REFASHIONED: the commuter trainer
ATHLEISURE: NOW THERE’S A
WORD that won’t budge from the fashion lexicon. And you can put it all down to our collective refusal to get out of our trainers. Pristine white Stan Smiths, skater girl Vans, minimal Veja plimsolls, maybe even a flashy designer pair… Whatever, so long as they’re flat, lace-up and you have no intention of doing actual sport in them, we’re in. And while these knockabout kicks are nice and all, we’re now ready to take our trainer relationship to the next level. Ladies, it’s time to get real.
The new news in trainers is the commuter trainer. You know the type, you’re probably more used to seeing them worn with a suit and weary expression on the Piccadilly Line at 8.30am (uncomfortable work-appropriate heels stowed in a heaving handbag or stashed safely under a desk somewhere) than the catwalk. But the frighteningly functional, clumpy and distinctly uncool trainer-trainers just got the FROW seal of approval.
The street-style scene at Copenhagen Fashion Week – a real life Pinterest board of things we actually want to wear – was awash with these commuter trainers. Pernille Teisbaek (far left), the ultimate Scandi cool girl, was more Working Girl in her shoulder-padded Balenciaga skirt suit and New Balance 991 trainers. Elsewhere there were Fila Disruptor Lows with floaty dresses and Air Max 95s with lace skirts.
So where’s the appeal? Well, beyond not having to lug an extra pair of shoes around, as any wearers of Birkenstocks or Crocs will know, it takes innate sartorial confidence to wear a traditionally ‘ugly’ shoe and make it look fab. They’re the ultimate signifier of effortlessness with a light-hearted touch of irony. The commute shoe just became the destination shoe.