Nike Dunk Low Hyper Cobalt

Electric blue is easiest against grey and white. Grey wide leg sweatpants, a white tee and a navy cap keeps the blue as the only saturated thing you are wearing. For a sharper option, indigo straight leg denim with a white shirt, where the two blues sit at different temperatures on purpose. Avoid pairing with black head to toe, which flattens the colour entirely. Dry days only, since bright dye and water is how transfer happens. Expect the last to run long, with half a size down the usual correction. Keep the white base clean weekly, because a white and blue shoe is judged on the white, not the blue.

Nike's voice has been as important as its product since 1988, when Dan Wieden wrote Just Do It for a company that had worked with Wieden+Kennedy since 1976. The line functions as a device rather than a slogan, which is why Nike can ship a shoe with no story attached and still have people read intent into it. Advertising Age named it a top five slogan of the twentieth century and it now sits in the Smithsonian. A shoe like this one, all colour and no narrative, is what a brand can sell once its name already carries the argument for it.

Leather base with leather overlays, padded collar and tongue, foam sockliner, rubber cupsole. A bright saturated dye like this is the one to watch around light coloured socks and pale trousers, particularly through the first few wears and after any exposure to rain, since transfer is a real risk on strong blues. Clean the white sections with a dedicated cleaner and keep it off the blue panels. Underfoot the Dunk is flat and firm, sitting you close to the ground with minimal cushioning, which is fine for walking and poor for standing all day. The vamp creases quickly and permanently, and the midsole sidewall is where age shows first.