Description:
The Nike Air Jordan was released in 1985 and sprung a legacy in sneaker history. With this sneaker, Nike helped turn Michael Jordan into one of the largest commodities in America. The Air Jordan 1, has a classic Nike style consisted of three different colors. You often see this design today in Hip Hop and Urban fashion as well the massive skateboard and urban culture. This design is internationally known as the "dunk" style sneaker. The Air Jordan was the originator. It is a high top basketball sneaker which comes up the high ankle, or lower shin. The sneaker has 6 layers of leather which are creatively weaved to create an alternating patter of black, white, and red which are the colors of the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan's first NBA team. The under most layer is white, with red black layers of leather weaved and wrapped strategically under and over one another. Both the inner and outer sides of the upper panels and marked with that patented Nike Swoosh in black which stands out over the white leather beneath it. There is a 2 inch white sole and complete with all red bottoms. On the outer side of each ankle there is an embroidered logo of a basketball with wings. Just above the red lacing lies the famous Jumpman icon which would eventually not only change the sporting and fashion industry, but also American culture as well.
Central Questions:
What does the Nike Air Jordan 1 mean to hip hop/urban culture?
How was the young 22 year old basketball player, Michael Jordan, transformed into one of America's icons and commodities worldwide?
What do shoes mean to American Culture?
How did the Nike Air Jordan 1 revolutionize a culture within hip hop culture known as "sneaker culture, or sneaker heads"
Research:
Complex Magazine
Published by Rich Antoniello
November 2007 issue
NYC
A hip hop culture and urban fashion magazine for men.
Kicks Magazine
Published by Dennis Page
New York, New York
No. 27
Oct. 2007 issue
This issue the the 10th anniversary issue devoted to basketball sneakers and the coverstory is "Jordans Rule...How Mike changed the game forever"
nicekicks.com
A website totally devoted to sneaker culture. Been following Jordans sneaker legacy since 85.
www.nahright.com
Hip hop lifestyle, culture, and news.
sneakerfiles.com
Another website totally devoted to sneaker culture with great descriptions and backgrounds of sneakers and the culture.
www.hypebeast.com
Interactive blogs and website for all sneaker culture around the world.
Argument: The Nike Air Jordan 1 revolutionized a new way Americans view sneakers and changed the sneaker/urban/hip hop industry forever.
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2 comments:
Hey Daniel...
I think you could improve a lot more in your description. As someone who is not really into sneakers, I couldn't follow your description as well as someone who is a sneaker pro.
For example, I do not know what the "dunk" style sneaker is. You did a good job describing what is meant by 'high-top' so no qualms there. Good job describing the logo with basketball wings but yet again you were lacking description when it came to what the 'Jumpman' is. I think these descriptions are intended to be ridiculously in depth. Your description paragraph could have gone deeper and just given a more visual picture of the Air Jordan.
Good job with your central questions. I can tell where you're going with your paper from it.
For your sources - are there any scholarly articles written about sneakers? You might need more scholarly sources since a lot of them seem to be news sites or just sites in general that I guess are sneaker centered??
Good start so far, though!
I general, I thought it was pretty good. I think maybe think outside the box and use some scholarly journals or articles to
expound(spelling?) on the cultural significance. This is more difficult but the teacher will like it.
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