No, thanks Drake. As if the anxiety of copping the right pair of sneakers was not enough, now we have our bookshelves to consider, too. Last month, to mark the launch of the Nocta Hot Step, his much-anticipated collaboration with Nike, the Canadian rapper took to Instagram to unveil his creation – propped up on a plinth of books. And, well, this teetering stack of tomes showcased serious cultural flex. Alongside Mr Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (a wry comment on consumerism, Big Pharma and social control through social media?) were cutting-edge reads and queer literary titles, some of which, for extra cache, are yet to be released. Add that to bankrolling Euphoria and Top Boy and you have yourself a heavy-hitting tastemaker. So, whichever of this month’s big-release shoes you opt for, displaying one on a column of dogeared Dan Browns just ain’t gonna cut it.

A fixture of mid-1980s basketball, adidas’ Forum silhouette is enjoying its own second life off the court. In fact, it has become quite the shoe of the moment. Reintroduced last year, this revived line has caught the current mood and has become a counterpoint and worthy alternative to Nike’s never-out-of-style Air Force 1 (more on which below). A deceptively simple silhouette, the ankle strap is perhaps the standout feature of the high-top, and one that the low-top wisely retains. The twin white tones on this example lean into the easy style, while the strong red hue makes the details pop.

If Mr Tupac Shakur’s posthumous appearance at Coachella in 2012 had you weirded out by the idea of a style icon reborn in a hologrammatic form, this effort should set things right. The handiwork of Clot, the streetwear studio cofounded by Mr Edison Chen, who also helms label Emotionally Unavailable, here Nike’s 1980s basketball talisman gets a retro-future reboot with TPU-coated silver uppers. A closer inspection will reveal satin sockliners, along with exposed stitching and a perforated toe box. When it comes to getting a collab right, this is a shining example.

Generally, there’s a gulf between the running shoes you wear and the shoes you wear to run in. The advanced hardware that troubles even sport’s governing bodies isn’t necessarily your go-to for the short stroll to the supermarket. The missing link perhaps comes from the most unlikely of sources: trail running. While the sort of footwear you’d use to traverse tors, scree and mire might have once seemed overengineered for everyday use, the Gorpcore trend has seen such apparel appear on the distinctly less precipitous school run. While first launched this year, adidas’ Superturf Adventure model scores points for drawing from the brand’s archives, notably its 1990s vintage. Rugged and armed with premium textile uppers, it features reflective details – as if you couldn’t already spot it coming.

The iconic Air Force 1 marks its 40th anniversary with the return of its mid-top iteration, and further evidence that the ankle strap is back in play. New collaborations with the likes of Stüssy and Off-White are promised this year, but for now, we’ll take this edition in a pearlised tone that is more bronze than the moniker suggests, assuming Ale Brown brings Tyneside beer to mind. It’s the premium details that really make this pair fly, including the yapping Swooshes on the inside label. The quote, “Inside out or outside in, as long as you’re right within”, also sounds like something Ms Lauryn Hill once said.