Although the dominance of sneakers is in recession both on and off the catwalks, the Paris Men's Fashion Week that has just ended has revealed many new models and collaborations that will be released later in the year. Asics and Nike have been at the center of the most interesting collaborations, but there have been also new sneakers produced by individual brands, as in the case of Lanvin, Raf Simons and Louis Vuitton. Some of these models are completely new and their name is not even known. Below is a complete list of all the best sneakers that have appeared on the Paris Men's Fashion Week catwalks.
Off-White™ x Nike Air Jordan 5 & Off-White™ x Nike Air Jordan 1 Low
Wherever
Virgil Abloh is involved, new sneakers and collaborations appear. During Off-White™'s FW20 show the new collaboration with Air Jordan, already anticipated and seen in various image leaks in the previous months, officially appeared for the first time. Another Off-White™ model however caught the eye during the Louis Vuitton show: the
Off-White™ x Nike Air Jordan 1 Low seen at Virgil Abloh's feet himself. This new model features a black sole and a monochrome double lacle system similar to the one already seen in the collaborations presented last fall.
Valentino x Onitsuka Tiger “Mexico 66”
One of the most unexpected partnerships of the season was the one that saw Valentino and Onitsuka Tiger join forces. In a highly tailored collection, characterized by an almost delicate elegance, the appearance of the new sneaker was
a small surprise, especially as it connected two brands that seemed very far apart. If the silhouette of the classic "Mexico 66" has remained unchanged, with the simple addition of the Valentino monogram printed on the sides, the new materials and the new colorway have made the
Valentino x Onitsuka Tiger "Mexico 66" a valid addition to the small sneaker trend that also appeared in the recent Milan fashion week.
Raf Simons (Runner)
Simons always aims not so much to amaze his audience as to disorient it. His new footwear proposal realizes to some extent his desire, expressed after his show for the SS19 collection, for a new form that surpassed the model of streetwear. Its hybrid line, mixed with sporstwear and leather goods, which mixes the upper of the Chelsea Boot with the sole of a sneaker is amazing, something different from all the rest of the footwear seen this season.
Louis Vuitton LV Trainer
The sneakers designed by Abloh for Louis Vuitton are
a luxury reinterpretation of some of Nike's most iconic silhouettes. The most versatile model of the season is the
LV Trainer, which for the FW20 collection veers towards the shades of leather, dark blue and white. The real novelty lies first of all in the texture and composition, which appears much more complex than the previous models, and in the new branding that occupies the center of the side panel extending like a trail almost to the heel. Just as part of the collection was dominated by
crystal-based decorations, one of the new models is decorated entirely with blue crystals based on a white upper.
Heron Preston
At the Heron Preston's FW20 collection show, a
hybrid model of work boot and sneakers appeared. The white boot features a minimalist icll, with a rounded upper that vaguely resembles white clogs with an aggressive, toothy sole and a synthetic fabric neck. More elaborate is
the second model, more clearly inspired by the trek, which features a fairly conventional silhouette with an original platform midsole that significantly exceeds the heel of the shoe.
Kiko Kostadinov x Asics
For this fashion week the Bulgarian designer opted for
measure and minimalism, but has not given up collaborating with Asics on a new model of sneakers as yet unnamed that is definitely the most original created for the Japanese brand. Kiko Kostadinov x Asics's new model has appeared in
three colorways (orange, black and grey) and features no laces, with thin Velcro closures, a highly structured and complex upper and a double midsole separated in the middle by an air bubble.
Junya Watanabe Man x New Balance
A new chapter of the partnership that has been tying Watanabe to New Balance for some years now, the new model that appeared during the show on Friday February 17th appears perfectly in line with the almost normcore mood of the collection. Aside from the synthetic inserts seen on the jackets and the original layering, Junya Watanabe's FW20 collection was almost all too reassuring, not to say completely unforering on the footwear level. But the New Balance model that appeared in some looks is discreet and essential and subtly original in the arrangement of the panels
GmbH x Asics Gel Quantum
The second collaboration Asics is involved in is the one with the German brand of Serhat Isik and Benjamin Huseby, who this season opted for complexity. The
GmbH x Asics Gel Quantum features one of the most complex and layered uppers seen during Paris Men's Fashion Week. If you might define them as relatively discrete at the colorway level, the shoe structure includes
a large number of elements, inserts, and inclusions of different materials. The rest of the collaborative capsule is even more original, with a series of leather slip-ons woven with a running sole.
