Designer Virgil Alboh presented his second Louis Vuitton runway on Thursday (January 17, 2018) and took his bow wearing what appeared to be a first look at an Off-White x A Bathing Ape collaborative sneaker. The black Bapesta silhouette features a croc leather upper and is stamped with Off-White’s signature Helvitica print on the back medial side of the shoe. The white print reads: BAPE, Tokyo Japan © 1993.
First released in 2002, the Bapesta sneaker is inspired by Nike’s Air Force 1 silhouette with the Nike Swoosh swapped out for a lightening bolt star logo.
BAPE was launched in 1993 by Japanese creative Nigo ne Tomoaki Nagao. After piling up a massive amount of dept, Nigo in 2011 was forced to sell the brand to Hong Kong fashion conglomerate I.T Group for a mere $2.8 million. He stayed on with BAPE as a creative director for two years but is no longer associated with the brand.
The image of the shoe shown above is a prototype created by @supreme_leaks_news. Check out Abloh wearing the shoe below.
Off-White x BAPE mock up
Abloh shot on the set for Louis Vuitton’s fall 2019 presentation.
