Me and my sneakers, from childhood to adolescence (part 1) – Carte blanche to… Nicolò

If you had known me as a child or teenager, you would never have bet that I would one day write articles related to clothing or style.

It must be said that it took me a long time to worry about my clothing style.

When I was still 14, I sometimes wore long-sleeved tees that had become much too short , since they were already three years old.

That, and pants with extreme holes, and even a parka that I had worn since the end of elementary school.

I did it not for stylistic reasons, but out of pure and simple negligence. Which had the gift of annoying my father, who said to me one day:

“But you look like a tramp Nicolò, you can’t go out like that!”

To which I responded, very candidly:

“Well it’s okay, I’m still in it right?” .

In short, where other parents complained about having teenagers who cost them too much for clothes , mine were rather exasperated by my total indifference towards clothing conventions.

I even did everything to avoid anyone buying me the slightest item of clothing, as I saw them as daunting and restrictive objects.

However, I was careful about my appearance.

Encouraged by both my father and my mother, I cared about my hair, about shaving , I put cream on my face, I already wore perfume, and even had preferences when it came to sunglasses...

Whether it was true or not, I did not disprove the cliché about the coquetry of Italians.

Despite that, I really didn't understand why people were so obsessed with clothes: too ephemeral, too changing with the seasons, too complicated to choose... I didn't (yet) see the point.

However, one room was an exception...

Shoes (and therefore, at this age, exclusively sneakers) already enjoyed a separate status and special consideration.

For this "Carte Blanche", I would like to tell you about the evolution of my relationship with sneakers throughout my life, from childhood to today , through different models and brands , and a good number of anecdotes personal.

It all starts with my father, and visually charged Nikes.

From childhood to late adolescence (part 1)

1. A father, a son, sneakers

At the time, Dad made it a point of honor for his son to have nice sneakers.

I think like many fathers, he projects a bit of his own childhood onto his son. He wants other kids to think he's cool.

And when he took me to choose a pair of Nikes from “Go Sport” or “Courir”, I felt a sense of pride in him.

Looking back, I believe he was proud to have acquired the financial means to do so, since he had arrived in France with many more dreams than money in his pocket.

But beyond that, he was simply a lover of beautiful sneakers.

I remember the pair of Air Force Ones he cherished: decorated with a gray camouflage pattern, with metal-tipped laces, that he bought in New York.

“ Ca Nicolo, we can’t find them anywhere anymore , ” he said enthusiastically.

“They are... COLLECTOR!” , he insisted, pronouncing the word in English tinged with Italian “R”s and “Ls”.

But at my age, I didn't care if other kids thought my shoes were cool. The idea that you could be judged by your shoes was, to me, incomprehensible.

On the other hand, I understood that all of this cost money, and that this money was the fruit of a parent's effort.

So, since it was so important to him , I worked to reproduce and display this pride that I perceived in my father.

And then, let's be honest...

These sneakers still had a certain appeal.

2. Nike “Which make you run very fast” (from childhood to when I was 13)

I don't remember the exact models.

I think in the pile, there were Air Max, TN ...

And for me, it was simple: the more it looked like it came straight out of a video game or superhero thing, the happier I was.

Come on, I'll even tell you something: if we could imagine them at the feet of Sonic the Hedgehog and his antagonist Shadow, I was won over.

And then, you know, we sometimes attribute superpowers to our clothes ...

Like many children, I imagined that the more "technical" the design of the shoe , the faster I would run , effortlessly, and jump high in the playground.

In retrospect, I realize that for teenagers and young adults of the time, these sneakers undoubtedly represented something stronger than the "toy" side that they had in my eyes.

The last pair of Nikes was cool, it was a status item , exactly.

But history shows it: from rock style to preppy style , a young person has never been able to find "cool" what his parents imposed on him as a matter of course when he was a child.

And I was no exception.

During the first years of college, social patterns begin to take shape in your life: there are people who are cool and popular, and others who are not.

Dreamer, quite reserved in public, more concerned with my video games and my fiction novels than with obtaining the approval of the group, (and casually already quite temperamental), I had no ambition to do part of the cool people.

However...

I wanted to be far enough from the opposite extreme so as not to give (another) opportunity to the jokers, always on the lookout for a comrade to ridicule.

And if that meant, among other things, putting on pumps that wouldn't attract attention , that doesn't matter!

So, I set out in search of the sneaker that I could wear without asking any questions.

In the end, the sneakers that I ended up asking my mother for were...

