Not everyone's cup of tea . . . .

. . . . Trainers (or Sneaks' if I'm trying to be cool)

I have a lifelong love for trainers. After reading other blogs, I see that they are not a favoured type of footwear among other vintage-ites. For me, they are a part of who I am, regardless of whether I like vintage or not. I am not ashamed to say I like trainers, but they have to be something special for me to like them. 

I think the love began after I had a pair of second hand Nike Cortez in baby pink when I was around 3 or 4. There is a photo at my parents of me hoovering the bathroom whilst wearing them. I think I may have even learnt to tie my laces in these shoes. The arrival of the Spice Girls a few years later instilled my trainer love even more when Sporty Spice had a pretty cool blue and green pair of Adidas trainers (or Adeeedas Trainees as she called them), I just HAD to have them! A family excursion to London Town saw us entering the Adidas concession in Harrods to find 'THE' trainers. All dreams were shattered when the staff member returned empty handed, as they didnt stock my size! Sad Face.

A few weeks later, spirits were lifted again when I found a new, cooler pair of adidas. They were the brightest cerise, with teeny green flashes. I replaced the boring laces with those cool springy ones, and they were my trusted friends for many years to follow.

Since then I have fallen in love with a number of trainers, and I will never stop loving each and every pair I own. I bought them for a reason, and I could never part with them. My trustiest and most adaptable pair I own are my £3.50 black baseballs boots from the Blue Cross Next store in Leeds. I have had them since I was 14 (10 whole years), and even though they are literally falling apart at the seams, I keep glueing them back together as they are AWESOME! They go with big jeans, little jeans, leggins, shorts, dresses and skirts- hell they even look cute when I'm in my swimmer ;-)

I have my Skate trainers from my rebellious late teens- the comfiest trainers known to man, my Osiris D3's. Dreadfully hard to come by at the time, and still seem to be. I bought them because the ex had a pair and he wanted us to have his'n'hers shoes, we thought we were sooo cool- saying that, we actually were cool.

These Circa's were given to me as an extremely early birthday present during the winter season of 2006/2007. We were working in France as chalet hosts in Courchevel. I was bought these as they were MASSIVE and helped me stay on my feet whilst trudging through the snow covered streets and pistes. They are a size 7, two sizes bigger than I would normally wear but are so padded that they actually fit like a glove.

I have my other skate trainers, my Nike 'Paul Rodriguez Limited Edition' Zoom Air's. Multicoloured and have a red quilted lining, much like Hugh Hefners smoking jackets. They were bought on a romantic trip to Edinburgh, with Exxy Dearest (we were very much in love at the time and we again bought his'n'hers). The man in the shop said he liked my Hello Kitty socks :-)

These were bought after a holibob to Lanzarote when the ex bought himself a gold pair of sneaks. I was so jealous of his feet that week, so decided that since my legs were beautifully bronzed they would go very well with my own pair of gold trainers. I treated myself to these in the Schuh sale for a teensy price of £25 (reduced from £75).

These were bought because they're just quite funky colours- definitely summer trainers, avec shorts and tanned pins.

 

These are also my summer ones, more like sandals. I have found out that these are no good for wearing on a rowing machine.

My most prized trainers are my Nike Court Force's. Bought using a friends staff discount at my previous job. I saw these in the window of the shop and fell in love. The blue- striking, the yellow- vibrant, the polka dots and sparkle- cuuuuute, and the little bit of pink- well that's just attention to detail- like me, immortalised in a shoe. These trainers are kept for best, to impress others, and to basically grab attention at every possible opportunity. 

I have so many other pairs of trainers too, but these are the select few at the top of my favourites list.

I may want to be a 1940's pretty, but as everyone knows, we all have a Jekyll to our Hyde. Mine just happens to be a trainer wearing street dance wannabe with a place in her heart for skateboarding, parkour and music that you'll find on the 'Step Up' movies and the Lucozade light advert- DJ Fresh, I salute you.

PS- I am NOT a Part-Time chav