it...whatever, but we want it to be joined by the rest of its flawless EQT brothers and sisters in equally excellent retros at some point in the near future.

One of the best pieces of 1990s design there is — footwear or otherwise, and these arrive in-store next month, ushering in some fresh colourways for a classic, though as we understand it, that heel numbering was axed, post-sample stage for the retail variation.

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Nike Free Run+ 2

We like a good Nike sequel. Bar the bad sequels like Footscape or Rift 2s, for the most part it seems to allow the Nike design team to study and improve, compensating for any shortcomings and bringing in that new-new. In the running side, after a blur of fast-forward evolution since Free and Lunarlon came into being, sequels have been considered affairs that tweak the previous instalment. The Run Free was an office favourite when we first got hold of it in a similar black and white colourway...then the Lunar Eclipse arrived and...ummm...eclipsed it as our everyday ride of choice. But that's an unfair comparison anyway - they're two very different shoes, with the Free still on that quest to replicate barefoot benefits.

This formula of that intricately cut framework, a mesh sock-style fit and some severe-looking Free grooves in the outsole is a recipe for good-looking shoes — it's the best Free shoe since the Free Trail debuted. The Free Run 2+ is a vast improvement on a tremendous design — the new Free siping pattern is even more flexible, still tricking out the original Waffle pattern to the next level and the faintly asymmetric lacing pattern makes it a Footscape offspring of sorts, but the key change here is on the upper. The downside of today's performance pieces is a lack of natural fabrics — it's all strange, synthetic, featherweight fabrics these days that practically float out the box. Good for running, where grams affect times, but they can make a shoe feel cheap too.

So you need to compensate with detailing. That’s where the Free Run 2 goes triply hard in the paint. Showboating with their fancy laser-cutting techniques, the cutaway, layered pattern, blending printed on panels and overlays evokes the golden age of the massively overlooked Nike Chapuka, but whereas that was some H.R. Giger-esque Alpha Project madness, the supportive detailing here is based on the ligaments of the foot, endeavouring to imitate their purpose too. The medial side is interesting too, with a stealthy little cutout swoosh in their, and shades of LeBron IV on that inner midsole.

This model’s a superior start to the season and having seen what’s in store until the end of the year, we’re confident that there’s a respite to the reign of the retro with some future cult classics in the mix. It feels nice to get excited about new shoes again and these are worth regular rotation. The grey/green and white/reds have got us excitedly for the first time in a short while and these should be hitting running stores and NikeTown imminently…

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