3. The Converse Consensus (12-15 years)

It was undoubtedly through this pair that I first grasped the concept of “timeless style”.

“When I was your age, we wore them too,” my mother told me.

“It will always come back into fashion,” she added, with certainty and a casualness that struck me.

“What do you mean, ALWAYS?” I thought, shocked at the prospect of an eternally right choice, and its implications.

The echo of these words will continue to make me think years later .

But in the meantime, I was convinced: if it came to style, clearly, Mom knew better than me, after all.

Seeing that lots of other teenagers were wearing them, I said to myself:

“Great then, we’ll take that, and we’ll finally stop bothering me with these shoe stories.”

Happy - proud, even! - to opt for absolute ease , I choose them black, trusting my mother to “get them in a great store, not far from school, where they are not too expensive!” .

In passing, I even remark to myself that “Still, it looks pretty good with black jeans!”.

But after two months, big disappointment: these Converse become wrecks.

This is where I learned, through I don't really know what opinion from a third party, that they were probably fake.

Hence the advantageous price... and the deplorable durability.

Never mind ! My mother bought me some: “This time, you can be sure they’re real!”

Indeed, they seem slightly different , I see that the fabric is not quite the same, nor are the soles... The previous ones must indeed have been counterfeits.

But three months later, same verdict : wrecks on the feet, again.

So of course, a teenager who only wears one pair of shoes at a time , it destroys your sneaker in no time.

That said, true or false, I had the impression that it amounted to a bit the same thing: they had not stood out for their solidity.

But a little out of spite, I continued to buy other pairs. Highs, lows...

I tried to alternate them, to be more careful... And above all, I had simply resigned myself to walking in these sneakers, which would only be good for ten days, but which had the merit of buying me a little social peace through their conformism.

That said, my 15th birthday was fast approaching...

And at that age , we begin to be an “individual”: yes sir, we are our own person, with our own tastes and opinions! (Or at least that's what we think.)

So for me it was the era where my favorite sneakers would be...

4. The Supra Aberrantes (15 years)

There are memories that your memory obscures for your own good.

Unfortunately, the completeness and probity that I always try to demonstrate have removed the veil.

They undid the lock that my subconscious had carefully placed on certain objects... And the memories associated with them.

Because you see, although they are flashy, it is not so much these Supras in themselves which cause me a sharp pain, a sudden feeling of shame, as what brought me to wear them.

So, let's get the thorn out of our side, and burst the abscess without further ado : I have...

No, it's too hard. I can not say it.

...But it has to be done. Out of professionalism, it is necessary.

I owe you the truth: towards the end of my 14th birthday, for a few months, I danced “tektonik” .

Or more precisely, what I called "electro dance"...

In a vain attempt not to be associated with phosphorescent freaks, reckless cockatoos who adorned their skulls with crests of gelled hair, and adorned themselves with clothes, each more tight-fitting and fluorescent than the last.

At that time, they were already so unanimously criticized that I dared not reveal to anyone, except those close to me, the pleasure I too found in dancing like that.

I assure you though, I never went so far as to dress like them.

But at 15 , I was like a sponge , suddenly soaking up all the forms of musical expression that I came across.

And for me, the clothing had to reflect the emotions that the music provoked in me.

However, it turns out that a certain dancer (whose name I have forgotten) left a strong impression on me in a clip on TV: aerial, flexible, skillful, he danced differently, as if he were " made of rubber.

And above all, unlike the others: he used his feet , executing steps with disconcerting ease.

Feet which were, in fact, shod with a pair of Supra Sky Top, in a zebra pattern , just as alluring, which I however could not find.

Admired, I set out to take the same ones: I too would go further than simply waving my arms above my head, secretly in my room. I too would dance... with my feet!

And these shoes evoked magical powers in me like I hadn't seen in a pair since my childhood Nike "Shark".

In fact, I was sinning through ignorance : since I had barely any idea of ​​the existence of other styles of dance, It took me a few months to understand that absolutely everything I loved about this dance, every step I found "cool", was in fact a reworking, almost aped, of what we found in various styles of dance. Hip Hop dance.

And that this famous dancer who had inspired me was in fact... A hip hop dancer , who had somewhat modified his brand image to match the commercial trend.

So I had discovered the pleasure of movement, of self-expression through the body and rhythm... But I just hadn't discovered it in the right place!

Strengthened by this revelation, and now knowing the true cultural affiliation of my Supras , I would sign up for hip hop dance classes . First breakdancing but... It was a little too physically demanding.

And then I hear about "Funk Style", "Locking", "Popping"...

