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It was in 2017 when I started as a retail sales assistant for the Nike Company Store in Singapore! I'd just graduated from secondary school and was looking for a part-time job then, so my sister linked me up with her then-retail manager (because she worked with Nike, too), and I before I knew it, I was interviewed for the role in no time!
I had zero knowledge about footwear, let alone the types of sneakers/brand collaborations I would encounter later! When I started as a Nike athlete then (that's what employees of Nike are called), I wore my almost-worn-out Kobe Mentality IIs on the salesfloor every time I went for my shifts. Working in the company store exposed me to new arrivals of Nike products every week, so I got used to seeing cool shoes all the time.
Seeing and holding new footwear often really sparked my interest in the various designs I saw, and later on, I knew that I just had purchased my first new pair of Nike shoes from the company store as well – and I got a black and white colorway of the Airmax 90s for myself!
I remember wearing them every day at work because they were so comfortable and classic that they became my 'work' shoes instead! My colleagues had way better sneakers on their feet, and seeing them style them with our uniforms just made me feel more motivated to want to dress up better by wanting to have a broader range of sneakers to choose from and look good when I wear different types of sneakers too! I still have my Airmax 90s with me here today.
When the collaboration between Off-White and Nike happened! I was new to collaborations, so Off-White was the first brand I resonated with. I knew of the brand but not as well as today, so when I saw the sneakers that Nike and Off-White came up with, the designs caught me off. It was fascinating how unique they looked, not forgetting the inspirations and stories behind the designs!
From the classic Air Jordans silhouette to VaporWaffle, the idea behind the construction of each Off-White x Nike collab always amazed me whenever there were releases. Virgil was an absolute genius!
And ever since then, I've stuck with waiting for more collaborations between the two brands and works Virgil made – as someone I look up to.
I've got a pair of LDWaffle x Sacai x Undercover in the blue/maroon colorway as one of my main shoes, together with a couple of Off-White yellow rubber dunks, AJ1 Low SE Utility in the almost-"bloodline" color of the high cuts, and the Nike x Kaws x Sacai Blazer Low collabs in the original colorway for now too!
Throwing in my high-cut AJ1s in Obsidian, I usually wear different sneakers daily and match them with my outfits! Color-blocking and coordination are usually what I do when I style myself!
It's always a carousel of excitement and new adoration each time I open a box! I especially love the smell of fresh, new sneakers the most!
I think that getting new pairs always gives me a chance to dress up in a unique style I've never tried before, and it challenges me to try out different ways of how I should zhush up my outfits within what I already have in my wardrobe! I'm all about matching and coordinating my kicks with my outfit of the day!
I would have loved to see a collaboration between Off-White and a pair of Nike Janoski's! I'm always so impressed by how Virgil used to create the existing silhouettes of sneakers into deconstructed designs, and it gives so much transparency into how it turns out to be – so much essence in a pair of shoes!
I have a pair of Janoskis myself, which was one from the Wacko Maria collaboration too! My favorite part was the faded finish of the upper sole, covered in leopard print and old-school Nike SB shoelaces! I would love to see how Off-White's take on another classic silhouette from skateboarding would turn out!
I'm most obsessed with Off-White, Aleali May, Cody Hudson, Jun Takahashi, Virgil Abloh, and Nike! Especially Nike and Off-White, I think that they have consistently produced designs enriched with stories and background details; it just gives so much addition of life and vibrancy to the physical construction of the products!
For example, Cody Hudson's take on Nike's running collection back with their collaboration gave so much artistic image to what used to be a simple pair of performance footwear. With the idea of merging his works on canvas with organic and non-organic shapes, I loved the result of applying the playful shapes as prints for the shoes. Wearing them made me not want to take them off because of how fun the shoes looked with the yellow and blue contrast of colors!
Travis Scott x AJ1s! I'm a rager about his music (although I've yet to see him live)!
Dying to get a pair but haven't been so lucky at all, so I am looking forward to an opportunity that comes to me when it does
I only wear sneakers most of the time and some gold-plated jewelry to match them!
Instagram: @alvarbeatrice
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