Nike and Martine Rose Present the Ultimate Celebration of Women's Football

Nike and Martine Rose expand their exploration of women's football with a new campaign that seeks to highlight the importance of inclusion and acceptance.

Following the launch of the Nike Shox MR4, Rose looks back to 1971 with her "The Lost Lioness" project, inspired by a group of 14 English women who travelled to Mexico City to play in an international football tournament. The new campaign coincides with the UEFA Women's Euro 2022 tournament which kicked off earlier this month and aims to showcase how accepting football can (and should) be for women from all walks of life.

Spotlighting a series of football players spanning different levels, religions, ages and ethnicities, the campaign amplifies inspirational and multifaceted enthusiasts from across the football landscape. Released in line with Nike's recent 50th anniversary, the images aim to highlight the remarkable women who make the sport what it is. Starring in the campaign is Hope Powell CBE, England's first Black football manager alongside the likes of Ukrainian footballer and refugee Maria Romanchenko and schoolgirl Jasma, who fled Afghanistan back in 2015 and now plays at a football club for asylum seekers and refugees.

The designer is also set to unveil another special capsule over the next 12 months, beginning with her recently teased Nike Shox. "We like to subvert very familiar things to take them into a completely other space," says Rose in a press release.

The designer's take on the Shox franchise seeks to uplift female footballers, merging Rose's signature aesthetic with a celebrated silhouette within U.K. subculture. A unisex slip-on mule, the shoe features a lifted heel and squared-off toe that draws inspiration from Rose's mainline collections. "We feel the end product is so successful because it's still recognizable as a Shox, it's just slightly different. It's almost not until you put your feet into the shoe that you realize how significant the height difference is which is nice. We wanted to balance it so that it's striking but not too extreme," says Shauni Douglas, Design Director at Martine Rose.

Check out the full campaign from Nike and Martine Rose above. In the meantime, take a look at this year's UEFA Women's Euro 2022 squad.