I go to a class, led by a teacher who looked like he came straight out of Brooklyn in the 90s.

And I have a big crush on this universe , which already at that moment was completely anachronistic!

No doubt due to lack of rigor , I would not continue the lessons. The teacher, in his immense "coolness", lets me go with a smile "You know, dance... you either learn it or you live it".

I think I understand what he means, and it warms my heart.

Moreover, at the same time, I would discover Michael Jackson , the only person on earth who was capable of making me wear moccasins , for the space of a year or two.

Two pairs of Weston moccasins from elsewhere, that my father-in-law , had passed on to me. A black pair, and an entirely white pair .

But I digress, these are not sneakers.

Regardless, I will never completely stop dancing after this, and it will impact the way I choose clothes .

And basically I owe it a little to the series of events that these colorful Supras triggered ... And to Michael Jackson, of course.

Moreover, the grace and agility of his movements swept away everything else in my eyes as an impressionable teenager, immediately drowning out any interest I may have had for other styles of dance.

But above all, his Pop music of varied inspiration will allow me to gradually reconnect with Soul, Rhythm n' Blues, and particularly Funk ... Which were precisely the favorite genres of my parents, and particularly my father.

At that moment, the sneakers that would mark the rest of my adolescence and allow me to express this musical journey were going to be...

The Nike Dunk de la Funk (16 to 19 years old)

Where did my love for this model come from?

Were they fashionable when I wore them? No more than that, in my memories, I was even a little out of step .

The slightly trendy guys around me were more often in Nike SB “Blazer” , a pump with a slightly more skate look.

At the end of this period, I even think that I was already witnessing the return of the Air Max to one or two friends who were always two trains ahead of the trends.

But I gradually came to the idea that complying with the law of the majority was not like me , and I did not like it.

I admit that I already liked the contradiction.

But not necessarily a frontal contradiction, not an “opposition”: I was trying to do what a friend very rightly calls “the sidestep” .

That is, choose the path that forks.

Placing yourself "outside" the debate, via a choice is neither a "compromise", nor a rejection of the norm, nor an adherence to it...

So I choose Dunks : tall too, with a “soft” appearance, but more massive in their shape , and more complex in their lines.

After checking, I estimate at this moment that they are "not really fashionable, but not too "not fashionable" either" , which gives me a secret satisfaction.

Plus, the shape of the toe and the perforations also remind me of my dad's Air Force Ones .

That probably had something reassuring for me.

And then, there is a practical aspect to this choice: I choose them because thanks to their soft but thick sole, they are able to hold pointe shoes.

Yes yes, “spikes”.

Because, as said earlier, at that moment, I dance, and I dance a lot .

So it seems stupid like that, but try doing this:

Ten times a day , with the same pair of shoes.

And you will see that suddenly, your sustainability standards will have to be revised upwards.

But let's give Caesar what is Caesar's: these Dunks (as well as the other pair to come) will have lasted me longer because I wore them alternating with the Westons mentioned earlier... Which suffered levels of abuse unheard of, and a good number of resolings , until finally becoming importable.

Now, if I only told you about this first pair of Dunks, they wouldn't deserve their title of "Dunk of the Funk" .

The other pair that deserves this name is this one:

Seeing this, you might legitimately wonder if I wasn't just trying to do everything to get noticed.

But that wasn't quite the case.

The year I turned sixteen was a difficult year for me.

In the space of eight months, I suffered a few trials, the most notable of which were a divorce on one side of my family, and especially on the other side, the death of my father.

...Stop, put away the violins! I wouldn't tell you about it if it didn't give the necessary context to the story of these sneakers.

Simply, when you are faced with these kinds of events, at an age where your identity is being constructed, you hold on to what you can .

And the need to assert oneself , already important for most teenagers, became essential for me.

However, there are healthy ways to do it, and others that are less healthy.

I was lucky to be able to do it quite healthily : by immersing myself in the music that my father was passionate about and which, by the fruit of destiny, had started to fascinate me shortly before he left, I maintained a form of connection .

I still danced, I even took singing lessons, and I went back in time through the old playlists he made for me when I was little.

But then why these shoes with their improbable customization?

At the time, the world (or at least those around me) only had eyes for Rock, and then, more and more, Techno.

But I needed the world to know.

Let him know that wherever I walked , my steps were carried by the power and joy of this moving music , of the “Groove” of another time.

By the sweet inexplicable madness of Funk, and the raw intensity of Soul.

Even today, like a totem, this pair (much more worn than in the photo) remains safe in the back of my closet.