The Kanye West-50 Cent album duel earlier this fall gave music critics and journalist a lot to talk about. Both rappers have distinct styles that were placed on display on the same day, September 11, 2007. Kanye West’s Graduation beat out 50 Cent’s Curtis through the first few weeks and West fans can celebrate his triumph (at least in sales) with a pair of custom Nike Air Force Ones by the customs artist King of Sneakers.

These customs feature art taken from the cover to Graduation and made accessible on this unique medium. After all, shoes aren’t walls, canvasses or CD covers. King of Sneakers played around with Kanye West’s bear cartoon and placed the face of the mascot on the right toe box. The left shoe features a pair of cartoon mushrooms that look like they belong on a H.R. Pufnstuf instead of an album cover (see below). I wouldn’t normally go for a cartoon-inspired custom sneaker but the fact that it is connected with Kanye West and the fine detailing by King of Sneakers makes it a provocative choice. Save up that Christmas money, though, as these shoes start out at about $299.99.

To commemorate the 25th Anniversary ofthe Reebok Freestyle, two limited special women’s Freestyles Hi were recently released.

These sneakers are only available at selected stores around the world in limited quantities. Kix-files has a couple sizes available.

The two colorways feature a combination of leather and satin to create a shoe that is both unique and simple at the same time. Each shoe offers a black and white color combination with the difference between them being that they are the reverse of each other.One features a black leather upper with white satin accents with black dots, while the other shoe is a white leather with black satin and white dots.

They both have a special 25th Anniversary Freestyle logo on the tongue. These sneakers are priced at $95 a pair at Kix-Files.

Vans has engaged high fashion designer Paul Smith to collaborate on their shoes. This new Vans and Paul Smith pack has two shoes; the Sk8 Hi and a Chukka. These great photos were borrowed from Footurama.  This Pack will be available in Spring 2008.

Asics affiliate Onitsuka Tiger has collaborated with Berlin’s KoiKlub to create a very interesting collection of sneakers. The Big Koi “The Ancient Way” shoes are based on a varsity jacket, using materials such as leather, wool and chenille.

The heels of each shoe feature different characters and symbols. The right shoe features 02 (representing the year Koi Klub was established and the number of Koi Klub x Onitsuka collaborations). The left shoe features the Japanese symbol for the term Koi. Koi has as many as six different meanings, including “The Ancient Way.”

The three colorways of these shoes include red, black and grey. One thing I really like are the symbols printed all over the laces. My favorite colorway is definitely the grey. It mixes grey with a very nice shade of purple throughout the shoe.

There are only 550 pairs of each colorway availalbe worldwide. Right now you can get both the black and grey versions at Sold Out for 100 euros a pair.

Watch this animated video about the collection. Lots of pictures are after the jump.

Eukicks shows us a sample pic of the Nike Air Jordan 15 that will be released in a black/metallic gold-white colorways on December 22, 2007.

Via eukicks.com

Purchaze received the

Nike Air Jordan 8 VIII Retro “Black/Varsity Red” in the “Black/Varsity Red-White-Bright Concord” Colorway.

You can get the long awaited legendary Nike Air Jordan 8 VIII Retro “Black/Varsity Red”, in a retro version, inspired by its original colorway. These shoes come with original Jordan Box and retro card. The Nike Air Jordan 8 VIII “Black/Varsity Red-White-Bright Concord” comes in a classic shape made of smooth white leather and the White-Bright Concord heel. Featuring all original details back in the days February 1993. Michael Jordan continues his unmatched ability to take control of the game and inspire greatness in his teammates. A seven-time NBA scoring champion, he achieves his highest NBA finals scoring average with 41 points against Phoenix to lead the Chicago Bulls to a third NBA championship.

Check that out.

More pictures after the jump.