When the going gets tough, the tough launch iPhone applications and sneaker collaborations. That, at least, is the approach creative director Frida Giannini is taking at Gucci. Last week, the Italian company took over New York to unveil both a new app and a shoe designed with input from Mark Ronson, the music producer and all-around trendsetter. Ronson's limited-edition creation—a tricolor Top-Sider/high-top hybrid—received the MVP treatment Friday night at the brand's new Soho pop-up shop, a minimalist space devoted to some of the fanciest athletic footwear you'll never see on ESPN. The company will unveil more Ronson designs at temporary sneaker stores in Miami, London, and Tokyo in months to come.

Despite appearances, Ronson insisted that he didn't necessarily have preppy or patriotic associations in mind. "I think red, white, and blue always works—classic vintage, like Vuarnet, and things like that," he explained. "After wearing boots for the past few years and just killing my feet, it feels really nice to wear these. They feel good. They feel expensive." Giannini, for her part, said she prefers to wear sneakers on the sly. "On the weekend, yes. And only when there are no journalists or photographers around." In other words, absolutely not on a night like this.

Ronson's kicks were hardly the only options on display in the store. A pair of gold women's running shoes sparked Evan Rachel Wood's imagination. "If you ran really fast, it'd probably look like a giant gold sparkly circle," she mused. It's a notion that ought to appeal to a few of the event's attendees. Before the crowd moved on to the after-party at the Bowery Hotel—where Ronson performed with his pop-up band, Chauffeur—Mischa Barton, Mary J. Blige, and Claire Danes had all come by the Crosby Street boutique to size up the footwear.

— Darrell Hartman