Somewhere on the market, in a galaxy far-off, 4 pairs of Nike’s newest edition of the Air Max trainer orbit the digital ether. The Nike Air Max 720 has the biggest air pockets in Air Max history and is fabricated from greater than 75% recycled manufacturing waste. Vibrant, collectable, and positively anti-gravity with every spring of their step, the brand recent 720 now adorns the hoofs, pads and paws of a gaggle of extraterrestrial lifeforms and cyborg specimens. We sent 4 of Dazed Beauty’s favourite digital artists on a quest to document these beings as they tested out the trainers.

That is what they found. 

On an unlimited and quiet plain, a human encased in an oxygen mask and viewfinder is exercising.

Name: [redacted].  

Birthplace: The Moon

Habitat: Daedalus neighbourhood of Lunar Settlement 47A. Far Side of the Moon, 5.9°S 179.4°E. Colongitude: 181 degrees at sunrise.

Uniform: Standard issue lunar uniform, fabricated from advanced technical fabrics. Designed for extravehicular and intravehicular activity; the slim version. He’s modified the suit, as he’s had it for years – adding a non-issue fur collar, reminding him of his pastoral lunar upbringing. Note certain medieval elements, inspired by the armour of Teutonic Knights of the thirteenth century.

“His job is as a sentinel monitoring an enormous radio telescope that’s broadcasting data out into the blackness of space; the halls of his apartment ringing with the echoes of anti-static treadmills against a disjointed lunar skin,” his creator, Rick Farin, tells me.

Our hero is an element of a cohort of avatars existing in alternative aesthetic imaginings of futures to return. Designed by a few of our favourite digital artists, each universe has its own particular set of laws, and each inhabitant their very own set of fears and desires.

Rick Farin: Nike Air Max 720 NORTHERN LIGHTS – NIGHT launching on February 1st

Rick tells me that our first character has “never left the moon – his family has been here for generations. His grandparents were one in every of the primary to boost livestock on the settlement – goats and chickens, mainly. It’s each a dystopian and bucolic nest. So what’s he training for? “He trains for survival – it’s par for the course of living on a lunar colony.”

Will our hero mate? He has a mating cry. “He makes ambient music in his free time; producing hours of sound to mask the continual hum of machines within the otherwise deafening silence of space. This music is broadcast on an interstellar pirate radio station from his satellite; reaching youth who’re within the know. He hopes in the future someone might attempt to search out the person behind the music, behind the mask.”

Does he, like us, fear death? ”His best weakness is his own body – the value is high, staying human. His best wish is to swim out, naked to the bone, within the overwhelming vacuum of space.”

Sucuk und Bratwurst: Nike Air Max 720 NORTHERN LIGHTS – DAY launching on February 1st

On one other, colder, snowier planet, an entanglement of metallic bodies orbit. Lovers endlessly spinning in an everlasting embrace, kissing, playing games, telling stories to at least one one other. Their limbs mix to create an alien face that levitates, softly, above the planet’s surface.

“The alien head is a homage to a well known picture of Dalí and a skull fabricated from naked women. The metallic bodies are also a homage to Sorayama,” Alessandro Belliero, one-fourth of design group Sucuk und Bratwurst explains. “The upper bodies are two people in love. Two figures, on the sting, are playing rock paper scissors. The figure falling is a representation of falling in love.”

Despite their clinical exteriors, these romantic aluminium figures are more human than they seem on first glance. “They’re like just normal people” Alessandro confirms. “They’ve the identical problems, fears and desires, of losing people or lovers. Of getting sick. They give the impression of being unbreakable but they’re soft inside.” Identical to us, they wonder if other life forms exist, if there’s something else, something larger.

Carlos Saez and Sevi Iko Dømochevsky: Air Max 720 SUNSET launching as Nike+ Member Exclusive on February 1st and on SNEAKRS app on February 21

Just a few light years away, a soft-bellied, Carollian character relaxes in a meta-universe. Our lavender hued giant tardigrade joyfully admires their very own mellifluous silhouette. This beast is the cuddly offspring of designers Carlos Saez and Sevi Iko Dømochevsky. They’re plump from a eating regimen of “bacteria, algae, cryptogams, rotifers and nematodes.” For fun, the tardigrade likes to swim and eat in filthy water. Undoubtedly, his six arms make backstroke easy, but additionally they “bring the hug experience to a different level,” Carlos tells us. “I really like tardigrades because they’ll survive such extreme conditions while being so small and cute,” he says.

“They love humans and so they hope we survive the subsequent global mass extinction event,” Carlos adds. We’d do well to befriend the tardigrade, especially if the duo’s predictions are correct.

Darío Alva: Nike Air Max 720 SUNRISE launching as Nike+ Member Exclusive on February 21

Our fourth and final appointment is with a feline fembot who’s currently floating in a bubble bath “somewhere within the digital ether”. She is disgruntled we’re here. Designed by Darío Alva, her mechanical allure is legendary. Whispers of her timeless beauty are carried on Milky Ways and thru galaxies.

Other creatures attempt to answer her mating call, which feels like this, but all go unanswered. The immortal robot Circe will not be within the mood.

On this fembot’s doormat read the words: ‘For those who desire one thing for thus long, it is a given that you will miss other things along the best way’. Time to go.

Credits: 

Artists: Darío Alva, Rick Farin, Carlos Saez and Sevi Iko Dømochevsky, Sucuk und Bratwurst
Words: Nellie Eden

Creative Directors: Isamaya Ffrench and Ben Ditto
Editorial Director: Bunny Kinney
Project Director: Simone Sebastian
Producer: Giuditta Dallerba
Managing Editor: Amelia Abraham