May 7, 1989; Cleveland, Ohio: A floating jumper at the foul line beats a buzzer, crushes one city, lifts another and cements two legends. The first of those is the shooter — MJ himself — who finished the series clinching game five with 44 points. The other is his shoe, the black and red Air Jordan IV.
Jordan signature shoes are cool for many reasons. The Air Jordan IV, when it arrived, was the coolest ever — in pure technical terms. Designed by Tinker Hatfield, it was a stripped down, streamlined, race-car-like game shoe complete with a lightweight nubuck upper and ventilated via mesh-filled cutouts.
On court, that shot in Cleveland conflated the shoe with a cold, clinical finishing. Off court, one of the greatest sneaker marketing campaigns in history combined with major film cameos made it an instant style staple.
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