CITY Issue 55 - (Page 48) CITY LIFE / IN ROGUE SNEAK ATTACK Long the territory of playground, hip-hop, and skater cultures, the sneaker has never quite crossed the threshold into high fashion — and that might not be such a bad thing. Elyssa Dimant laces up. E very boyfriend I’ve ever had has tried to get me into sneakers. Now, I’m a fashion gal. So I like my Louboutins, my Manolos, my Givenchys, and my I egula Choices too. I like ’em high, nea ly c ippling. The peekaboo is my shell toe, the platfo m sole my “Pump.” But you’d bette believe that amidst the ows of supe stilettos and mouth-wate ing wedges that line my closet sit a ve y potent pai of kicks: my pale yellow and navy vintage Nike Blaze s, a duo that has accompanied me fo too many yea s to ecall. Now I’ll admit, I feel a little funny exploiting the awesome powe of these shoes, as styley sneaks come f om basketball, f om hip-hop, f om skate s — in effect, f om t aditions and subcultu es that I will not eve app op iate o even fully unde stand. But I do get this: When a gi l is dolled up most of the time, wea ing boots that a e challenging to get on and o en to tu ous to get off, the e’s nothing quite as effective as slipping on some beat-up hi-tops on that lazy Sunday to amp up the ado able facto . Whe e fashion’s confections a e all sex and g ace and femininity, sneake s a e young, independent, st eet-wise, and self-assu ed. That’s not to say that the fashion set hasn’t come up with thei own t aine s: ohji amamoto’s fusion with didas fo the - line since sp ing has been a comme cial success, and lexande Mc ueen’s collabo ation with Puma has p oduced avant-ga de designs modeled a e the foot’s tendons, bones, and — fo Sp ing/Summe — musculatu e. But Mc ueen’s Pumas, with thei Nick Knight–designed “ManCat” logo, have yet to impact the consume ma ket quite like the image of Kill Bill’s Beat ix Kiddo c uising in he yellow-and-black Onitsuka Tige Injecto DXs to the tune of l Hi t’s RZ sco ed “G een Ho net.” Why? Because sneake s ep esent the Unde dog, the Renegade, and the U ban He o. The hipste s in Williamsbu g, Silve Lake, and Ha ajuku a en’t wea ing thei i Maxes and Van’s No Skools because Ma c Jacobs, John Galliano, o even den Wohl told them to. They’ e goaded to pu chase by NikeTalk (“The Ultimate Online Sneake Community”), by high-p ofile collecto s like Damon Dash, by cult websites like Sneake f eake o Footu ama. Buying an inside pai of t aine s is akin to actually being inside. The mids sneake scene was led by pu veyo s Run DMC, in all thei laceless didas glo y, E ic B and Rakim, and LL Cool J, in his classic “Radio” pose in Jo dan s. Ou st-centu y sneake idols a e Pha ell, with his Bape Roadstas, o Kanye, who spo ts a gi f om Jay-Z: one-of-a-kind Reebok S Ca te s designed especially fo him. G eedy Genius has given us “sneake connoisseu ship fo dummies” with p oducts inspi ed only by vintage classics, like the pache, a spitting image of the ea lys i Jo dan. The sneake , now inevitably stylish, is still the anti-fashion p oduct. Built f om function, exposed and p omoted by mid- to low-economic class he oes of u ban music and spo t cliques, the sneak can only succeed in opposition to fashion, as its c edibility is eliant on its symbolic value as a champion of the st eet. To pa aph ase Coco Chanel, a fashion isn’t successful unless it t ickles down to eve y st eet co ne . But what if the style lives, and has always lived, just down the block? Even t ends that eme ged distinctly f om inne city / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / ///// THE SNEAKER CAN ONLY SUCCEED IN OPPOSITION TO FASHION, AS ITS CREDIBILITY IS RELIANT ON ITS SYMBOLIC VALUE AS A CHAMPION OF THE STREET. subcultu es — ove -the-top gold monog am jewel y o baggy jeans come to mind most eadily — have been adapted and t ansfo med by the fashion unway to become fi st un ecognizable and then obsolete. But fashion’s attempts at app op iating the sneake have, fo the most pa t, fallen flat. The sneake , despite the exclusive natu e of the collecto ’s ma ket, is a democ atic commodity, whe eas high-fashion footwea is not. Kingpins Nike, didas, Puma, and Vans have consistently focused thei espective ene gies on einfusing st eet (and spo t) c edibility into thei p oducts. Vans has just added the Hosoi E a and Slip-on to its SK -Hi issue, based on s skate Ch istian Hosoi. The Puma Baskets a e a pack modeled a e NB champions f om the s. didas offe s the Muhammed li Classic and T aine , as well as the Missy Elliot collection. nd Nike iD, famous fo fusing the demog aphic and the designe , just eleased two limited-edition “Be T ue” Dunks, which will be gi ed to influential st eet sceneste s in Southeast sia. Nike’s B and Jo dan is even hosting a “Futu e Sole” competition fo - to -yea -olds to fi nd the next membe of its design team. Most t aine tote s a en’t necessa ily inte ested in the specifics of the symbiotic ise of the sneake , skate , and hip-hop subcultu es. They’ve felt Michael Jo dan’s influence as a basketball playe , but pe haps not as a shoe deity with dozens of sneake lines in his name. nd though they may play a little b-ball with buddies, o skateboa d the sidewalk all the way to b unch, they don’t use thei “spo ty” kicks fo spo t at all. But they do unde stand the sneake ’s unive sal appeal. Sneake design is affiliated with fashion via phenomenalism, and depends on fashion as its counte symbol. While fashion celeb ates wealth, sneake s celeb ate c edibility and comfo t. While fashion’s offe ings p omote idle leisu e, sneake s encou age you to “Just Do It.” Sneake fashion, in effect, elies on the ve y same system of image p omotion as fashion, but will always boast the distinction of consume ve satility: Whethe a new pai f om the didas Conso tium o an old set of i Fo ces, the sneake still embodies the ene gy, c eativity, and stylish indiffe ence of neighbo hoods he e, the e, and eve ywhe e. So to all you sneake fanatics out the e, who can’t quite get a handle on how those classic kicks ended up on that dumb kid, give him a b eak — the sneake wouldn’t be holding its own if it wasn’t available to all of us. nd even if I didn’t know that Blaze s we e wo n by Iceman back in ’ , I still look damn cute in my t usty old pai . CITY 48: Number of months your all-new 1 Series is covered under BMW’s Ultimate Service Plan ™ PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANTHONY CROSS
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