(Cover photo credit: Sneaker District)

1. A STORY OF WAKING KNEES

First, set the context. Since the end of 2017, I have suffered from a pathology which severely limits my travel. Both knees are affected, and more specifically the patellar area. It's quite a complex thing, which I myself find difficult to explain. Each case is obviously different and no, bodybuilding does not solve all problems.

Also, I can only invite you to be careful with the many stories, legends and more or less scientific remedies that you will find for knee pain on the web. Nothing beats good medical support, although I grant you, it can sometimes be complicated to find.

The body is a “ fascinating machine”, studied for centuries and always connected in one way or another to our psychological state. How does this evil manifest itself in me?

By more or less acute pain during exercise or prolonged standing. During the inflammatory phases, it's a bit as if my thighs were mounted on spikes, which makes walking complicated at best, and impossible at worst . And it takes weeks to heal...

So I now have limits, which I can hardly push further but which can come back down at high speed if I am not careful. That said, this comeback is already a surprise and a small feat in itself.

So much for the legacy of my previous job, which gave me the opportunity to experience strict confinement well before the appearance of Covid 19 and to learn more about myself and a new world: men's fashion . That is to say, I still managed to bounce back, despite the difficulties inherent to the disability.

Better: after months of treatment and rehabilitation, I returned to almost normal life and walking. It's not quite a miracle. But there is a bit of that nonetheless. We never quite imagine how lucky we are to be able to walk .

The first time I was able to put one foot in front of the other again outdoors, it was almost like in a Terence Malick film or, in the same genre, what you hear in this song:

I cried about it. But the gradual return to social life also means a return to an active life, retraining, training, employment procedures, etc. It's a real way of the cross, sometimes even a double punishment. Because we must not only fight against “disease” but also against prejudices and administrative burdens of all kinds.

If we are lucky enough to find a little light again, it is not only ourselves that we illuminate but also all the people who accompany us: those around us, health professionals and all those who work in the field. shade to help people with disabilities. It's not nothing.

For my part, I have been recognized as a disabled worker since 2018. It's something that we must learn to accept. Disability changes a lot of things in one's life, starting with the way others look at you if it is known and/or visible. The style therefore quite naturally played its part in my reconstruction .

As you know, the established expression is “person with reduced mobility”. But I never use this mitigating formula. In fact, the first days following the diagnosis were terribly violent. We are never prepared for that.

On the other hand, this formula describes part of my daily life and the more or less serious problems that I face quite well. And who says walking, obviously says shoes ...

2. CLOTHING, MUCH MORE THAN A PASSION

It is often said that finding your style is a search for yourself . I could have chosen not to change, to make arrangements with what existed. But imagine that the first thing I did once I accepted the disability information was to trash the locker room of my previous life and gradually build a new one.

That I am now at BonneGueule is almost no coincidence: clothing for me is much more than a passion, it has opened a new path for me .

Almost two years ago, I had fun listing my pairs of shoes. There was no question of restrictions yet: I could generally wear whatever I wanted . I built most of this collection when I could barely walk. It sounds like a bad joke and yet it's true. It may even have helped me find the strength to get back on my feet.

It was before BonneGueule, in this in-between where exams pass by, where we don't really know what we're going to become professionally, or even if the future will be written in a wheelchair or not. In addition to the disability and emotional shock, I also dealt with financial insecurity.

I could have collapsed at that moment and besides, not everyone is lucky enough to be able to “beat” a handicap. Except I started getting more interested in clothes at the same time and it somehow saved my life.

Among my passions at the time: shoes. I sold absolutely everything I owned. Due to a lack of budget, I began to develop a rather astonishing talent for finding new or almost new pairs at very low prices . Today, I have six pairs left of the nine presented here:

A few others have arrived since: a new pair of white sneakers, grained leather boots and three pairs of moccasins including Alden - the Holy Grail for enthusiasts. Until now, I was able to alternate my pairs according to the desires and the seasons.

When you have a disability, when everything is pretty much okay and you are surrounded by able-bodied people, you tend to forget that you are a little different from others.

This is precisely what happened to me last March. The sudden relapse that followed the snowy experience recounted in the article above served as a wake-up call. New forced confinement, return to the basics of rehabilitation . One foot after the other. Always the same story.

So it was off again for a ride and even today, I still haven't come out of it. But something has changed since the first time: I also have to learn to say goodbye to shoes . For a while, only?

3. DISCOVERY OF RUNNING

Admit that it would be a shame to have beautiful pairs of leather shoes and no longer be able to wear them . However, that doesn't mean I never wear them again. Just that I can no longer use them for active walking.

The scientific reason is that my leather or even Margom soles do not adapt sufficiently to movement and that they also absorb shock much less than more flexible soles. It doesn't help me get back to normal.

In short, it's simply time to start running. For me, this is a real revolution. In fact, I've been resisting these sporty shoes for decades.

As a kid, I was banned from sports at school: bone/muscle growth problem. Maybe you see what the kids are like at school? I quite naturally moved towards more intellectual activities, to survive. Since then, I don't really like athletes, nor the style that goes with it . But I ended up breaking down, to find my legs, and a little reluctantly it goes without saying. Because it doesn't match my style or my personal aspirations.

I didn't look for long for THE pair of running shoes I needed. I had at most two brand names in mind. If they had been available in my size, I would have been tempted by our own running shoes, simple enough that I could easily integrate them into my outfits.

But fate having decided otherwise, I turned to a renowned brand in this style of sneakers: New Balance . My very first pair. And since it's as much a first as a combination of circumstances, I thought a little idealistically that we had to go all out.

I am therefore the happy owner of a pair of New Balance 1500 made in UK pink and gray . Benoît has the same ones in gray. And as you can listen to in our podcast, we don't have exactly the same way of wearing them:

No matter: now that I have chosen these shoes, it is now a matter of integrating them into my daily outfits and wearing them. You will tell me: but finally, why take them in PINK?!!

Mainly to mark the occasion and not forget what happens if I let my guard down. It is also an important moment in my stylistic journey, almost a transgression . And then, they are simply very beautiful to look at. And that too is important.

To go further on pink, if ever:

4. TOWARDS A NEW STYLE?

I'm starting with running shoes. First observation: it's quite close to the slipper and it significantly changes my gait. But after a few ports, I'm already starting to see some benefits. My walking, for example, is more flexible, and I suffer less on cobblestones.

If the comfort is undeniable, this new pair of shoes forces me to rethink the way I construct my outfits . That is to say that the shoes are now the starting point, and that I also have to deal with pink. So, am I now heading towards sportswear , a bit like Paul Binam below?

It's no secret: the stylistic world of sport and me make two. So I try to find a balance. The one I have at the moment is a marriage of retro and contemporary style which you will discover in more detail in one of our next newsletters. Yes, you have to know how to keep the suspense!

IN THE MEANWHILE, MY TEACHINGS:

• Running shoes go more easily with wide pants (for my taste), and they can even be subtly dressed up (with pleats, for example)
• The pink and gray color of the shoes allows you to juggle with dark blue, olive green, ecru and of course gray
• Tops are the most difficult to put together, especially because you have to find the right balance between casual and dressy (if like me you don't want to go totally for the streetwear side of the force)

In short, I discovered. The frustration turned into play and various fittings. But I don't forget my shoes.

And you, have you ever been “forced” to wear something that didn’t quite suit you? And what would you do if you suddenly had to do without leather shoes for an indefinite period?

For our advice on shoes, if necessary: