The Skel-Top: The House's Signature Sneaker Most luxury labels keep a shoe they hope turns into a signature, and almost none of them say it out loud. AMIRI is the exception. In its own copy for the Skel Top Low the brand calls it the house signature sneaker with skel leather applique and perforated detailing, which ends an argument that writing about amiri sneakers keeps restarting. Neither the newest silhouette in the range nor, at an observed $650, the most expensive pair the house sells. What it is instead is the shoe that carries the motif running through every other category the label makes. The hyphen belongs in the name, and the model belongs apart from the court silhouettes that take half of it. Everything below is a single-product story, because this product earns the space. Bones, Cut by Hand and Ringed in Thread Low-cut and basketball in shape, the Skel-Top is built on a two-tone rubber sole. Its upper is panelled in leather and suede, and the official material line gives one hundred per cent leather above a rubber sole. The skeleton appliques that name the model are hand-cut and then outlined in contrast topstitching, so the bones sit proud of the panel instead of printing flat onto it. Perforated detailing crosses the forefoot amiri sweatshirt and quarter, the single clear nod to the athletic shoes behind the design. None of it is subtle, and subtlety was never the point. Held in the hand, though, the shoe reads as …
