ONYGO |Satin Shorts & Corduroy Slippers – Aleali May x Jordan Release Party @ Undefeated LA

>>Read today’s ONYGO post about the Aleali x Jordan AJ1 release @ Undefeated <<
( German Version HERE )

Growing up I always dressed like a tomboy. I never wanted to put on dresses, always rocking sneakers. My uncle influenced me a lot growing up, I don’t think he realized how much I looked up to him. Everyone always kept telling me:” Fenna, you have to be more girly, dress appropriately.” – Well, shouldn’t have put them Jordans in the baby crib back then…but at some point it made me feel really insecure about what I was wearing. I didn’t wanna skip my tennis- for dress shoes, I wanted to wear it my way. That’s when Social Media and Tumblr coming about and seeing these women exist pairing that chic with the classic. Just opening up that girls wear heels but still looking fresh in a pair of J’s like the guys, mixing the masculine with the feminine, is not the issue anymore like it was back then.

Given that story, Aleali’s collab with Jordan Brand really hit home once I’ve heard hers. October 27 was the day of the first drop in Los Angeles at the Undefeated pop-up store at La Brea. The whole release was so well thought, from the inspiration and her take on the Air Jordan 1’s to the pop-up looking like the Slauson Market featuring a few extras…

“We are paying homage to Slauson Swapmeet, if you are from Inglewood, you got one of these donuts in the morning, we got Roscoe’s you know just all the key components that make up South Central LA. A lot of people that are into streetwear never been to the Slauson Swapmeet, never tried Roscoe’s… I just wanted everybody to see how I grew up and how important street fashion is – whether it’s streetwear in this Undefeated world or whether its streetwear in South Central LA.”

Aleali took on herself to combine all the important pieces of her childhood in one shoe – Her AJ1 features a grey satin and black corduroy upper accented by classic sportswear chenille Swooshes, inspired by her father slippers, which he got from the Slauson Swapmeet and her satin shorts, Kings and Raiders jackets from back in the day.

For me, this Air Jordan 1 represents not only my love for this model but the voice Aleali is giving girls, who have been into tennis shoes all their life. The whole sneaker industry is dominated by men, we have to fight so hard for our sizes to be made. Advertising with female models, when females with smaller feet aren’t able to grab a pair…And for women like Vashtie (2010) & Aleali May, being the only 2 females, to ever create a Jordan, it’s a pretty great start to keep us in mind as well, when releasing some heat. Let’s just hope Jordan won’t let us wait another 7 years for the next female collab. In the end, we are all part of this movement and the fact that we show the same dedication, only means that we are truly genuine about the culture as much as men are and that it shouldn’t be an issue to include certain sizes….