Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 1:48 pm  |  16 responses

Love At First Sight

One color, 25 shoes and a string of new obsessions.

by Chris O’Leary/@olearychris

On paper, it sounds like a disaster.

Take the entire Air Jordan collection, line them up, I through XII, XII through 2K4, put the 2010 in the middle of them and make them look like you threw a bucket of pantone 284 at them.

Twenty-five shoes, all the same color, white soled. It sounds boring, it sounds kind of ugly and it’s not even an original idea.

But there’s something special about the Air Jordan collection that’s currently at the House of Hoops in Harlem.

Of course, as I’ve been writing about all week, the Carolina Blue ties into the World Basketball Festival that’s taking place over the next few days in NYC, in preparation of the World Basketball Championships in Turkey on Aug. 28.

Take a look at the pics (via Freshness Mag, who went all out with a photo-heavy post at their site) and you’ll see what I mean. It’s always cool to see the entire Jordan collection in one casing. But unlike the white/red offering we got in the fall last year, this one is appealing and as a unit, it just works. A long time hater of the Jordan II (sorry to those of you who love it), I’ve never seen the II look better. Same with the XV, even the XIX. Looking at the shoes side by side, each one kind of flows into the next. My favorite J’s — the III, IV, VII and the X through the XIV, are mesmerizing. That XI is the most excited I’ve been about a model of that shoe since I saw the cool grey for the first time a decade ago.

I keep scanning over the pics and kind of sighing over my favorite shoes. New obsessions have been created and sadly, none of them will be satiated.

I also keep wondering about what happens to stuff like this after the event. When the WBF wraps up, Team USA moves on to Turkey for the actual games and the House of Hoops has to make space for their next display, where will the Pantone collection go? That’s the kind of thing you make room in your apartment for by dumping your couch, or your bed.

But maybe it’s just me. What do you guys think of this colorway of the Air Jordan collection?

AJ collection 1AJ Collection 4AJ Collection 5AJ Collection 6AJ Collection 8AJ Collection 9AJ Collection 10AJ Collection 13AJ Collection 14AJ Collection 16AJ Collection 17 AJ Collection 18 AJ Collection 19AJ Collection 21AJ Collection 23

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  • Russ M

    I’m saluting Nike as I write this.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Eboy

    If I said I had Carolina Blue balls, would that be topic appropriate? Damn.

  • badboi

    i’m thinking of an auction for the kids! man these shoes will have sky high prices!

  • Str8in It Out

    better than the originals? woah! there’s an argument to be had about that. they all look fresh all over again

  • kundai

    haha eboy lmao

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    Am I the only one not feeling them? I guess I just like the original colourways too much.

  • JTaylor21

    There’s absolutely nothing better than OG colorways,, nothing.

  • Benjamin Stone

    I like the shoes all lined up like that. You can see the evolution from one to another…

    Until you get to the XV and it all goes to hell!

  • http://Www.lku.hf Darksaber

    The colour as a base instead of an accent: yuck! But the shoes, ohhh the shoes. On a side note, if i ever got my hands on Ray Allen’s 2008 AJ XI specials (white w. gold toecap) i might scream like a banshee…

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    I’ve heard it said that if you took the laces out of each of those shoes in the display and tied them end to end you could alter the passage of time at the nexus of the universe.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Eboy – Is it THAT cold where you are?? O_o

  • Harrell

    Might just be teststicular cancer

  • Robb

    Smurf Shoes

  • http://slamonline.com The Black Rick Kamla

    them 12′s look good enought to take a bite

  • gregor

    Loving the 16s here

  • jufu

    blue ballin’. in other news the jordan 2010 looks bearable now.

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