Though Lee thought Riswold and Davenport were playing a joke on him when they first contacted him, he quickly signed on for a now-classic Air Jordan 3 spot and would return as Blackmon in later ads. The marketing was just as impactful as the shoe itself - Jim Riswold and Bill Davenport of powerful advertising firm Weiden + Kennedy saw a trailer for Spike Lee’s debut film She’s Gotta Have It with the fast-talking Mars Blackmon (played by Lee himself), and immediately pegged Blackmon as a perfectly spastic comedic foil to the smooth and serious Jordan. With its Tinker Hatfield-designed ⅝ cut and brand-new elephant print embellishment, there was nothing like it in the world of basketball footwear. Spike Lee Stars In His First Air Jordan Commercialīy 1988, Jordan Brand was ramping up: the Air Jordan 3 had arrived. Renowned for its supportive high-cut upper and durable build, the shoe even made an appearance in the Bones Brigade’s seminal 1987 skate film The Search for Animal Chin. Surprisingly, the Air Jordan 1 also found favor among skateboarders. Air Jordans from Nike.” All that mattered here was that the public thought the Air Jordan 1 was banned, firmly established as a luxurious-yet-rebellious option. Since the Air Ship was similar in shape and shade to the Air Jordan 1, Nike was able to infer that the Air Jordan 1’s black and red “Bred” colorway, which Jordan never actually wore during an NBA game, was in fact “banned” by the league, a false narrative cleverly furthered by a commercial that placed black bars over the shoes on Jordan’s feet and quipped, “Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them. This ambiguity allowed the marketing masterminds at Nike to quickly create their own narrative around the “banned” shoes. The NBA sent Nike a vaguely-worded letter in February 1985 to inform them that Jordan’s on-court footwear wasn’t in-line with their standards, stating that “rules and procedures … prohibited the wearing of certain red and black basketball shoes by Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan on or around October 18, 1984.” It didn’t take long for the red and black Air Ships Jordan was wearing to run afoul of the NBA’s uniform requirements. The Air Jordan 1 was put into production but wouldn’t launch until the tail end of Jordan’s rookie year in 1985, so he took to the court in the Nike Air Ship, a basketball shoe from 1984 with several similar design elements. However, with the assistance of Peter Moore - Nike’s first-ever creative director who was also responsible for the Dunk - and a reworked silhouette with a thinner midsole, the Swoosh was eventually able to win Jordan over. Even Nike’s pitch to build an entire brand around him left him largely unswayed for one simple reason: he didn’t like the shoes they showed him. He played in Converse during his time at the University of North Carolina and wanted to sign with adidas as he headed into the pros. Michael Jordan wasn’t too warm on signing with Nike initially. So how and why, 36 years later, did Dior set its sights on the Jordan Brand to create the Dior x Air Jordan 1 “Air Dior,” a show-stopping blend of sport and high fashion that was one of the most viral sneaker moments ever? Here’s the timeline, and visit Sotheby’s to purchase this limited release. On the other side of the world, Dior was a 40-year-old French fashion house known for its elegant couture that had just come under the wing of Bernard Arnault the businessman shelled out $80 million to purchase Dior’s ailing parent company Boussac with a moonshot goal of creating a fashion conglomerate the likes of which the world had never seen.īoth parties were grand in their ambitions, but totally unrelated in their practices. Nike - which he’d signed with even though he desperately wanted to be an adidas athlete - aimed to make him the face of his own line, launching with a shoe created by veteran designer Peter Moore. Nike had a plan to change that, and Jordan was at the center of that strategy.Īfter his junior year at the University of North Carolina where he’d been named a consensus All-American and national player of the year, Jordan was a rising star. The market was dominated by simple leather, nylon and rubber silhouettes like the Converse Fastbreak and the adidas Forum.
When Michael Jordan was drafted third overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA Draft, basketball shoes were miles away from the technical marvels they are today. Visit Sotheby’s to purchase a pair of the Dior Jordans. Modern Collectibles is analyzing the Dior Air Jordan 1 in partnership with Sotheby’s.
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