Air Jordan 1 RETRO Low OG Powder Blue

Powder blue is a summer colour, so dress it for heat. First: white or ecru linen trousers, a white tee, minimal jewellery, socks white and low, everything bright so the blue sits as a tint rather than a statement. Second: light wash denim with a single cuff, a navy polo, a tan belt, which places the shoe in a preppy register it wears comfortably. Avoid black, which makes pale blue look washed. Strictly a dry weather pair: light leather stains from splash and does not fully recover. Protect first, brush dry dust weekly, clean with foam and a soft brush, and treat the midsole separately with a damp cloth.

College basketball is where the story actually begins, since Jordan came out of North Carolina before Nike signed him, and the brand's college programme now runs through that university along with Georgetown, Cincinnati and Michigan. It also moved outside the sport entirely, taking on the Michigan Wolverines football team as sole equipment provider in 2016 and Paris Saint-Germain in 2018. Culturally the line was pushed by Spike Lee's Mars Blackmon advertising and by rappers including 2Pac, The Notorious B.I.G., Ice Cube and Jay-Z. Pale blue reads as the collegiate end of that history, which is the softest and most wearable corner of a fairly aggressive story.

The Low OG format carries the toe cap, quarter panel and heel counter as separate pieces exactly as the 1985 pattern specified, which gives the Swoosh a larger field than modern low tops allow, and a pale blue is a colour that needs that field to register at all. Light tones are the least forgiving surfaces on this silhouette: dust, splash and scuffing all show, and the midsole sidewall picks up grey faster than the upper does. Nike Air entered the signature line at the Air Jordan 2, so this rides flat and firm underfoot with no cushioning unit. Treat the whole shoe with a colourless protector before the first wear and the maintenance becomes weekly rather than constant.