Dear Sneakerheads

Sneakers are most people’s introduction to fashion. Shoes are often recognized as the most important part of someone’s outfit. They are the piece people know the price, the history, and the exclusivity of. While sneakers garner a lot of attention, if you are only investing in sneakers to look stylish, you are hindering the growth of your personal style and lowering the ceiling for experimentation.

Most fashion blogs will tell you not to wear sneakers to elevate your style because they look unprofessional, or trendy, but these are the wrong reasons to avoid centering an outfit around a sneaker. You should wear sneakers, they are a fashion staple. Telling a client or a reader to avoid sneakers is hypocrisy. Sneakers are timeless and have produced a myriad of classic silhouettes. While many high-end designer brands have begun dipping into the market, it does not make sneakers a trend. Many sneakers like the Old Skool, the GAT, and the Chuck have transcended time, staying stylish for decades, and worn correctly classic silhouettes can pair a look no matter how expensive/professional you are trying to look.

I am not telling you to avoid wearing sneakers because they are unprofessional or trendy. Wearing sneakers is fine, the issue comes from the thesis of sneakerhead culture: the action of putting sneakers on a pedestal to the point where the hype and culture surrounding the shoes begins to emulate luxury and style. Luxury in fashion should be defined by expertly crafted and purposeful clothes. The price comes from the composition and practice behind the piece. It has independent value, meaning that without the influence of popular opinion it is worth the expensive price it fetches. When you buy a pair of Off-White Jordan 1 Chicagos you are walking around with $3,000 on your feet, which because of the price should be a luxury item. The price is fabricated by hype and exclusivity though. The shoe was sold at $190, and now is going for almost 1500% retail value. The resale value can be deceiving because at the end of the day the sneaker was made in China, not handcrafted in Italy, and represents a popular streetwear trend rather than portray an underlying theme of a cohesive well-inspired collection. This misconstrued idea of luxury through the lens of sneakerhead culture portrays sneakers as extravagant lavish items that can be used as statement pieces.

Sneakerhead culture makes another inappropriate comparison. They start by synonymizing exclusivity and luxury and then do the same thing with luxury and style. Researching for this article I looked at many of the universally best-dressed sneakerheads appearing on lists by Complex, GQ and Esquire. These magazines are go-to’s for many regarding style advice and trend analysis so I felt comfortable trusting their summarization of the leaders in sneakerhead style. Looking at the pictures I was underwhelmed. The individuals featured all followed the same unimpressive formula: a rare or expensive sneaker paired with joggers and a jacket, or sweatsuit. While not every sneakerhead pairs their shoes with a full groutfit, the sneaker is always the focus of the outfit, the beginning, and end, with the rest of the garms only existing as humble complementary pieces. One piece of clothing cannot make up a whole outfit. An outfit by definition is the summation of everything you are wearing, so putting the focus on only one small portion defeats any ambition to be stylish.

Embodying and following the rules of sneakerhead culture holds back any potential of dressing well, so I want to reverse engineer this logic to help you better understand what you can do to elevate your style and dress in an authentically luxurious and stylish manner.

First, stop choosing sneakers as the statement piece of your look. Sneakers should always pair with an outfit, they should never be the focal point. No matter how expensive your sneaker, if your whole outfit orbits around it, I’m sorry to tell you, you will never look good. Sneakers by definition are athletic shoes. They are not made to be dressed up, so if they are, they must match in subtlety the outfit they are joining. A perfect example in black and white is pairing sneakers with a suit. Replacing your Brogues with Airmags will create a tasteless mess. Swapping your double monks for some Common Projects though will complement the suit well. The Airmags while exclusive and expensive, feature too sporty of a silhouette and pair poorly with the suit, whereas the Common Projects are more subtle and can be dressed up more appropriately. Even though you can buy 100 pairs of Common Projects before one pair of Airmags they match more appropriately. The sneakers do not work as the statement piece, the focus is on the suit creating a more holistically stylish outfit. It does not matter how expensive the sneaker is, if it does not match your fit you will look cheap.

Second, invest in other articles of clothing so you stop relying on shoes to carry the fit. Look at the picture above, we get a good look at the world-renowned champion battle rapper Conceited pimping out his new kicks. He’s wearing the Acronym Prestos, matching the shoes’ black highlights and appropriately named volt details with his jacket and jeans. Even though he perfectly matched the colors of the shoes he looks absolutely ridiculous. The silhouettes match terribly not pairing the aesthetic of the shoe at all. The Acronym Presto is a techwear shoe, so it should be dressed appropriately. Look now at the fit on the right. The Presto bleeds in perfectly when matched with an ACG Jacket and Acronym pants. The techwear aesthetic of the sneaker is complemented perfectly. The person on the right has invested in clothes that match the sneaker creating an exponentially better fit. He has paid attention to the silhouettes and materials that match the shoe. Not every sneaker can match a hoodie and jeans so shop appropriately diversifying your wardrobe to match what you have.

Finally, diversify what you wear on your feet. A sneaker is just one kind of shoe. Being a sneakerhead limits your field of vision so much. It’s like looking through a telescope rather than the open sky. By only buying sneakers you neglect a myriad of other silhouettes and styles. Being stylish is all about experimenting and finding what fits your distinct personality which becomes impossible if you trap yourself in a box. Next time you are shopping for a pair of shoes start to look at other styles popular brands produce. Balenciaga is famous for its Triple S silhouette, but they make a good handful of other gorgeous styles. Take for example the Santiag and Loafer shown above, they distinctly differentiate themselves from the Triple S representing completely distinct aesthetics. Not everyone can afford Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci Balenci, but the other silhouettes they produce are timeless staples with a multitude of cheap vintage options you can afford, while still staying in style.

I am not going to dismiss sneakers, they are a fashion staple and here to stay, but not as easy to tackle stylistically as other shoes. There is so much diversity within the sneaker world that no stylish uniform has been created and sneakers evolve and adapt so quickly that I doubt there ever will be one for them. Even without a uniform though, there are still rules for styling. Sneakers are not luxury items, and not made to be used as a staple piece in any outfit. They work perfectly to compliment and humble any fit when paired appropriately. They also provide a fun, playful, sporty vibe unmatched by any other type of shoe, so wear them accordingly. Take a look at your sneaker collection and see what shoes match the rest of your wardrobe. If you cannot make a proper fit with the sneakers, sell them while they still have resale value, or buy the clothes you need to style them properly. Challenge yourself in the future to experiment with different styles as well. Pick up some shoes that aren’t sneakers and see where that leads you.

Until then stay being your clown ass self I’ll love you no matter what

Love Sam