The fashion house’s update of Michael Jordan’s classic footwear is set to bring joy to sneakerheads and point the way forward for luxury shopping. Is this the restart of hype?
Two months ago, it was modish to theorise that consumer desire for extravagant luxury fashion might never recover from the pandemic. But two months is a long time in fashion, and this week sees the blockbuster must-have come roaring back into style. On 1 July, an online prize draw will decide the lucky few who have won the privilege of spending £1,800 on the new Air Dior trainers. Even by the hype standards of the sneakerhead world, the buzz around the luxury take on basketball’s most iconic hi-top is breaking pre-pandemic decibel records.
Next week’s pop-up Selfridges “collection point” for the first Air Jordan 1 OG Dior sneakers will be the first luxe iteration of the click-and-collect retail mode that is part of our contactless new normal. The hands-on elements of the pop-up had to be shelved to comply with social distancing and sanitising guidelines, but – for 13 days only – Selfridges aims to bring an experiential element to the process of picking up a pair of pre-purchased trainers. A bespoke architectural experience “based on the concept of air” features glass walls that cloud up with “smoke” to reveal the Air Dior logo, and a real-time countdown showing how many pairs are still to be collected.
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