Nike Celebrates The Qixi Festival With The React Element 55

China’s annual Qixi festival celebrates the meeting of the cowherd and weaver girl in ancient Chinese mythology, and for the 2019 celebration Nike is paying homage to the time-honed tale with a his and hers two-pack of new React Element 55s. In the story, the cowherd and weaver girl were banished to opposite sides of a river, but once a year on the 7th day of the 7th Chinese lunar month, a flock of magpies would congregate and create a bridge that enabled two could reunite for one day. Therefore, both of these Nike shoes draw their inspiration and detailing from the story’s unsung avian heroes.

Each pair interprets the legend in a different way: the men’s offers a bold, shimmering upper that combines both purple and rich aqua tones, while the women’s pair offers an ever-so soft grey base that’s mostly accented by iridescent purple. The signature details then arrives in similar fashion, with a magpie graphic gracing the right heel on the men’s/left heel on the women’s, “Today Is The Day” stamped on the insoles, and a “To/From” hit on the inside of each tongue, allowing lovers or friends to leave a gift inscription if they so choose. Each also features a contrasting outlined Swoosh and red accents on the tongue, while a white React foam midsole with a beautiful gradient fade on the opaque outsole plugs finalizes the look. Both released on August 3rd in China and both may very well be regional exclusives, but keep it locked for info on a potential stateside release as it’s available (the festival occurs on August 7th this year) and enjoy a full set of official images below.