The Last Dance: Sneaker Watch
We watch The Last Dance for the nostalgia and good stories, but you can’t help but peep the shoes. Episode 5 gave us a history lesson on how Nike and the Jordan brand found its way into streetwear and the culture. Check out The Art Casual’s top 5 Jordans from Sunday’s episodes of The Last Dance.
#5 Olympic 7
The Dream Team takes home gold in the 1992 Olympics. The team was made up of all the players we loved to watch…all the greats. Jordan, Pippen, Ewing, Barkley, Bird the team was loaded so the Gold was an easy 8-0 grab.
#4 Cement 4
In Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, Buggin Out loses it when his brand new Jordans are scuffed by a Celtics fan on a hot Brooklyn day. Definitely one of my favorite scenes in my favorite movie.
#3 Carmine 6
Jordan rocks the Carmines in the famous “Like Mike” Gatorade commercial. I drove my parents crazy singing the song non stop. Sometimes I dream that he is me…You’ve got to see that’s how I dream to be. I dream I move I dream I groove like Mike. If I could be like Mike.
#2 Chicago 1s
Jordan laced up a pair of original Chicago 1s for his last game at Madison Square Garden. Jordan wanted to pay homage to his favorite place to play. Being the shoes were too small his feet were done. By game’s end his feet were bloody but the Bulls took the win with Jordan scoring 42. This pair has always evaded me…but I’ll never stop the hunt.
#1: Banned 1s
The shoe that started it all, sort of. The league didn’t take too kindly to the shoe that broke its uniform rules. Shoes worn on the court then had to match the uniform and the your other teammates. At that time Jordan wore the Air Ship in the same iconic colorway. (A version would eventually emerge with Air Jordan) Nike received a letter reiterating that Jordan was prohibited from wearing a certain black and red pair of Nikes worn around October 18th 1984. The story goes, Jordan would be fined $5000 for every time he broke league rules and Nike gladly paid.
What Nike really had was a marketing gold mine. The banned Jordan 1 released with the iconic Wings logo along with its own campaign. The rest is history…
You can read my full recap of The Last Dance Episodes 5&6 here.
