crooked tongues magazine News Features

Part of a collection that takes notions of workwear to their literal conclusion, this adidas Forum Mid is a fine execution. We like our Forums kept clean, seeing as it's a top 5, dead or alive in its mid-cut form. It would be nice to see a measure of how popular this model was in the Boston hip-hop scene back in the late '80s and very early '90s. After all, that was an adidas city, and we've seen pair after pair on the feet of some of Beantown's most under appreciated in press pictures, promos and on record sleeves.

We put the core appeal down to those Velcro-aided, Dellinger webbed looks and a price tag best described as reassuringly expensive. But we never thought we'd see a pair in orange canvas. Assuming this is based on a reflective vest, things could have been a lot more garish, but in this shade of orange, and the material used makes it similar to the Star Wars themed Skywalker. Seeing as that's tied for best of that bunch (the AT-AT Forums worked too), it's no bad thing. The reflective arrows on the strap are almost facepalm fodder, but they're not ruinious at all, and the net patterning stays tonal. Conceptually the makeup is unobtrusive.

It's definitely a good time to be fixated with Forums. We've had premium versions, garish versions, pared-down variations and faithful retros of the original release. Now every set of shoes post Five-Two 3 rollout seems to include a variation of the shoe in its midst. Extra Scotchlite appeal appears on that familiar 'X' panel too, and the tongue branding is linked to the footbed's lettering.

Other shoes in the pack include a Micropacer, Superstar and later, a Nizza (due in August) all available to pre-order in the Crooked Tongues store for a July release.