Kanye West wore this one-off sample pair to the 2008 Grammy Awards, the first public appearance of what would become the Air Yeezy — the collaboration that effectively invented the modern celebrity-sneaker hype cycle.
Sotheby's brokered the private sale in 2021, and the number instantly became the reference point every "most expensive sneakers ever" list leads with, thanks to Kanye's cultural gravity and the sneaker's literal role in launching the resale industry as we know it.
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