Swarovski x Puma Wmns Suede 'Black Crystal'
Colorway: Black · Style code: 396352-02 · Release date: December 7, 2023 · Price: $67 · Availability: Available now
Crystal is what Swarovski brings to the table here. The Austrian firm has produced cut crystal since 1895, when Daniel Swarovski built the machinery that made precision cutting possible at scale, and its contribution sits against an all-black upper where each facet has something matte to catch light from. Puma dated the pair December 7, 2023 and priced it at 100 dollars, which is modest for a tie-in with a jewellery name and steep next to the 75 a plain pair cost that year.
A December date is no accident for a shoe like this. Black and crystal is evening dressing more than daily wear, and the pairing works precisely because the base is dull: brushed leather gives the stones something flat to sit against, so all of the shine has a single source. Anyone buying it should treat the crystal as the fragile half of the equation rather than the upper, since set stones do not survive scuffing the way a nap does. Kept for nights out, it is one of the few versions of this silhouette that reads as jewellery. Worn every day, it turns into an expensive black sneaker fairly quickly.