Vanessa Bryant Honors Daughter Gianna on What Would Have Been Her 18th Birthday

• Vanessa Bryant unveiled a brand new colorway of the Nike Kobe 8 “Mambacita” sneakers in honor of her late daughter Gianna’s 18th birthday
• The brand new design contains a butterfly theme in gold, white and black to rejoice Gianna’s “transformational affect” on girls’ sports activities
• The brand new colorway is offered for buy on Gianna’s birthdate, Could 1

Vanessa Bryant is celebrating her late daughter, Gianna Bryant, with the discharge of a brand new colorway of the Nike Kobe 8 “Mambacita” on what would have been Gianna’s 18th birthday.

Vanessa, 41, shared images of the brand new “Mambacita” design — which contains a black, white and gold butterfly theme — on her Instagram on Monday, April 29.

The particular version can be obtainable for buy on Gianna’s birthday, Could 1.

“MAMBACITA ❤️5/1/2006 ❤️GIGI,” Vanessa wrote within the captions of two posts of the sneakers on Instagram.

Vanessa additionally shared Nike’s Reel of the design, which reveals butterflies fluttering across the shoe and explains that the idea was impressed by Gianna’s “transformational affect” on girls’s basketball.

“On 5.1 we rejoice Gianna ‘Gigi’ Bryant’s 18th birthday and the transformational affect she had on highlighting girls’s sports activities with the discharge of the Kobe 8 Protro ‘Mambacita’ 🦋,” Nike’s caption learn.

In keeping with Nike, income from the brand new colorway will profit the Mambacita Sports activities Basis, a nonprofit began by Vanessa that’s devoted to supporting underserved youngster athletes.

The posts on Vanessa’s Instagram grid earned assist from a few of her well-known buddies like Khloe Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Kathy Hilton, who all left emojis of hearts and butterflies within the feedback.

The brand new colorway impressed by Gianna comes simply two weeks after Vanessa shared a candy tribute to her late husband, Kobe Bryant, on their twenty third wedding ceremony anniversary. Within the photos, Kobe is wearing a go well with and tie whereas Vanessa wears a glittery gold costume because the couple smile, dance and kiss on a earlier evening out.

“Blissful Anniversary @kobebryant ❤️ #23,” Vanessa wrote within the caption of her put up, alongside a collage of 4 throwback photos of her and Kobe.

She shared the put up to Instagram Tales as nicely, including a gif of a marriage ring and the tune “Anniversary” by Tony! Toni! Toné!

And in January, Vanessa remembered Kobe and Gianna on the anniversary of the helicopter crash that tragically took their lives and 7 others on Jan. 26, 2020.

By no means miss a narrative — join PEOPLE’s free every day publication to remain up-to-date on the most effective of what PEOPLE has to supply, from juicy superstar information to forcing human curiosity tales.

In an Instagram put up, Vanessa shared a photograph of Kobe smiling along with his arm wrapped round Gianna. Vanessa added, “❤️❤️” to the caption.

The identical picture was shared on the Los Angeles Lakers Instagram account with the caption, “Perpetually 💜.”

The “Mamabacita” sneaker is not the one tribute to Gianna introduced this 12 months. After the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled their statue of Kobe on the Crypto.com Enviornment in downtown L.A., Vanessa confirmed that two extra statues can be erected within the space — one displaying Kobe sporting No. 8 and one other that includes Gianna.

A Lakers spokesperson informed ESPN that the situation for the extra statues is to be decided.

In the course of the unveiling of the primary statue, Vanessa stated, “Kobe has so many individuals which have supported him everywhere in the world from the very starting and this second is not only for Kobe, but it surely’s for all of you which were rooting for him all of those years.”