New Balance 550 White Pink

Released on 16 August 2022 and part of New Balance's 550 line. This release has a leather upper in White/Pink. White with pink is the 550 at its most approachable, and the BBW code marks it as the women's cut of a shoe that started life on a basketball court. The pink is doing something specific here: on a silhouette this plain, a soft accent colour is the difference between a shoe that disappears and one that has a personality. New Balance rarely designs for charm, having spent its history solving fit problems that began with arch supports in 1906, so when charm turns up in the catalogue it usually arrives through colour rather than through shape. That is the case here, and the restraint is what keeps it wearable.