Riccardo Tisci 談及 Nike + R.T. Air Force 1 聯名系列

就在 Nike 宣布將與人氣品牌 Givenchy 的創意總監 Riccardo Tisci 展開合作之後，隨即便引起了一陣熱議，之後《VOGUE》雜志也搶先披露了一款名爲 Air Force 1 Hi Boots 的聯名版本，更是將大衆的期待值推向頂點。設計師本人作爲 Nike 的忠實粉絲，曾經穿著經典的 Air Force 1 長達 16 年之久，並且擁有大約 125 雙不同的配色，因此本次合作也達成了他的心願。從過往的預覽圖可以看到，該系列一共包含了四款鞋型，分別是低幫和中幫版本的普通款 Air Force 1，此外還有一款高幫和半膝的創新版本，爲經典注入新的生命。日前《Complex》雜志便請來 Riccardo Tisci，深入探討了該系列設計背後的故事，下面便是這次專訪的節選內容，完整內容不妨查看這裏。至于發售信息，白色版本將于 3 月 21 日登錄 Nike Sportswear 指定零售商，而黑色版本則將之後幾周內發售，定價從 $230 到 $340 美元不等。

What is it like to have a huge name like Nike asking you to create your own version of an iconic sneaker?

It’s an amazing experience. It’s something that, in life, when you become successful at the job I am doing, you get a lot of people that ask you to do projects because of your name, especially in fashion. I think a lot of times, I didn’t want to mix myself with that. A year and half ago they approached me about this project, and it was a very emotional moment because Nike as a company is one of the biggest companies in the world.

This is for the kids, the ones who love Nike, and the ones who love my style.

Being a European person, what you dream of when you think of America is all of these iconic things—the flag, which I am obsessed with, and collect personally. You have Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Nike, many things for you that are quite normal. But for an outsider, these things are so beautiful, strong, and powerful.

The call from Nike was amazing for two reasons. The company is very pure, and everything they have done in their 41 years of operation, which is almost my exact age, I’ve always remembered as a child, because back then I was a basketball player.

They’ve never done any collaboration that was wrong, or didn’t make sense to the company’s codes, never done anything too much, the history is one that respects its roots.

The second point is that I have been obsessed with Nike. I’ve been wearing Air Force 1s for 15 years. It’s always been the same. The white ones. When people take a picture of me I almost always have on the same thing. A black T-shirt, black trousers, and white Nike shoes. This collaboration is something that to me, is not work, it’s more of a celebration of life, a celebration of something that I love, respect, and believe in.

The respect part was one of the most important things for me when doing this project, because these shoes are so iconic. Any big brand or any big house have their successful products or items that represent them. The fact that they approached me to reinterpret these shoes made me very proud. Regardless of me doing menswear, womenswear, and couture, I’ve been lucky to have 100 percent freedom to express myself and for me this was a “Wow” project because Nike gave me an iconic shoe, and basically gave me a white sheet of paper to do what I want.