Nike is taking big risks with their recent drops. Whether they’re adding flies or leaves or teddy bears to the actual sneakers, they’re doing a lot of experimentation. And you either love that or hate it. Still, it hasn’t stopped them from doing even more. Teaming up with Windowsen, Nike is again promising to take sneaker culture to another world. They’ve teamed up with Chinese designer Sensen Lii, founder of the avant-garde fashion label Windowsen (the same brand that dressed Cardi B at the 2023 Met Gala), for an Air Max Muse collaboration that actually looks like an alien artifact that just crash-landed on Earth.
Revealed earlier this year on the Victory Lap runway at Shanghai Fashion Week, the Nike x Windowsen Air Max Muse is the kind of sneaker you’d expect to see at a ‘90s rave. Available in silver-green and orange-blue, the colorways are very out there.
“At Windowsen, I’ve always been fascinated by transformation,” says Lii. “With Nike, I wanted to explore what the future of sport could look like — not just in how we move, but in how we express who we are.” It’s a statement that fits perfectly with his artistic DNA. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Lii has shown in Paris and built a reputation for creating looks that fuse couture precision with cyber irony.
The Air Max Muse, under his direction, becomes more than another sneaker with an Air bubble. It’s a portal. Lii started the design process by asking, “What if sport existed in a futuristic world?” That question guides every inch of the shoe’s structure. Organic curves mimic biological shapes. Shifting prints morph with each step, giving the illusion of motion even when you’re standing still. And because no Windowsen piece is complete without a bit of mystery, the sneaker hides extraterrestrial details everywhere, from a detachable alien-head lace charm to subtle symbols printed across the upper and two-toed alien footprints stamped into the sole.
“I like hiding codes in my designs, waiting for the right people to decode them,” Lii explains. “This sneaker is a portal to the unknown Windowsen universe.”
For Lii, sneakers are a form of identity, of course. “They represent who you are, what you believe in, and how you want to be seen. Through this collaboration, I wanted to create something that allows people to express their individuality boldly and unapologetically,” he adds.
The Nike x Windowsen Air Max Muse lands on Earth on November 1 at SNKRS and select Nike stores.
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