COMME des GARÇONS SHIRT x Asics Gel-Lyte III
Rai Kawakubo presented a playful and creative collection for this Fashion Week and the collaboration that appeared on the catwalk reflects the mood of the show. The COMME des GARÇONS SHIRT x Asics Gel-Lyte III features a leather upper decorated with a multicolored camouflage pattern that extends over the green sole and contrasts with the actual structural elements that appear instead in a gray colorway.
Casablanca x New Balance 327
Casablanca Paris is an emerging brand founded about two years ago by Virgil Abloh's collaborator
Charaf Tajer. If the collection of last January was largely based both on the Moroccan aesthetic and on the sportswear of the 80s, the one presented last week presented a prestigious and maximalist clothing, rich in patterns and flowing silhouettes. Among the loafers and leather ankle boots,
a new iteration of the New Balance 327 appeared, appearing in white, true and orange colorways. New is the paneling, exaggerated the measure of the branding and overturned the construction of the sole that suddenly stops under the heel creating almost a perpendicular wedge.
Dior x Air Jordan 1 Low
One of the most anticipated and important sneaker collaborations of fashion week was the so-called
Air Dior, already presented during the Pre-Fall 2020 of the brand in its High Top version, and re-proposed now in
the Low Top model, also seen at the feet of Kim Jones in the stories and in the photos prior to the show. Shortly after the show, news came that Dior and Jordan will produce together not only two sneaker models but an entire capsule collection.
Sacai x Nike Vaporwaffle
The FW20 collection of sacai showed the world the new sacai x Nike Vaporwffle – evolution of the now famous LDV Waffle Daybreak – appeared in three different colorways amid a selection of footwear dominated by boots, platform shoes and reworkings of the classic lace-up boot. The new silhouette looks like a fusion of Pegasus and VaporFly and a thicker, more structured midsole. The new Vaporwaffle features a tripartite sole, with contrasting layers, of which the closest to the upper is arched, creating a clear separation with the lower one, which exceeds the normal silhouette of the shoe as in the previous model.
Li-Ning x Dwyane Wade x Jackie Chan
For its 30th anniversary, Chinese brand Li-Ning has brought a double collaboration to the catwalk, with movie icon Jackie Chan and basketball champion and designer Dwyane Wade. Both have collaborated on the creation of a sneaker and, if the one that bears Jackie Chan's signature is, like the rest of the 10 item capsule he created, black and essential, inspired by the practical clothing of martial arts; the rest of the proposal has nothing minimalist with two iterations of the Wellington Boot in sportswear version and a series of more classic sneakers with a massive silhouette.
Lanvin
Lanvin's new sneaker recovers a shoe model that the recent (and now decaying) trend of chunky sneakers had not yet revisited: the
Osiris D3. This shoe model popular among skaters of the early 2000s served as inspiration to both A$AP Rocky in his collaboration with Under Armour, as well as Virgil Abloh who had included it among his designs in the previous Louis Vuitton collections. The
new version of Lanvin is more complex at the structure level, with a leather "cage" that allows a glimpse of the mesh base of the upper and customizable laces with many colors.
Craig Green x adidas Original
Craig Green collaborates for the second time with adidas bringing to the catwalk three revisited models of adidas sneakers. The first is
the adidas Superstar that abandons the minimalism to which it is often associated and is decorated with a series of neon green exposed seams while the rest of the upper is embroidered with black and white threads. The
adidas Mundial Team, on the other hand, has an oversized tab and a upper decorated with flashy stitching. More drastic is
the adidas Boost Runner's update that features a deconstructed leather upper, chunky sole and strings with firm-laces.
Acne Studios
The sneaker seen during Acne Studios' FW20 show looks like a contamination between an Onitsuka Tiger and The North Face's Puffer Sandals. The yet unnamed model can be attributed to the emerging trend of small and thin sneakers. Presented in the two black-green and black-orange colorways, the new sneaker is
almost devoid of midsole and is one of the very few models seen during this fashion week not to experiment with the volumes of this part of the silhouette. The originality is entrusted to the upper, which looks similar to the
nylon laque of some Moncler puffer jackets.
1017 Alyx 9SM x Nike Air Force 1
Paris Men's Fashion Week ended with a collaboration between Nike and the now habitué Matthew Williams who for the occasion revisited one of the most iconic sneakers ever. The collaboration is simple and contained, with only four black and white colorways. The new features are the shoe's materials and, at the silhouette level, Alyx's Rollercoaster buckle that closes at the ankle and redefines the identity of the Air Force 1 effectively but very discreetly.
