As a kid, I was drawn towards Converse All-Stars because of their association with multi-genre musicians, as well as their colourful range (the brand's early-20th-Century founder Chuck Taylor set the tone with both his basketball skills and marketing prowess). I never belonged to a sports team or style tribe (Sneakers Unboxed highlights many fascinating examples, from British football "casuals" to Japanese collectors and Mexican "Cholombianos", who combine sneakers with sacred iconography) pop culture shaped my sneaker choices. It also long predated the anti-cool artistry of Edmond Looi's customised Adidas IKEA Ultraboost shoes (also displayed at Sneakers Unboxed) or the 2021 Tik Tok trend for simply-customisable "$15 Walmart sneakers", as viewed on various viral dance clips. When I think of my schoolmate's trainers now, her DIY branding actually seems brilliant, yet filled with pathos. Another girl at my secondary school was mocked for wearing plain non-branded trainers (we'd have never used the US term "sneakers") keen to be accepted, she wrote "NIKE" in ballpoint capital letters on the sides – and she was bullied even more mercilessly after that. I was heckled for wearing "foreign" (unrecognisable) shoes. When I lived in Saudi Arabia, there was a peculiar vogue for pastel LA Gear shoes with criss-cross laces when I moved back to South London, the footwear pressure intensified. It makes me recall the stress around wearing the "right" sneaker brands at my own schools in the late-80s and 90s. Many of its defining images stem from street scenes and black cultural innovations the show includes Martha Cooper's vivacious early-80s photographs of NYC breakdancers sporting robust Puma Clydes elsewhere, Grace Ladoja's 2015 doc short Air Max – The Uniform explores the London grime scene's favoured footwear. Salazar's own fashion and art background, and time spent playing semi-pro basketball in her teens, echoes the exhibition's multi-layered overview the theme is handled with clinical precision (one of the opening exhibits dissects the "anatomy of a sneaker"), but also in a way that offers a vital emotional kick. "What appealed to me was to tell the story of sneakers in a design context as they are ubiquitous everyday designed objects that have taken on such great meaning in many people's lives," says Ligaya Salazar, the curator of Sneakers Unboxed. London's Design Museum has also dedicated its latest exhibition, Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street, to the footwear phenomenon. In 1986, New York hip hop legends Run DMC created a ground-breaking anthem (and $1.6million brand endorsement deal) with their hit track My Adidas – and globally, sneaker statements and serenades have continued hard and fast since then, whether it's Dr Dre displaying his pristine stash of Nike Air Force 1s, or Lil Nas X's recent controversial/collectible "Satan Shoes". Over several decades, sneakers have sealed their status as a pop-culture currency. Boxfresh or battle-scuffed on the court, the catwalk, or at the club or corner store – sneakers (or trainers, or sports shoes, or whatever you might call them) seem to enlace every form, function and fantasy – across sport, fashion, art, movies and music.
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