The other day I was in Selfridges buying my twentieth (or twenty-fifth) pair of trainers, sneakers, kicks or whatever we call them these days and it occurred to me that I am a sneaker head, a mini sneaker head perhaps, but one no less. A habit that has become something of a compulsion, sneaking up over time, and with the change in season, it becomes more pronounced as comfort becomes a guiding principle to style. As a die hard, dress girl, dressing up a dress with a pair of trainers can be somewhat challenging but you find a way that does not compromise on style.
The flats vs heels debate is one that has been raging for sometime; flats often times get the short end and unfair disregard, whilst trainers are dismissed as sloppy. Getting dressed should not be a internal debate on a daily basis, and trading style for comfort is not a compromise worth having. Life is complicated enough these days without us having to trade our personal comforts. Shoes pull an outfit together, they are an intricate part of the look, possibly the most openly intimate, therefore how they make you move in the day matters just as well. Whether you are running to catch the train, at work or in a bar after hours, shoes should be about your business. You know…
The question remains; trainers or no?
Having worked in retail, luxury footwear, I know first hand that nothing can be more thrilling than finding a pair of shoes that ticks all the boxes… it is the second coming of toast bread. Heels have that thing of making one feel more like an adult, going back to the days when you wanted to be grown up as a five year-old when you played in your mommy’s heels; I was that five-year old. Through my twenties, the heel heights became more ridiculous, and post clubbing the stripper heels were traded for the trusty flip-flops, without a care for the fashion, simply for relief and comfort. Comfort that has informed the recent revolutionary rise of the trainer in dressing up. It is a stance for personal preference when it comes to style, contrary to the wider expectations about what women should and shouldn’t wear. How we should or shouldn’t look.
Sneakers have become a fundamental part of our everyday wardrobe, besides bringing comfort, it adds to a silhouette, a look all your own. The pressure to look a certain way is often always influenced by what you see in magazines, street style photographers, Instagram etc. However, trainers on an outfit comes with a certain freedom and ownership of your style, your look and most important, on your terms. And that has got to be the sexiest you can be. Not a fad, or a trend, your style is you, it sticks and therefore should be comfortable no matter the heel height or cushioned comfort.
No, heels are not dead, they are never going to die, but it gives some comfort knowing that the choice does not make you feel any less human or woman and that in itself is some kind of wonderful.