Raf Simons x adidas Samba Stan 'Trompe L'oeil'
Colorway: Core Black/Cloud White/Bright Blue · Style code: EE7954 · Release date: May 10, 2019 · Price: $474 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Adidas Raf Simons Bounce (B24080) · Raf Simons x adidas Bounce (B26074) · Adidas Raf Simons Spirit 5 (DA8760) · Adidas Raf Simons Ozweego 2 (AQ2641) · Raf Simons x adidas Stan Smith (AQ2647)
Where the Peach Stan goes pale, the Samba Stan goes loud. The base colour is Bright Blue leather, with Core Black and Cloud White making up the rest of the palette, and the graphic printed over it is a photograph of the adidas Samba: serrated stripes down the side and the herringbone texture of the Samba's toe cap, all rendered flat onto a shoe that has none of those parts. The images were mapped onto the Stan Smith through 3D modelling before printing. Underneath the picture it is still the same leather cupsole court shoe.
Raf Simons has reworked the Stan Smith since 2014, when he swapped the perforated stripe rows for a perforated R. That move returns here, alongside RAF SIMONS lettered in capitals on the shoe. The Trompe L'oeil series belongs to Spring/Summer 2019 and printed five archive models onto the Stan Smith: the Samba here, plus the Peachtree, Torsion Conquest Super, LA Trainer and Micropacer on their own pairs, with releases spread across April and May 2019 at $280. This blue pair released May 10, 2019, and is the one to pick if you want the illusion to be obvious rather than subtle.