See Nike’s New Reimagined 1 Women's Sneaker Collection

When you put 14 talented women into a room and give them free reign on an immensely inspiring creative feat, great things are bound to happen. And when that “creative feat” is a new collection at Nike, “great things” equals rad shoes. Prepare yourself, because a new lineup of women’s footwear is here and it blends the classically cool with the brilliantly futuristic in the most epic of ways.

In 1982, Nike came out with the now-iconic Nike Air Force 1, which was followed by the equally celebrated Air Jordan 1 in 1985. The two styles, which were originally designed by men for male basketball players, have since come to not only define Nike’s fashion-forward aesthetic, but that of street style culture as a whole. From today’s top athletes to the chicest fashion editors in the game, seemingly everyone has a pair (or ten) of the swoosh-emblazoned sneakers to pair with a jersey or floral dress alike.

And now, the two universally loved styles have gotten not one, but 10 updates, all of which were 100 percent female fueled. 14 women from within Nike’s material design, product design, and color design teams were brought together to create the new 1 Reimagined collection, which features five new articulations of both the Air Force 1 and Jordan 1 that are as imaginative as they are wearable. From slides to lace-ups and everything in between, the offering is ripe with stylistic diversity. To serve as the faces of the collection, Nike tapped vocalist and cellist Kelsey Lu and R&B artist Abra — two women who are reshaping classic musical genres in their own right.

“We chose the Air Force 1 and the Air Jordan 1 because they’re two styles that really resonate with women and are also two of our most iconic shoes at Nike,” explains Georgina James, senior creative director of Nike Sportswear women’s footwear, who led the team from the collection’s conception to execution. “We really wanted to take those two shoes and reimagine them through the lens of women. We know that sneaker culture is growing and we wanted to offer 10 new silhouettes and styles.”

It’s important to note that the all-female team formed organically, simply because the best people to do the job all happened to be women. “We all brought different skill sets to the team. It was less about pulling together all women but really just focusing on bringing together the best talent,” explains Georgina. Footwear Director Andy Caine selected the 14 women himself, explaining “The genesis of creativity is diversity. From a design point of view, each of the designers has a very unique background and personality. Our theory is that when you mix diverse creative talents you realize some magic.”

The team of women had never worked together collectively before, but within a week of connecting to discuss the project, they had come up with five personas to base the designs off of: Explorer, Lover, Sage, Rebel, and Jester. “Whenever we design at Nike, we always put our customer first. We call her a style comedian and that means that she’s no one style and no one person — she’s got different looks and identities within her closet,” explains Georgina. “That was really the starting point of the entire collection. We chose five archetypes, or personalities, that we thought represented all women or that we could all identify with and focused on creating a look and feel for each of them.”

Once these archetypes were determined, the design group headed to London, a city blooming with fashion inspiration, where they had five days to deliver the ten designs. As prototypes or concepts for each shoe began forming, team members were immediately drawn to one specific style. Organically, archetype-specific teams formed. Within five days, a cohesive collection had not only been conceptualized, but expertly so. Take a look at the styles and you’ll see what we mean. While each of them clearly references the iconic sneaker they were designed after, they all have their personality-rich singularity. And yet, they all work together, thanks in part to their all-white color palette.

“We really wanted the silhouettes and the style choice of the consumer to be the headliners,” explains Marie Crow, material designer of Nike Sportswear NikeWomen, who worked on 1 Reimagined. “So turning the color off and taking the materials very premium helped create a very wearable special product. We also knew that triple white’s incredibly desirable.” Indeed, the white sneaker has become the staple shoe du jour, thanks to its ability to be paired with literally anything. But cool details like iridescent perforation on the Air Force 1 Lover, translucent fabric on the Air Jordan 1 Explorer, and playful Nike branding on the Air Force 1 Jester give each of the monotone styles a color of their own.

Reimagined 1 finally provides female sneaker enthusiasts a dope collection to call their own that pushes boundaries and represents modern style. “At Nike, we’ve been creating product offerings for women for years that are very acceptable but incredibly provocative at the same time,” says Marie. “Now, we’re in a time where women are intrigued about sneakers and want to kind of push the boundaries with them. I love it.” “Sneaker culture is obviously growing and women are becoming more experimental in wearing sneakers and embracing them for everyday life,” adds Georgina. “That’s a great opportunity for us and something we can grow and work on here at Nike.”

The collection drops on February 6 in New York City, and nationally on Nike SNKRS on February 9.

Related: Nike’s Newest Material Flyleather is Also Eco-Friendly