Sneakers finally became the most fashionable shoes.
There is more than one year of universal obsession with running shoes, but now it has reached the limit: adidas plans to collaborate with Farrell Williams and Chanel, the cost of fake (!) Balenciaga shoes reaches $ 450, and the American comedian Larry David with his favorite “starters” shoes suddenly turns out to be a trendsetter. At the request of Medusa, sneaker collector Serob Khachatryan tells what you need to know about them in 2017 – and which models to buy to be trendy (if you are not ready to spend a thousand dollars on one pair of shoes).
Why are running shoes so popular? It’s just sports shoes!
There are several reasons. Firstly, sneakers, along with sports style, left the subculture and gyms in the mainstream. Now it’s simply the most comfortable shoes for living in the big city (and outside it) – it is no coincidence that several years ago women massively changed their heels to sneakers that are worn even with dresses, even with classic coats. If earlier in sneakers they could not be allowed into a club or restaurant, now everything is exactly the opposite – by sneakers you can determine the social status of their owner.
Secondly, hip-hop culture, which has always been an integral part of sneakers, finally won rock, pop and even chanson. Sneakers have become a link between musicians and their fans, indicating involvement in the culture; This trend was picked up by all the leading manufacturers of sports shoes, concluding contracts with popular artists. As The Telegraph notes, sneakers with their infinite variety give, on the one hand, the opportunity to stand out, and on the other, to feel like a member of the fashion community.
Adidas sneakers from the Alexander Wang collection for spring 2017
There are so many sneakers! How to understand what is cool and what is not?
New sneakers appear in the world almost every day, therefore, limited collections are now most valued. It is not so important who exactly released them and how much they cost, it is important that no one else has them (well, few have any). Often a couple from such a collection can cost no more than 10 thousand rubles, but it is still difficult to acquire it, because any queue is immediately lined up. For those especially inclined to exclusivity, there are “custom” (that is, sneakers made to order in one copy) and the so-called Friends & Family – these are sneakers that the customer (usually a popular artist) asked to do for himself and his environment. If they go on sale, then only for a select circle of people.
Say, rapper Kaled constantly orders various custom from Jordan – for himself and his friends; he has more than four thousand pairs in his collection. True, often the people from his party are not too sentimental and spread the presented copies for sale for wild money. Other hip-hop musicians also do a lot of F&F – for example, Drake, Farrell or Pusha Tee.
Collection of rapper Caleda sneakers
Complex
The second important trend is collaboration. From the simple when the two work together (Supreme X Louis Vuitton, Kendrick Lamar X Reebok, Rick Owens X adidas, Public School X Air Jordan), to the complex when the whole team gathers. For example, a few weeks ago, the announcement of the collaboration of adidas NMD, Farrell Williams and Chanel appeared, and more recently, the shoes for three were Comme des Garçons, Nike Air Force 1 and Supreme. All this, as a rule, is the union of large running brands (Nike, adidas, Reebok, Puma, Jordan, Vans) with artists or athletes (Rihanna, Drake, Tyler The Creator, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry) – or with a fashion brand not specializing in sneakers (Palace, The Stussy, Kenzo, Anti Social Social Club, Stone Island).
Sneakers from the new collection of Rihanna for Puma, released in September 2017
The third bright trend is “the worse, the better.” For several years now, at the peak of fashion, sneakers that pass through the ugly shoes category (that is, literally “ugly shoes”). The most affordable ugly pair of sneakers is the Reebok Instapump Fury in the base model. The variations of this silhouette were presented by the founder of the fashion brand Vetements, Demna Gvasalia, and rapper Future, and Jimi Wu (head of Taiwanese street clothing brand Invincible), and Japanese rapper Verbal, and designer Jun Watanabe. At adidas, one of the best modern fashion designers Raf Simons, who released the Ozweego silhouette, is responsible for such experiments, and Nike can consider Air Footscape Woven Chukka as such a model. Almost perfect ugly sneakers were made by the Spanish designer Boris Bijan Saber for Salomon. If you are not afraid of experiments, then be sure to look at the sneakers, which are produced by one of the leading fashion houses Balenciaga.
