Have we ever cooked a brick in an air fryer? Well, no. But we know a good shoe when we see it.
Westside Gunn has developed an identity over luxurious maximalism. It is an approach you can find through his countless albums and mixtapes that the Buffalo rapper has dropped this decade. It is the approach he takes on his artwork, on his apparel line, and even with his wrestling promotion. That same design language has found itself on Gunn’s collaborations with Saucony. And the latest collaboration on the Grid Jazz 9 exemplifies that to another level.
Gunn’s work on the Grid Jazz 9 was among one of the many highlights from the brand at Paris Fashion Week. It’s loud, it’s proud, and it features several types of animal prints. Anyone who has ever listened to a Westside Gunn album probably will agree- that’s exactly what a Westside Gunn shoe should probably look like. In the collaboration’s official announcement, Gunn talked about the sneaker’s maximalism:
“I could talk about sneaker of the year, but that’ll be downplaying them. Inspired by Atmos and Jeremy Scott, I wanted to do something that was next level….This is a designer sneaker. The leather moccasin strings, the leather insides, the real scorpion on the hangtag, the vintage frame on the box…. There is no other shoe like this and also no shoe is the same,” he explained.
The boldest of the sneakers exemplifies Saucony’s current run in the sneaker world. Where some brands are playing it safe, Saucony is going all in on experimentation- and so are their collaborators. Between this sneaker and the rest of the projects shared at PFW, there’s no reason not to expect Saucony’s hot streak to continue.
The Westside Gunn x Saucony Grid Jazz 9 “Awesome Gods” drops on August 28th.
