Sneaking Suspicions
Tennis anyone?
I never expected to become a sneaker girl, and I still don’t self-identify as one, but the plain fact is I wear sneakers more often than not, and I have a lot of them. I grew up wearing Keds and then Jack Purcells. Back then, in Ohio, we called them tennis shoes.
Then I ran competitively for many years, and owned lots of New Balance running shoes, but I would have died before I wore those for anything other than running. I think I was permanently scarred by the years in New York when armies of working women trudged up and down Sixth Avenue in Talbott’s suits and big marshmallowy sneakers. It was not a good look.
Even then, though, a new sneakered look was emerging, a sort of Annie Oakley tomboy/Manic Pixie Dream Girl vintage-shirtwaist-dress-and-little-sneakers style that I rather liked, but didn’t fully embrace. I just wasn’t ready to wear sneakers as shoes, is what it was. Also, sneakers had not yet effloresced into the mega-category they are now. There were cotton canvas boys’ gym class sneakers, which is what these Pixie Dream Girls were wearing, and running shoes, and that was about it. I recently got a new pair of sneakers (details in a minute) that were described on the website as “lifestyle shoes”, which I think means that they aren’t recommended for any sport except being alive. That’s a whole new sneaker modality. Probably most of my sneakers are “lifestyle shoes”—they don’t have the cushioning or lateral support for active use. They’re sporty without being usable for sports.
