Missoni x Converse Auckland Racer AW12

Many of you might have noticed the original version of this sneaker gracing my Top 10 of 2011, but to my dismay as with many collaborations they never saw release. But having garnered serious amounts of interest over the last 6 months their second iteration debued down the catwalk in Milan and will release this October and I simply cannot wait. It does however seem their may be a slightly more romantic scenario for the release of this shoe in 2012 the London Olympic year. The last time the games came to London in 1948, Ottavio “Tai” Missoni, an international athlete and track suit maker qualified for the finals of the 400m hurdle race and went on to meet Rosita Jelmini at Wembley. They married in April 1953, and five years later showed their first Missoni collection together. The rest is history. I love the woven wool upper against the pure white sole, it is a great contrast and as always the pattern is perfectly busy, this is definitely on my to buy list for 2012...

Missoni Menswear SS12 Collection

Missoni are true to their brand heritage, the eye catching knitwear is the heart of the collection. But they tie it together beautifully with a mixture of loose fitting suiting a selection of colourful cardigans and also taking their well known patterns onto more casual t shirts. Altogether this is an immense collection, I think unlike some of the other high end brands wearability is key and I would wear almost every piece on show. Details are always key on the catwalk and even down to the superb selection of footwear which we will hopefully see more of in the coming days the knitted trainers look crazy nice...

Converse is on fire...

Some of the new Converse collections coming out this year really look top quality, I guess its hard to go wrong with classics like these but the John Varvatos stars and stripes are a cut above, along with some very interesting collaborations with other established labels...

Converse x Woolrich


Converse x Missoni


Converse JV Star Player

Native American Influences

Over the last few months we have seen a number of trainer projects immerging with native american influence in their designs, be it north or south I am really enjoying this new direction and the subtle way different colour schemes, check it out below...

Vans Spring 2010

Taka Hayashi continues his range into 2010 with this set of footwear, using premium leathers and suedes and native american craftsmenship these bring together the best elements and apply them to some of the classic Vans shapes, these will shine into summer...

Nike x Maharam

Maharam is a premium textile company focusing on new materials and classic patterns, its influence on the Nike Blazer and Terminator was subtle yet very distinctive, wand ith more projects on the way this could be a lucrative and creative partnership...

Nike Air Macropus Lite QS
Nike?? Wallabies?? Although almost nobody I know would put their foot within a country mile of these babies, again the patternage takes influence from native american/mexican patterns, let me know what you think if these...

Missoni x Converse

Ok, ok so these aren't nessecarily (or at all) influenced by native american design, but Italian fashion house Missoni's work on the Converse Chuck Taylor is striking and very much worth a mention, available at Missoni stores in April.