There are Air Max 90s you buy because you know exactly what you’ll wear them with, and there are Air Max 90s you buy because you just like them. The Nike Air Max 90 “Pastel” (DQ0374-100) is the second kind. I kept coming back to it with the question of whether I’d wear it myself, and the answer is yes, with one caveat I’ll get to.
Soft colours on a familiar frame
The base is calm: an off-white upper with light grey and ecru panels along the sole and around the heel. That’s the usual Air Max 90 build, only in soft tones instead of the hard contrasts the model often carries. The colour lives in the details. The front eyestay panel is light blue, the panel behind it is pink, the Air unit and the midsole around it are soft yellow, and the tongue carries a small volt label. The Swoosh and the heel are black, and that’s just enough to hold the whole thing together. Without that black it would be a sweet; with it, it’s a sneaker.
About that pink panel: yes, that’s where my eye went first, and I’ll admit I’m not objective there. It’s only a small block above the laces, but it’s the block that makes the shoe for me. Read that with a pinch of salt.
Would I wear it?
Yes. The pastels sound busy, but in the flesh they stay restrained because the large areas are white and grey. In daily use that means it works under a light jean, under beige trousers and under most neutral basics, without building an outfit around the shoe. If you do want the colour to play, pick one tone, the light blue or the yellow, and keep the rest quiet. Repeating two pastels at once gets to be too much fast.
Beyond that it’s simply an Air Max 90: the visible heel Air unit, the layered upper and the slightly wider, sturdy shape. Anyone who knows the model knows what to expect from the fit. This is a women’s make-up, and the sizing we see runs from 35.5 up to 44.5.
The caveat: the price hangs on your size
This is an early-2023 colourway that isn’t in regular stores any more. What’s for sale now comes mostly from resale shops, and you see that in the numbers. At the time of writing there are seven active listings from six shops on Solezilla.com, all of them in euros. There’s no UK or US listing on this pair, so pound and dollar shoppers should factor in shipping and import before judging any price.
The floor is HYPENEEDZ at €109, with StockX around €130. From there it climbs: Collect District at €169, Side Kicks near €183, Stadium Goods around €215 and Geturbrick at the top near €220. With only six shops in the mix, the spread you actually pay comes down to which size is still sitting where. Small sizes tend to be the affordable ones; popular sizes carry the premium.
The Hypescore of this colourway sits at 81, in the ATOMIC phase. That’s high for a shoe a couple of years old, and the prices on the scarcer sizes show where that charge comes from. Whether it’s worth it is up to you; I’d wear it in a small size at the floor price without hesitation and think twice in a 41.
Short version: a quiet Air Max 90 with just enough colour not to be boring, easy to combine, and with a price your size decides entirely. Check your size first in the comparison on the sneaker page, then compare the shops. More colourways of this model live across the Nike pages on Solezilla.