At Paris Fashion Week, the Valentino Creative Director known for his maximalist designs turned the volume down on his footwear.
Over the weekend, Valentino’s creative director Alessandro Michele presented his Spring/Summer 2027 collection for the Italian label at Paris Fashion Week. In front of guests including Joe Alwyn, Colman Domingo, and Alexander Skarsgård, the Italian designer unveiled a show packed with graphic printed scarves, fur-trimmed outerwear, pyjama-adjacement trousers, slogan ball caps in a range of vibrant hues, and heaps of loud jewellery and accessories.
All in all: very luxurious, very fun, and very loud. But when he peaked from backstage to take his final bow, his fit skewed a more comfortable notably on foot, where the designer ditched the fancy dress shoes the Nike Shox TL in full brown leather.
The style builds on the Swoosh’s shock technology, first unveiled in 2007, born from a desire to return energy efficiency while running. And it kind of looks like suspension for your shoes. In 2003, it took things a little further and covered the sole with these little shock absorbers with the Nike Shox TL, which made for a distinctive visual profile. Nike re-released the TL in 2019 and earlier this year, gave it a Wallabee-esque revamp in leather with an additional lip across the upper. Then there’s the branding, which is less obvious here, subbing a prominent Nike Swoosh for a perforated outline. So, it’s dress-shoe adjacent, but with a very cushioned, plush sole.
Via Getty, Nike
Why would this appeal to a fashion designer? The days leading up to a fashion show are incredibly busy and hands-on. If you’re the person making the clothes, you need gear that can get the job done, aka something comfortable like the Shox TL. Yesterday, Michele did just that by pairing the sneakers with light wash jeans and a white tee. But because it’s fashion week, you also want them to look good and work for all of the other engagements that come with it (Michele, for example, wore these sneakers to the Vogue World event in Milan last week). Here, the designer’s shoe choice does exactly what it needs to do, and looks good doing it.
There’s also the fact that Michele is quite the sneaker enthusiast. In his debut collection for Valentino last year, he previewed a Vans collaboration on the runway applying easy-going palm tree prints and vibrant red checkerboard patterns to Slip-On and Authentic models. And, during his previous tenure at Gucci, where he was creative director from 2015 until 2022, he pioneered a collaboration between the Italian house and adidas. This played out through a number of heavy-colour Sambas.
But unlike his other sneaker choices, the leather Nike Shox TL is quieter, chunkier, and more cushioned. Couple that with this shoe’s more polished material make-up and less overtly casual look, and you’ve got the ideal all-rounder, primed for a top-league designer doing top-league shows.
Because, yes, even one of fashion’s most ornate maximalists likes a comfortable shoe.
