Every person who owns “grails”—shoes somebody REALLY wants enough to spend way over retail just to obtain them—thinks about where they’d rock them if given the opportunity. I mean you can’t just wear them anywhere, right? I realize it’s a pandemic so grocery stores are getting a lot more flyness than in regular years, but what about the real drip? If I got invited to, say, a fancy dinner somewhere with Oprah and I don’t know, LeBron, would I break out my Nike x Off-White Converse? I might. Those shoes are fly AND they’re worth more than the cost of the dinner I’d probably consume. And I know LeBron would acknowledge my shoes.
Well, I’d bet good money that Nikolas Ajagu had this same thought when he realized that two things were facts:
1. He owned a pair of super rare (and real-life expensive) Dior x Air Jordan 1 OG Highs (affectionately known as Dior 1s or Air Diors); and
2. He was going to the inauguration.
In my head, it took him less than 10 seconds to determine, “Yo, I’m rocking my Dior 1s to the inauguration.”
Oh, who is Nikolas Ajagu? He’s the husband of Meena Harris, Kamala Harris’ niece, daughter of her sister, Maya Harris. Nikolas and Meena have two kids who were both at the inauguration—neither had on Dior 1s. This explains how Nikolas made it to the inauguration. And you know, what? He’s a hero. When I first saw those fly-ass shoes in the background of Amy Klobuchar speaking, I rewound the video at least 10 times; not to make sure they were Dior 1s—of course, they were. I’d recognize that drip a mile away—but because I imagined myself walking down those steps in those shoes, trying to make sure the camera got a glimpse of my flyness.
I don’t know Nikolas. True story, I never even heard of him until today, and now a photo of him wearing Dior 1s on the steps of the U.S. Capitol might make it onto a wall in my house.
I wish I were joking.
You might be asking yourself, “What makes these shoes so damn special?” I’m glad you asked. For one, they’re rare AF. AF means “as fuck” in case you don’t know. Do you know how rare rare AF is? They are so limited that they created a raffle JUST so you could get an opportunity to spend $2,000 on these shoes. Yes, you read that right. The retail price of them was $2,000 and you couldn’t just buy them anywhere. You had to stand in a damn digital line for the OPPORTUNITY to spend $2,000 of your hard-earned money on them. But these shoes are so fly and so coveted by the whole sneaker community—the WHOLE community—that the raffles didn’t have a problem filling up.
The day the shoes dropped, they were ALREADY going for over $10,000 on StockX. Yes, you also read that right. Right now? I wear a size 9.5 in Jordan 1s (though I can also do a 10) and well, it doesn’t matter because they’re going for $8,000 at either size on StockX. EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS. However, if you wear a size 13, you’re in luck, they’re going for only $7,800. If you wear a 14.5 though, you’re fucked. The asking price is over $21K.
You might (now) be asking yourself who in the hell would pay that much for some damn shoes? And for the record, I have no idea if Nikolas got them joints for $2,000, or if he’s homies with somebody who slid him a pair for free, or if he dropped several racks to get him a pair; it matters not. Lots of people would pay that much for the shoes if they had the dough. Thank goodness I’m married with children or else I might not be able to talk myself out of that purchase. Why the hell else do you think I’m writing an article about some shoes and the person wearing them being goals? Clay Davis “sheeeeeeeeeeeeit,” I wish I could do that. And rocking them at the inauguration? Chef’s kiss.
And lots of people noticed. I simply googled “Dior 1s” and no less than six articles popped up about this very dude rocking those very shoes, including an article on TMZ. Meena Harris, his wife, even confirmed on Twitter that yes, it was he, and yes, he was wearing the Dior 1s. The “smh” after the confirmation implies that mayhaps she tried to talk him out of it.
I’m so glad she failed and that he did the only thing that makes sense in this situation: If you have Dior 1s you wear Dior 1s on the biggest stage that you can. And what stage is bigger than one that features ex-presidents and will be watched by the world? None. And you know how I know this? See for yourself. Meena’s up again:
Nikolas, I don’t know you, but you’re a hero. Keep up the good work and just know that if my wife allows it—she won’t—your work in exhibiting the ultimate drip at the most opportune time will be canonized on a wall in my home. You, sir, are the real MVP.