Five Hundred and Forty-Five Dollars of Brand Logic

Aston Martin and Italian label Hogan presented a co-branded luxury sneaker at London Fashion Week—limited to 3,000 pairs, priced at $545, and surrounded by the full infrastructure of a launch event: beautiful people smiling naturally into cameras the way beautiful people do at these things.

The logic of a car company making shoes is actually pretty clean. Aston Martin sells a fantasy of effortless British luxury to people with money; Hogan sells Italian leather goods to the same demographic. Two brand managers realized their Venn diagrams overlap completely, and the result is a sneaker that communicates "I have $545 for sneakers and I’d like you to know about it"—which is its own coherent statement, even if it isn’t one I’m making.

Betty Bachz was there. Charlotte de Carle. Xenia Tchoumitcheva. All looking perfectly at home in a room designed to make them look exactly that way. If you’re more interested in the shoe than the guest list, Hogan’s website has you covered. Hooray.