Adidas Gazelle Collegiate Burgundy White

Two ways. Grey wool trousers with a navy knit, where the burgundy adds warmth to a cold palette and the shoe does a loafer's job without the formality. Or raw indigo denim with a cream sweatshirt, the most everyday version, letting the white stripes tie into the top. It works for evenings, offices with relaxed codes and dry-weather city days. Size true; the Gazelle last is slim, so consider half up with thick socks. Spray the suede before first wear, brush against the nap when dry, and never let a coloured suede dry near direct heat. Keep a shoe tree or paper in it between wears so the slim toe box holds its shape.

The Gazelle is one of the silhouettes that turned adidas Originals into the base layer of European terrace and casual dressing, worn by people who treated it as a plain garment rather than a sports shoe. Burgundy belongs to that tradition specifically: it is a colour with club and college associations that never reads as loud. If black is the anonymous Gazelle and white is the clean one, burgundy is the one that suggests you have thought about it. There is also longevity in the choice, because burgundy has never had a moment loud enough to date it, and the Gazelle has never had a redesign significant enough to make an older pair look wrong.

A suede upper in deep burgundy with white stitched Three Stripes, a leather heel tab, a slim padded collar and a low flat rubber outsole. Those stripes are stitched through the material, the structural role they played on adidas uppers before they were a logo, and the white against burgundy makes the stitching itself part of the design. Rich coloured suede holds up well to dry wear but stains permanently in rain, so weather is the only real threat. The shoe is slim through the last and thin underfoot, so it sits close to the foot and reads narrow in profile. Almost no break-in required.