When Comme des Garçons touches a sneaker, it rarely leaves it recognizable. With the Air Jordan 11, Rei Kawakubo's Homme Plus line did something more subtle — and more radical: it removed the very thing that made the 11 famous.
Patent leather, deleted
The 1995 original was defined by its glossy patent leather mudguard — a formal-wear flex Michael Jordan famously wore with a tuxedo. CDG replaces it entirely with matte suede, tone on tone, turning the flashiest Jordan into the quietest one. The white pair reads almost like a sculpture: cream suede, translucent sole, CDG Homme Plus branding on the heel. Shop the White.
The black pair
All-black suede with a smoked translucent outsole. Where the white pair is gallery-clean, the black one is pure Yohji-adjacent tailoring energy — it disappears into a monochrome fit and elevates everything around it. Shop the Black.
Why it matters
Designer x Jordan collaborations are rare, and ones that rethink the silhouette rather than recolor it are rarer still. Alongside Union LA and A Ma Maniére, CDG's 11 sits in the small club of pairs that belong in both a sneaker rotation and a fashion archive.
Both colorways are in stock at Tempo Kicks, brand new in box with free worldwide shipping — see the full Air Jordan collection.