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Call it a hypebeast pick if you want, but we call it a perfect storm. Sometimes, all the necessary elements fall into place just right and an instant legend is born. In the case of the collaboration between Nike Sportswear, Dutch artist, Parra and Amsterdam sneaker shop, Patta, all the stars were aligned to make this past March’s Air Max 1 team-up one of the most infamous recipes in sneaker history and our number 1 shoe of 2010. Start with Parra – one of the hottest contemporary artists around, as well as a veteran sneaker collaborator. Then, add the Patta crew – heavyweights of the Euro sneaker scene and owners of a relatively flawless history of fire Nike collaborations. With those two in place, let’s throw the classic Air Max 1 into the bowl as the canvas and stir it all up, cook the batter and then make the deliciousness crazy hard to get your hands on. What wound up coming out of the oven quickly became one of the most ravenously sought-after releases in recent memory.

When a few quick flashes of the Parra x Patta Air Max 1 appeared in a Patta interview video last November, screen shots of the mysterious shoe quickly began showing up on every sneaker-related blog on the web, making the collaboration the talk of the sneaker community in no time flat. Patta has a killer track record with Air Max 1 collabs, so another version was regarded as a very welcome addition to say the least. Before any of the hype, all it took was a quick sneak peek of that colorway and the shoe was instantly on every sneakerhead’s radar. At first glance, the shoe fell right into that “amazing Air Max 1 colorways that we’ve always wanted to see, but didn’t know it” category, but as we began to get some better looks at the shoe, it became very evident that there was a lot more going on within the intriguing new design than many people may have even thought.

The Parra x Patta Air Max 1 is rare example of simplicity and complexity living together in harmony. At face value, the shoe is a tonal burgundy upper sitting on a white midsole, but a closer look reveals some more involved stylish touches. The upper features a combination of Cherrywood Red suede and mesh, with a matching tonal chenille Swoosh on the lateral side of the shoe and a Baltic Blue counterpart on the medial side. A matching blue chenille tongue label and medial ankle eyelets added a nice contrast to the deep red base, but the design team wasn’t done there, as additional splashes of Del Sol and a lighter red on the heel logo and outsole provided further pop to the otherwise simple color palette. The design and colors are distinctively Parra, proving that no matter who he may be collaborating with, the artist can keep coming up with fresh original designs without sacrificing his artistic identity and trademark aesthetic.

By the time the widely coveted release hit retail at Patta’s shop in March, people were eagerly ready and waiting. With quantities reported to be extremely limited, no one was about to let this one slip through their fingers. As expected, Patta’s stock was cleared out in record time, leaving everyone wondering ‘When will these be hitting the States?’ The next week, they showed up in NYC at 21 Mercer, leaving those who got the news with week-long perma-smiles and those who missed the memo with their heads in their hands and a major sneaker void that would prove ridiculously pricy to fill. Lucky customers who purchased a pair at Mercer were reportedly being offered $500+ above retail for the shoes on the spot as they walked out of the store and down the street. The shoe immediately started hitting eBay and Flight Club for around $700, and from there, resale prices continued to rise until they began hitting four figures, in the process, helping to secure the Patta/Parra/Nike partnership’s spot as a certified grail on par with some of the most revered limited edition releases in the long-heralded Nike pantheon.

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