I remember feeling like I was on the cutting edge of fashion when I showed up at the Supreme store on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles at 5 AM to stand in line for a fresh pair of Supreme x Nike SB Blazers (pictured above). That was four or five years ago. My, how times have changed. If you caught me wearing something emblazoned with a swoosh outside the gym today, I’d probably hang my head in embarrassment.
This should come as no surprise. I’m definitely not on the cutting edge with this post. Hell, I’m probably at least three years behind the curve. The shift toward sobriety in menswear can be directly traced to the economic collapse of 2008. When the economy goes south, people do (at least) two things: they project a more serious image to the world, and they get frugal. Furthermore, true frugality reflects a concern with decreased costs over time. These two factors reinforce each other, resulting in your average American male taking interest in $300 Allen Edmonds cap toes and $600 Alden boots.
The part in the previous paragraph about true frugality concerning costs over time is the most important. A pair of Allen Edmonds, properly cared for, will literally—and I know how to use the word literally—last you for the rest of your life. The same can’t be said for Nike Dunks, and even if it could… Does it matter how long something lasts if the trend it exploits comes and goes within a handful of years? You know the answer is no.
God willing, one of these days years we’ll emerge from this recession. And when that happens, young men will probably start throwing money around on sneakers again. That’s all well and good, but I’ll probably sit this next round out. Mostly because, well, I’ll be a stodgy old lawyer by then, but also because dropping foolish amounts of coin chasing fashion over style seems silly to me now. Looking back, as much as I love those Supreme Blazers, I sure wish I’d spent that money on a solid pair of monk straps instead.
I’m never going to stop wearing Converse All Stars when I’m lifting weights or vintage Rod Lavers during the summer. But my days of showing up at a bar or club feeling entitled because I spent however many hundreds of dollars on my sneakers are over. And I’m a little ashamed that they ever existed in the first place.
