PUMA Blue Star

• MODEL: PUMA BLUE STAR
• SERIES: PUMA SHADOW SOCIETY
• PACK: PUMA SHADOW SOCIETY PACK 3
• MADE IN: VIETNAM
• MADE ON: --/12
• ART.NO: 354883 01
• FACTORY: FTWDM/FVNDM

Making a return for the first time in decades, the age-old PUMA Blue Star shines on the scene once again, left nearly untouched by the ghostly Shadow Society.

Both the PUMA Blue Star and Red Star have been reworked and revived – well, mostly just revived, if we are to be honest, but that’s exactly the type of archived silhouette reworking we trainer connoisseurs and sneaker historians can hope for – by the PUMA Shadow Society this winter (2012).

If you aren’t already familiar with the PUMA Shadow Society, they’re an unnamed group of taste makers, known only for their deep love and wide knowledge of the infamous formstripe family. Their first drop hit the shelves in 2011, followed by a second pack earlier in the winter of 2012, and now, with this third release, they’re onto their fourth and fifth silhouettes.

Even though the Shadow Society has pushed out this pretty pair totally true to the OG Blue Star we all know, there might be some surprised heads out there to hear that the typical blue version of the silhouette is actually not the only vintage pair floating around. We’ve published photos in the past of a baby blue pair (most likely Italian-made) that definitely leave one wondering what other variations may exist from PUMA’s past.

A final, wonderfully intricate detail that one might not notice on first glance, is the small, golden, leaping PUMA figure nearby the logo type and model name across the outer side wall of the shoe’s upper. This symbol has been shifted slightly for the new release, depicting a large, proud, capital letter ‘D’, acting as a hoop for the cat to jump through. This would most obviously stand for Dassler (as in Rudolf Dassler, the founder of PUMA, of course) and it completes an ancient stamp that is incredibly rare to have been seen on the Blue Star model.

We can’t say we’re surprised though, as the PUMA Shadow Society is known for just this: select a classic and revive it in perfect OG style without straying from the perfection of the past, yet still somehow manage to fit in their own details and signature in the most minute – albeit meaningful – ways.

written by Dylan Cromwell

photography by errol

special thanks to Lucy