We not only welcome the ZX Flux, but – no less important – after two years of absence a true and unforgotten classic finally celebrates its return into the stores: the Stan Smith. To celebrate the return of the Stan Smith, a host of international talent from the worlds of Nike Internationalist Damen music, sport and screen came together to reveal what the sneaker means to them. You can watch the video below.

But first things first: The shoe is named after the American tennis player Stan Smith, who won titles in major tournaments in it, including the 1968 U.S. Open and the 1970 Australian Open. Over the years, the Stan Smith has evolved into an icon far beyond its success as a tennis sneaker, beloved for its clean, streamlined aesthetic by sneakerheads, fashionistas and editors alike…and adidas employees.

As promised Nike Internationalist Mujer above, I met some of the brightest and most creative people behind adidas Originals to find out what makes this shoe so very special to them and how they think an icon like this has to look on your feet.

Across genders, generations, and even continents, there are few shoes that have endured quite like the Nike Air Vapormax Womens Stan Smith sneaker. Since first debuting on the feet of the number one tennis player in the world, Stan Smith, in 1971, the simple silhouette—with its contrasting green heel and shadowy rendering of Smith himself on the tongue—has been unmistakable. And to honor this enduring legacy, Smith teamed up with Adidas Originals and Rizzoli last night to debut Stan Smith: Some People Think I’m a Shoe, a tome of tales that links together both the history of the sneaker and the impressive career of the two-time Grand Slam winner. Paired with Nike Air Vapormax Mujer photos by Juergen Teller and a foreword by Pharrell Williams, copies of the hefty book dotted the bar area of Danny Meyer’s newly opened Financial District eatery, Manhatta, perched 60 stories above the city. A team of servers, all clad in their own pair of classic Stan Smith kicks, offered up preppy Adidas Tubular Damen delicacies like deviled eggs.

But in a room abuzz with sneakerheads and tennis obsessives, all in awe of the shoe’s namesake, Smith was the first to recognize that over the years, his name has been launched into a stratosphere where the man Stan Smith often takes a back seat to the sneaker. “I remember the first time I wore the shoe, it was very odd, because I kept looking down at the picture of myself,” Smith reminisced alongside his daughter, Austin Smith Hall, and wife, Margie Smith. “I don’t have any problems being mistaken for a shoe Adidas Ultra Boost Damen now, though, because the reality is that young people who wear the shoe every day have never seen me play tennis, but they like the shoe, and that excites me.”

Next for the tennis legend will be a globe-trotting tour touting the book in Los Angeles, Paris, Munich, Tokyo, and London, where he’ll debut the first vegetarian leather iteration Nike Roshe Run Damen of the sneaker alongside Stella McCartney. Modern fabrications aside, the classic style lives on without much change nearly 50 years since it debuted as the most progressive athletic footwear on the market. So much so that the majority of dinner guests, including Hender Scheme’s Ryo Kashiwazaki, sculptor Didi Rojas, and Daniel Arsham, opted to forgo the evening’s cocktail attire for their favorite pair of worn-down Stan Smiths. “It’s a very simple shape,” Arsham told Vogue, pointing to his feet. “I probably have 20 pairs of these in various states of being beat up, and it’s one of the only sneakers that I have where I’m okay with wearing them in this beat-up state. They just look good even when they’re trashed. They’re almost postapocalyptic, in a way, and I just think he’s so cool, and unchanging, and there’s something about his Adidas Stan Smith Damen consistency that I find interesting.”