A Brief History of Riccardo Tisci's Air Force 1 Obsession

Image via Complex Original

When: ~1998 - Present

For Riccardo Tisci, this collaboration has always been personal. We caught up with him in March when the collaboration was first being announced and learned that Tisci has been obsessed with the Air Force One for 15 years. Most collaborations take a year or so, but this one has been in the works for the better part of two decades. When describing his relationship with the shoe he said, “I've been wearing them for 15 years. It's always been the same. The white ones. When people take a picture of me I almost always have on the same thing. A black T-shirt, black trousers, and white Nike shoes,” he explains. The AF1 has been a part of his uniform for nearly two decades before Nike even picked up the phone.

When: Spring/Summer 2011

Tisci’s self described obsession with the Air Force One bled into his own work at Givenchy when it came time to design his footwear. Designed 13 years after incorporating AF1s into his own rotation, the Givenchy Mid Top Sneaker draws very obvious inspiration from the AF1 Mid. One could even say they’re near facsimiles. The ankle strap has embellishments unique to Givenchy, and the paneling on the quarter is a little different. But between the thick athletic sole, the perforated vamp, and eyelet curvature at the toe, it’s pretty obvious. Pair that with the fact that the designer is always wearing AF1s and it’s a no brainer how he got inspired.

When: Fall/Winter 2012-Onward

The year following the Givenchy Mid is when we started to see hints of what Tisci would eventually bring to the AF1 silhouette. Tisci developed the Givenchy Mid into a High, and it was much loftier than its predecessor. In fact, it was higher than most sneakers on the market – with a few rare exceptions. Most of the other elements remained in tact, but we now know looking back, what this interest in height would do to the Air Force One in Tisci’s hands. The poetic irony is that by this point, for those super swaggy among us, the Givenchy Mid and Highs were being effortlessly integrated into the same closets that normally stocked stacks of fresh Air Force Ones. Tisci was offering an alternative to one of his greatest inspirations, and wearers were taking him up on it.

When: Dec. 2013

In examining Tisci’s collaborative relationship with Nike, one must not forget that he was heading one of the greatest fashion houses in the world. Sure he was inspired by sneakers to design his own, but he also had a whole house to run. But even that wouldn’t undermine his personal style. True to his admitted form, he even designs couture in his AF1s. When Virgil Abloh visited the man, he saw Tisci in his personal uniform and had this to say: “I saw him wearing Air Force Ones designing couture gowns—finally, there’s a glimmer of understanding that relationship.” Abloh saw the convergence of street and couture in one man. If his timeline is correct, when Abloh visited Tisci would have already been working on his collaboration.

When: Jan. 2014

It was only eight months ago that Tisci finally teased his collaboration with the Swoosh via his Instagram account. The striking silent black and white video showed a projection of the now familiar “NIKE + R.T.” logo skating across his chest. A firestorm of rumors and fabrications followed the video, including misreading the announcement as a collaboration between Givenchy and Nike (which it certainly wasn’t). The rumors were squashed quickly with the debut of the collection. But not before he had a little fun.

When: Jan. 2014

Back at his day job, Tisci let his inspiration permeate Givenchy's FW 2014 collection. Setting his January show on a basketball court, and staging the audience behind chain-link fencing, it was all about his favorite sport. His vision came without sacrificing the fashion house's aesthetic, his designs still pushing the boundaries on silhouettes with larger fits, plush materials, and pops of color. The basketball found its way onto the apparel using the linear design seams of the ball. Tisci used the pattern on tops and pants, but incorporated it flawlessly with color blocking and garment seams making for a natural fit.

When: Jan. 2014

Seeing Givenchy in Vogue is not a surprise at all. But seeing a guy wearing his own Nike collaboration on the pages of the world’s premier women's fashion magazine is a totally different story. It was huge move for Tisci in giving the first-look at his Nike collaboration to Anna Wintour’s tome, especially considering he could have offered them to anyone. Vogue is not where sneakerheads look first, or second, or even third, when reading about the next big release. But it’s Tisci’s home court. It’s a reminder of how personally Tisci has taken this project. “This collaboration is something that to me, is not work, it's more of a celebration of life, a celebration of something that I love, respect, and believe in,” he said.

When: Mar. 2014

When it came time to jump into the AF1 pool, it’s obvious that Tisci was going to start with the all-whites. They’re his own go to sneaker. As he’s wont to do, Tisci lifted them higher and higher. His AF1 Mids are about as high as a standard High. His Highs are higher than any AF1 before, and the boots are unprecedented. At the same time, he used premium supple leathers, the standard he’s accustomed to over at Givenchy. Then came the bells and whistles. Graphic lines skate up the tongue and around the heel tab using saturated colors signature to his street savvy style. There are a lot of visual and textural elements jammed in, and may have seemed strange to those unfamiliar with Tisci’s work and didn’t understand it right away. The immediate response was of small interest that eventually built into a powerhouse.

When: July 2014

When it came time to work on the black Air Force 1, the other AF1 staple for every serious sneakerhead, less is more was the name of the game. Tisci didn’t do much to the original design other than make all the white leather black. The bold colors on the tongue and heel remained intact, as well as details like the pyramid perforations on the toe, and the rich brown, tumbled leather swoosh. Fans of the white pair didn’t take to the black pair very quickly, but constant restocks at premium online stores ensured that almost everyone who was ready to drop the cash to get them made them a good home.

When: Oct. 2014

The first glimpses of the RT AF1s in Vogue way back always referenced or alluded to the black pair, so when those finally came time to drop it wasn’t a surprise. People had been looking forward to them for months. And when they finally dropped, sneaker heads wore them with pride and looked forward to what else RT was going to surprise us with. Unfortunately the surprise has come, and that surprise is that the newest pair is the last pair. At least for the time being, this set of RT AF1s are the last we can expect from the collaboration. This final pair features a tan upper, and while all the design elements remain from the previous, they’ve been brought into grey scale. It's a stark shift from the previous two pairs, creating a type of bizzaro trilogy whose finale will leave some scratched heads and a big question mark on the future of Nike's high-fashion collaborative efforts.