New Balance X-90 'Chinese New Year'
Colorway: Purple/Black · Style code: MSX90CNY · Release date: February 5, 2019 · Price: $88 · Availability: Available now
The lunar year that began on 5 February 2019 was the year of the Earth Pig, running until 24 January 2020, the first pig year since 2007 and the last of a twelve-animal cycle before it starts again. New Balance released this shoe on the opening day.
The base is the X90, a model built out of 1990s running-shoe proportions rather than any single archive design: a heavy moulded heel counter, stacked synthetic overlays across a mesh and nubuck upper, and a wide REVlite midsole underneath. It is a shape with a lot of surface area, which is part of why it takes themed treatments well.
The execution here is restrained given the occasion. A deep jewel tone covers most of the upper, the eight-trigram bagua diagram is printed on the tongue label and repeated on the footbed where only the wearer sees it, and metallic gold is used sparingly along the midsole rather than across the shoe. It listed at $130.