new balance...
the second pair, a couple of hours after purchase
it's a tough call (because of my vast love of these) but i think these white/cream/beige/gold new balance 860s are my favourite pair of shoes that i own (and also probably ever). solid shoe, delicious colourway and excellent production quality.
the phonecamera shot doesn't really do them justice (edit: more photos here), but let me break it down for you. i am really feeling:
the crisp white fabric in the toebox
the luxurious cream suede
the understated beige (i am often anti-beige but in this context i'm feeling it) and the way it flares out at the front towards the outside of the shoe in a manner similar to antlers
the gold N, but specifically how they managed to put metallic gold on a shoe without it being tacky
the way the tongues pop (not shown in the above photo)
the nice laces
a testament to how much this pair of trainers does it for me is that it's the only pair which i own two of. i bought my first pair this time last year for a notable sum. i was at the new balance outlet store (!) with jeni a few weeks ago and saw another pair on display for $70 (yeah) but in a size 8 (no). i started rifling through heaps of boxes but it wasn't looking good because it was mostly these but then after a little while of only looking in the massive boxes, i found the white/cream/beige/gold pair in a 13. i felt like i was a pharoah surfing a slave dolphin on a massive wave down the nile - I COULD DO NO WRONG.
if i should ever be as lucky as to get the chance to do a collaboration with new balance, and they let me pick which model, it would def be the 860. the 576 is great, but i prefer the 860. they're a little bit sleeker, have the antler bits and also those ankle straps. i would most probably have a serious go at trying to make the ankle straps look as good as they do on these ventilators.
-roland