Hands down one of my favorite kicks of all time is the Air Jordan V. When this shoe popped up in 1990 I started to get my passion for sneakers. From MJ playing in them to seeing a white, purple, and green colorway (called the Grapes) on a free Wheaties calendar I wanted to get a pair of the AJ V’s really bad. Most kids my age at that time felt the same way. Plus the Grapes were the first non-red, white and black Air Jordan shoe that Nike made in that line.
Designer Tinker Hatfield kept on working with Michael. Tinker looked to keep up with his out of the box style with the Air Jordan line. The shoe featured an asymmetrical collar and the cut of the shoe was higher than the Air Jordan III and IV. The Air Jordan V still had a sculpted midsole, but this time he added a design that was influenced by a World War II fighter plane.
The always popular visible air unit was still there. He even has the mesh like material on the sides of the shoe that was in the Air Jordan IV. One of the new things that the Air Jordan V had was the outsole that was made of translucent rubber. That material was also what made up the mesh on the side panel of the upper and the lower part of the tongue. One of the reasons that my parents never got me that shoe back then was because the clear rubber 
bottom would instantly get dirty. As a young boy I would always be running around outside with my friends and mud and dirt seemed to always find me.
One of the biggest parts of the shoe was the reflective 3M material on the tongue. It would “glow” when the light would hit it just right. Every time I saw the opening to “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” my immediately went to Will Smith’s shoes since he was wearing the AJ V’s.
In the back of the tongue of the show had a “AIR JORDAN” patch was stitched on the inside of it. On the heel of the V had a stitched “NIKE AIR” logo with a Swoosh underneath. These days with the AJ V that has been replaced with the Jumpman logo. Both original shoes and retros have lace locks were included with the Air Jordan V for added support.
In 1990 Michael Jordan was still making a name for himself. He got to his sixth straight All-Star game. He won his fourth straight league scoring title and was named to the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team. The Bulls lost to the Pistons in the 1990 Conference Finals, but the following year Jordan and Bulls went onto winning their first NBA Championship.
