Althouse: The "sneaker trend."

June 20, 2012

The "sneaker trend."

Something else that came back from the 80s.

18 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Body jewelry. The Chinese will hire all the best artists in the world to create an upscale shoe market.; 6/20/12, 2:32 PM
edutcher said...: You must be joking.

That's up - 'scuse me, down - there with, "Jeans are always correct".; 6/20/12, 2:40 PM
ricpic said...: Hot sneakers; drafty cooch.

If the sneaks be orange laced
The cooch be chilly faced.; 6/20/12, 2:41 PM
Shanna said...: I've been wearing sneakers all week, because my ankle is sprained. Who knew I was so on trend?; 6/20/12, 2:44 PM
Balfegor said...: The Chinese will hire all the best artists in the world to create an upscale shoe market.

?? A lot of the cachet for upscale footwear in East Asia is location-of-origin based. So there's shoe lines that are marketed as made in Italy or made in England that probably aren't really made in Italy or England. Or at least, not in the sense of being a true Italian or English shoe, even if they're partly assembled in Italy/England. The European connexion is not going away anytime soon.

Because of sizing issues, I prefer getting my dress shoes in East Asia, over US/UK/etc. I need a super-wide shoe, but almost all the shoes you see at department stores, shoe shops, etc. are medium or narrow. Some shoe makers (Allen Edmonds is good on this) make an extra-wide, but I can't try them on, because I need to order them. Which I have done, but it is non-ideal. I don't know whether there's a genetic difference in foot shape or what, but in contrast, at least in Japan, almost all the shoes in the shoe shops are super-wide. EE, EEE, even EEEE. So I have a couple pairs of "Italian" Japanese shoes. And they're actually quite nice. Just probably not Italian.; 6/20/12, 2:46 PM
Rabel said...: The commenters at The Sartorialist always remind me of the White House reporters at an Obama press conference.; 6/20/12, 3:09 PM
Kensington said...: Ha ha, Rabel. I was just thinking the same thing. The guy posts perfectly pedestrian pictures of pretty people, and the commenters always act like Jesus just showed up.

Geez, settle down, folks. It's just a pair of sneakers.; 6/20/12, 3:18 PM
Kensington said...: And then it's the fact that literally hundreds of Sartorialist commenters will line up to post their orgasms over somebody's choice to wear sneakers that really cracks me up.; 6/20/12, 3:24 PM
Palladian said...: Looking at "The Sartorialist" website always give me the faint urge to beat up people.; 6/20/12, 3:31 PM
bagoh20 said...: Palladian,

That's it. I was trying to figure it out and that's it.

Let's find some queers and kick their ass. Yeeehaaa!

Oh wait, sorry. I mean look at those cute shoelaces.; 6/20/12, 3:46 PM
Balfegor said...: Re: Kensington:

The guy posts perfectly pedestrian pictures of pretty people, and the commenters always act like Jesus just showed up.

I think they're actually quite nice pictures of mostly-pretty people. The best ones, though, are the ones he shoots of old people who might have been pretty once. I kind of enjoy peeking at his blog once in a while.; 6/20/12, 4:01 PM
Kensington said...: Balfegor, all I mean by "pedestrian" is that the pictures are usually just unworthy of the hyperbole in the comments.

It tends to be something like this:

"PICTURE: attractive person attired attractively.

COMMENTS: OMG!!!!1!!!! I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH AMAZING FLAIR!
My website."; 6/20/12, 4:09 PM
Balfegor said...: Re: Kensington:

Fair enough.; 6/20/12, 4:16 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Is The Manolo still out there?
Kensington, Rabel: Exactly. The Sartorialist's comment stream is content-free.; 6/20/12, 6:34 PM
David said...: And boobs. Obviously they are back too.; 6/20/12, 7:46 PM
wyo sis said...: That girl could be wearing Crocs and be thought cutting edge. Put a fat old broad in the same outfit and see what comments you get.; 6/20/12, 10:36 PM
William said...: And some day she'll be using velcro closures in place of neon laces. But on just this first day of summer, she bloomed for her moment and attracted the buzz.; 6/20/12, 11:04 PM
Aridog said...: Come back? When did it ever leave, once established, for women who work in business or professional settings in urban environments? I don't recall a "lapse" in the "style" since I first noticed it in Chicago in the late 80's. As and when necessary, the women I knew or observed carried the de rigueur dainty shoes for office wear in a large purse.

Made perfect sense to me, a male, for women to not hobble through snow, wind and rain, on concrete, in spike heels or tiny slippers.

Still does.

And they're better than the lace up high top black leather things my (circa 40's and 50's)grade school teachers wore. :-); 6/21/12, 6:23 AM