A not so brief introduction

My love of sneakers has been around a long time. Only recently though has the passion been reignited to the point where I want to start my own collection. My feet have known no other soles than those of sneakers and maybe the occasional school shoe. I have seen photos of me as a toddler in miniature reeboks and I guess the obsession only intensified from there. I begged mum to buy me basketball shoes even though I didn't play basketball, I wore my older cousins sneakers that were entirely too big for me, because they had all the coolest shoes but I did not.

I have this great memory, I was in primary school and one of my classmates got a pair of Nike's, in hind sight they weren't anything particularly amazing but I was envious. This envy caused me to berate my poor mother into buying me a pair, she told me of the slave labour Nike employed but that didn't bother me. I was nine after all, what would I care. I just wanted some super cool shoes. Like any good parent she indulged my wants and bought me a pair, they were some ridiculous price, considering I would grow out of them after a matter of months but they made me so happy. I remember not being able to wait to wear them to sports then next time I had it, thinking that all the kids would be just as jealous of me as I was of my peer. However it didn't turn out like that, it was then I began to realise that not everyone loved footwear, specifically sneakers as much as I did.

There is this other great memory I have from when I was a kid, when mum came to pick my brother and I up from our aunts she had a shoe box with her. In the shoe box were what I still firmly believe were the most amazing sneakers I have ever seen. I don't remember the name but they were these black converse, that had this opal like goo in the toe cap that moved around every time you walked. Those shoes for me made up for the fact that I never had any L.A Gear sneakers, the ones with the lights in the heels. Those converse sneakers did catch the attention of my classmates, I was so cool. If I could find a pair of those shoes today I would buy them in a heart beat, even if they didn't fit, just for nostalgia purposes.

When high school rolled around I was far more interested in skateboarding, thus came the array of skate shoes I owned. Mum again pandered to my wants and bought me pairs of Globes, Gallas, Etnies, Vans, Emericas, any skate shoe I could get way with wearing as a school shoe I would. Although I couldn't skate, I don't have the coordination to do so without break something, I made sure I was up on all skate fashion. I wanted to be like the pro skaters and the only way I could do that without actually skating was wearing the same shoes they did. It never really bothered me that most of the people I wanted to imitate were males, but now because of this project I can see how a lot of girls with similar obsessions to my own were idolising masculine rather than feminine people.

Every pair of shoes I have owned and want to own are generally meant for men, this is something that recently has really made my head spin. I'm really beginning to look carefully at the shoes I buy, trying to figure out why I want those ones and not the sequin covered hot pink dunks over there. For me I am naturally drawn to the nicer designs, it's the aesthetics at first. It's got to be the right mix of colours, then the cool silhouette of the shoe, then comes wearing it. When I try on a pair of sneakers and agonise over how I look in them, do the shoes suit me and do I look cool. Yes even at twenty years of age I still desire to look cool. I'm not really sure that is something that ever goes away. I digress, a lot of what I love about sneakers aside from the aesthetics are the confidence they give me. If I am rocking a cool pair of shoes — even if no one is looking down at my feet — I feel good about myself.

I still from time to time worry that I am not feminine enough but a lot less than I used to, because now I understand that there are plenty of other women around the world who love shoes just as much, if not more than I do and I want to get to know them.

I want to know why it is they love sneakers, and see what they think of sneaker culture today. Sometimes I look at it critically and think that it's really a giant boys club, but when I don't over think it I realise it really doesn't matter if you are male or female because if you love sneakers you are already apart of the culture. Though despite this, I want to look at the designs, the marketing, the advertisements, really suss out what's going on there in regards to the portrayal of women. To me there is an untapped market that these brands really haven't dipped into yet, and that is the female sneaker obsessed market. It's about time they notice us.