It’s an away game—I’m out on the West Coast this week, eating Italian sandwiches from Uncle Paulie’s and browsing the shelves at Solestage. With so many grails on the wall, it got me thinking: If I could only buy one sneaker right now, what would it be?
In 2020, I finally got a Tiffany Dunk. I bought it after a bunch of shoots during COVID. You know why? When I was a shy intern, an old Complex salesperson sold me a fake pair of Tiffany Dunks. I remember his name. I remember his face. But let’s get into this.
But what’s one shoe that I would buy today off the wall at Solestage? Maybe Supreme Blazers—I had the white one, but I never got the black or red. Then there’s the Supreme Dunk. They took the cement print off the Air Jordan 3. They made 500 pairs. Such a grail.
We got more options, though. The CDG Nike Dunks. The Unlucky Dunks. There are plenty of Kobes up there on the wall. What about the Nike Mag? Bryson Tiller pulled up the DeLorean in the back alley to match the new Nike Mag. He also brought the Red Octobers—those are both up there. One shoe not making it? The Balmain Unicorns. In the words of Bill Burr on Sneaker Shopping, “This right here is not worth a fucking dime.”
But back to my actual pick. Twenty-two weeks ago, I made a grave mistake on this little series. I’m the best, but I’m also human. We were talking about Kanye’s best sneaker, and I forgot one: the Louis Vuitton Dons. Inspired by the 1984 David Lynch movie Dune—he was looking at the padded collars. These sneakers marked a pivotal moment in fashion. The 2009 fashion show where he debuted it. He had the Murakami bag with the red scarf, standing next to Marc Jacobs.
If I had to buy one shoe right now and I had my pick out of all these, it would have to be the LV Don. It still holds up. I can’t believe I forgot them. My mind moves fast, and so does this series.
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