One of the most iconic shoe styles is the “What the” color way released by Nike. The “What the” shoe style is a vibrant multi-color shoe that displays a homage to other color ways of that shoe. For example, the “What the SB Dunks” were the first nike shoes to receive the “what the” treatment. Most people were skeptical about the release of the shoe because they were accustomed to regular university color ways or shoes designed by skateboarders. However, hype grew over the shoes as the release date drew closer. The shoe encompassed small parts of other iconic SB dunk color ways like the pigeon icon on the right shoe and the star icon on the left shoe. Both patches came from other notable SB Dunks. For those who don’t know about the shoe style, they may see the shoes as opposite shoes worn as a pair.
The shoe style is called “What the…” because that is the exact response Nike expected from consumers. When people saw the shoe they would ask “What the [expletive] is going on with this shoe?” The shoe style would eventually be used on other sneakers, encompassing multiple color ways of that respective shoe.
My favorite shoes are the “What the Kd 6s”. I was able to add them to my shoe collection when I turned 18. My rationale in buying the shoes was that I loved every shoe style of the Kevin Durant’s 6th signature shoe so I wanted a shoe that had the details of every color way.
I saw the the “What the Kd 6” as art because it included vibrant colors, translucency, fluorescent bottoms, and 3M technology. The structure of the shoe is meant to be light weight and breathable for a basketball player’s comfort and speed. The tongue of the shoes are extremely light and almost paper thin. The large nike swoosh on both shoes are large components of the shoe. they are both different colors and styles. The Nike Swoosh on the right is covered in two dimensional grape jelly. The Nike swoosh on the left has a crab skin design. The upper of both shoes have many prints layered on top of each other. On the left shoe there are 3M converging on top of a New York style print. On the right shoe, there is a 3M animal print. The 3M print consists of a zebra, tiger and cheetah print combined into one. This 3M print is layered on top of an upper filled with pink and purple roses. To add on to the incongruent-ness of the shoes, the insoles are completely different . The soles of the shoes are glow-in-the dark translucent. On the right shoe the sole is blue and on the left shoe the sole is green. When the lights are turned off the shoe completely glows because of the vibrant upper, the 3M covering the upper, and the fluorescent soles. The shoes commemorate iconic styles in the past but the confusing themes is what makes the shoes a work of art. The “What the” style is abstract.
Nana's Notes 