This Saturday (July 21), the latest project between Dutch artist Parra and Nike will be released to the public. Ahead of the anticipated collab, Highsnobiety spoke with the man behind some of the Swoosh's most coveted pairs to discuss his upcoming efforts.
The pack itself will consist of premium takes on the Air Max 1, Air Zoom Spiridon, and a matching apparel set. Both sneakers feature predominantly white and grey uppers with Parra's signature color palette and imagery painting the mud guards, insoles, and outsole. A special friends and family pair was also created as a part of the collection that eliminates the traditional Swoosh on the side panel of the Air Max 1 to accentuate the cloud artwork added to the lateral side.
"The colors are close to my usual palette and come from the initial artwork I made for this. I started with the artwork and moved on from there. At some point, I thought, 'What if you throw a white Air Max through this drawing? What would stick to it, color- and pattern-wise?' So it turned out to be an abstraction of an abstract landscape," Parra, real name Pieter Janssen, explained.
When asked why he included 1997's Air Zoom Spiridon, the artist's reasoning was rather simple. "It looks and feels like a ’90s tech shoe, which I love. Plus you don’t see it around as much as you would some other Nike silhouettes."
The conversation did not stick specifically to his upcoming work. Parra also shared his thoughts on sneaker culture, which has gone through quite a drastic makeover since some of his original Air Max collabs like 2005's "Amsterdam" Air Max 1 released over a decade ago.
"At some point, it surfaces and gets incorporated in the mainstream. But in every generation, there will be counter-reactions to that, and people making stuff that will be hidden in the underground at least for a little while."
The Parra x Nike collection will be released via Nike SNKRS and other select retailers. Check out his entire conversation with Highsnobiety here.
