There’s a Nike Air Max For Every Guy

Five ways to wear the Air Max 1

nike air max 1 outfits on style girlfriend

By Megan Collins | Last Updated: Apr 3 2024 | 5 min read

Sometimes, an iconic pair of shoes winds up in a museum — like Dorothy’s sparkling red heels from The Wizard of Oz on display at The Smithsonian. And sometimes, a museum inspires an iconic pair of shoes.

In the 1980s, Nike shoe designer Tinker Hatfield was tasked with finding a way to display the brand’s ground-breaking Air technology from the outside of the sneaker.

As the lore goes:

“Nike sent Tinker to Paris for design inspiration. Paris is a city known for luxurious, gold buildings, but it would be a different type of building that got Tinker’s attention: the Centre Pompidou [museum]. The Centre Pompidou is unique because it’s designed like it’s inside-out. You can see everything from the outside: the heating, the ventilation, the escalators, even the pipes are on the outside and painted in bright colors.”

centre pompidou — Centre Pompidou, image: Getty

The trip worked. Tinker went back to Nike HQ and came up with a way to cut away some of the midsole to expose the airbag, and in 1987, the Air Max 1 was born. The cushioning system has been on display ever since in the instantly classic sneaker.

Team SG curated a week’s worth of looks featuring the stylish shoe.