Color was always a hallmark for Michael Jordan, who redefined the palette of basketball sneakers. With the Jordan 5 “Grape”, he proposed a new way of understanding the relationship between design and color.
Michael Jordan and Color
Color was always a key element in Jordan’s identity. From the moment Michael first saw his Jordans in the Bulls’ red and black colors, he knew his story would be linked not only to his team’s hues but to a new way of understanding color. Until then, basketball sneakers were associated with traditional team colors; Michael proposed something different. The Jordan 1 had already introduced editions like the ‘Shadow’ (black and grey) and, of course, the vibrant ‘Metallic’ editions in green, purple, or orange. Subsequent Jordan designs would maintain this relationship with color.
Jordan 5 “Grape”, Color as a Disruptor
The Jordan 5 maintained this trend, incorporating Bulls colors and other completely new ones. Thus, the Jordan 5 ‘Grape’ was born. Original sketches reveal two parallel creations in blue tones: one predominantly white and the other blue. The blue version, later known as ‘Pre-Grape’, was discarded, leaving the ‘Grape’ as the only original Jordan 5 with colors that strayed from the Bulls’ palette. Its combination of blue and green (Ice Grape and New Emerald) evokes a connection to Michael’s home state, North Carolina, but its true success transcended the courts.
The Strange Appearances of the Jordan 5 “Grape”
Michael sported them in promotional catalogs, for the famous Wheaties photo shoot, and in a tournament organized by musician Kenny Rogers.
The Jordan 5 ‘Grape’ had its stellar moment in a series (‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’) and a movie (‘King Ralph’), but an even more unexpected stage awaited them: an NBA basketball court. And this happened on two occasions.
The first, a striking appearance by John Salley with the Jordan 5 ‘Grape’ in the 1991 All-Star contests. Salley, then a Pistons player (fierce rivals of the Bulls), surprised everyone. Three months after the All-Star, Michael Jordan’s Bulls swept the Pistons for the first time in a game remembered for the opposing team’s walk-off without shaking hands, although Salley did. Curiously, one season later, Salley left the Pistons to begin a journey that would take him through Miami, Toronto, the Los Angeles Lakers… and finally Chicago.
But there was yet another more unusual event related to the Jordan 5 ‘Grape’, an occurrence that positioned them as the sneakers worn for the strangest shot in Sixers history. Ahmad Rashad, a former American football player, dedicated himself to sports broadcasting after his retirement in 1982. In 1990, to promote his new show ‘Inside Stuff’, he signed a two-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, emulating the feat of another illustrious chronicler, George Plimpton, decades earlier. Ahmad participated in only one preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, spending just enough time on the court to reveal his defensive shortcomings and, curiously, score a shot in a rehearsed play. Those were the only two NBA points recorded for the Jordan 5 ‘Grape’.
The return of the Air Jordan 5 ‘Grape’ to FOOTDISTRICT marks its first appearance in its original forms and with sizes available for the entire family.
