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The Genius & Genuinity of Kim Jones.

Updated: Nov 4, 2024


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Who: Christian Dior X Nike Air Jordan 1 High “Air Dior”

What: High Top Leather Basketball Sneaker

When: Released April 6, 2020. Acquired December 6, 2023.

Where: Made in Italy. Found in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

Why: A cornerstone of craftsmanship, marketing, and hype.


Hello. Welcome to Talking Piece. Here at Last Life, we like to talk about fashion. However, we felt that there wasn’t a suitable haven for people like us who want to talk about fashion. Hence, we decided to create this site as half store & half archive for the pieces that we love where anyone can participate. I’m thankful that you’ve even read thus far, & I hope this shall be the first of many pieces to be talked about on this website.

Without further ado, let’s start with a certified banger. Well… maybe not certified, but certainly one of, if not the most notorious, inescapable, polarizing, & hype-defining releases of this entire culture.



Even with a pandemic occurring, people were begging on their knees for this luxury store to take their $2,500 that could have been spent on more pressing issues. But then again, with the prospect of potentially five figures worth of green from this piece of leather & rubber… it made sense in the madness. With millions trying to buy this shoe, there is no doubt of its covetousness. But, is it only coveted because of its resell value, or is there more than meets the eye? Justifiably… no, but in a certain light, yes.


Since everyone knows what the hell this thing is, let’s just do a TLDR. Luxury house making a basketball footwear collab, eight thousand & five hundred pairs, VIP access for in-store release, blah blah blah. Let’s talk about things that others might not go into depth or the reasons why I wanted to have them.


The greatest reason why I wanted to see them in person was the prospect of the epitome of quality & craftsmanship on a Jordan brand footwear. Handmade in Italy, modeled after the ’85 AJ1 cut, & not only expertly, but enthusiastically overseen & created by Kim Jones. When first notified of this collaboration, I was worried that this would be a very lifeless collaboration. Luxury boutique just trying to make money working with sportswear company just trying to make money.


However, after watching Dior’s behind-the-scenes video they released, I was pleasantly surprised. Kim Jones, aka the king of luxury & streetwear crossovers, showcased a part of his closet, where he started to bring out multiple ’85 AJ1’s & happily looking back on where & how he got them. One story sticking out was him recalling sharing a pair of 1’s with his high school friends as they all couldn’t afford a pair each. This spirit he showcased alone gave me a better light upon why this collaboration deserved to be created. The ones who dreamed of owning a certain shoe are now in position to create the highest level of said shoe.


Regarding my journey, I held it in conjunction with how some folks view a Rolex. I am not necessarily a watch person, however, a watch is certainly a necessity for any wardrobe. To a lot of watch enthusiasts, obtaining a Rolex goes beyond the item itself. It showcases the hard work & time it takes to tell yourself “It’s time to purchase this. You deserve to have this.” It was never an immediate goal, but more of a milestone acquirement. After gradually & gratefully owning different colorways & collabs of AJ1’s, I started to feel it was time to start considering that epitome. & somehow, December of last year became that time to strike.


While scouring Shibuya, I was making the rounds at my favorite stores, where I met & eventually befriended one of the salespeople at Rinkan. His name is Yuma. Thank you again Yuma. After purchasing a few other items, I inquired about the availability of the Air Dior series. He said there was a pair in size 43 available in another location. Gratefully, he was able to get the pair transferred in by my last day in Tokyo. When notified of its arrival, I was actually in Yokohama, where I decided to cut my plans short & take the hour train back to Shibuya to acquire the piece. From there, they were tried on, fit like a glove, & became purchased, where it left the store in a very inconspicuous non-branded bag straight to my Airbnb. I was unrealistically paranoid throughout the train ride back, but thankfully, it was all paranoia where no one cared or batted an eye. Gotta love Japan.



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Now that the journey of obtainment has been said, regarding the shoe itself, it shall be crowned as a perfect example of monozukuri. One of my favorite terms that I learned from watching Reggie Casual, monozukuri means the slow but constant evolution of craftsmanship which leads to the theoretical epitome of said craft. Minus the jacquard print swoosh & Air Dior branding, this shoe was the epitome of creation for a Jordan 1 silhouette. Down to the shoelaces, the attention to detail was of upmost importance. The laces have a medium wax coating where you can feel both the threads & wax (not too thick like Travis J1 low laces) with hefty metal aglets.


The tongue has the oblique pattern tonally throughout with the thin Dior grey leather wrapping around. The tongue’s interior is also the most padded inner I’ve felt on a J1, feeling extremely comfortable against your forefoot & ankle. The tongue tag itself also surprised me of its quality, feeling extremely durable yet flowy & thinner than any other J1 tag.


The cuts of each leather panel are way thicker than the average J1, & each panel is made of a very smooth & almost matte like Italian leather. Nowadays, an average Jordan gets the praise of “high quality” because of its soft pebbled texture. Where in reality, the texture is typically synthetically applied on top of the leather instead of a natural hide. This leather has no pebbled texture & forms a beautiful natural creasing as it is worn. I personally have no problem creasing my toe boxes, however, it is the absolute worst seeing unnatural creasing on trash leather, leaving a completely straight line where your toes bend (i.e. most J1 lows & mids). Seeing that mellow creasing almost like topography lines are the most satisfying to see on your worn kicks.


The final idea I’d like to add would be its feeling of wearing the shoe. Usually, I tend to loosely lace my J1’s to the top, however, I decided to tie them up relatively tighter as the sockliner was so plush & molded beautifully to the foot. While the upper was more rigid than an average J1, there was less negative space within the shoe, so your natural stride felt aligned with the shoe instead of the shoe “lagging” behind you as with many retro basketball sneakers. Rather it not just being a colorway refresh, the edits to it’s structural design & material choices turn it into a completely different shoe once its on feet & out in the open world.


In the end, the point I wanted to make was that digging deeper into the piece and creating more life within it brings the best joys out of the product. It is easy for us to look at things from face value & stopping from there. However, if given the time & passion, all pieces deserve to be discussed & beloved in our own little realm.



Thank you so much for tuning in. This has been a project I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. A place for myself, my friends, & others to talk about the things we love. Please feel free to continue reading our future memos, doomscroll through our listings, maybe buy a thing or two… If not, no worries. There is more to life than buying things we don’t need. However, sometimes buying things we don’t need creates more life within us. Anyways, have a wonderful time in this beautiful & tumultuous world. Drink water & may we continue to Talk Piece. Bless.

 
 
 

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