Enter: a running shoe that’s dressed for a dinner party.
The newest ASICS collab shoe just landed, and it’s delightfully peculiar. Fidan Novruzova, the Paris-based designer known for her sculptural, crease-toed boots, has lent her hands (and head, and heart) to ASICS for a new chapter of the brand’s Crafts for Mind series. The result? A running shoe that’s dressed for a dinner party. Or, in more descriptive words, a limited run of 100 GEL-CUMULUS 16s, decked out with a folded square tongue, enormous leather tassel, and an unapologetically weird elegance that could only have come from the high priestess of peculiar footwear that is Novruzova.
Often mistaken for a footwear-only brand, Novruzova’s label has built a cult following since her chunky, creased-toe boots and mules first appeared in her Central Saint Martins BA collection. They’ve since found fans in Sevdaliza, FKA twigs, Rosalía, and Chloë Sevigny, all drawn to her eccentric sense of proportion and poetic oddity.
Each ASICS pair is hand-finished in the same supple leather Novruzova uses for her own footwear. The tassel details nod to traditional shoemaking and the Art Deco era she often reimagines for the modern woman.
Debuted at Paris Fashion Week as part of her SS26 show Le Début, the sneakers arrive tomorrow in cherry red and black at 2 PM CET, just in time for fall. A portion of proceeds will go to the Fondation pour la Recherche sur l’Endométriose, a cause close to the designer’s heart, supporting research and care for women living with endometriosis.
Words by Pykel van Latum
