Plus Rise of the ‘dad’ trainer
ARE YOU READY FOR THE RISE OF THE DAD TRAINER?
The new shoe styles are distinctly uncool, says Stephen Doig – and that’s the whole point
We’ve mastered Gorpcore – the trend towards all things geology field trip, with cagoules, toggles and climbing kit yomping across the catwalks, all but crying out for a flask of tea and an Ordnance Survey guide to the Lakes. Now an equally curious style looks set to take over your shoe cupboard: enter the dad trainer.
Taking the form of wincingly functional, slightly orthopaediclooking trainers, they are the footwear equivalent of a cringe-inducing pun or comedy sweater. But thanks to star turns on the most highbrow of catwalks, they’re also no joke. An item that two decades ago would have been prime dad territory – a clomping, steady trainer to see you up Snowdon in the drizzle – has become an ironic fashion status symbol.
For one of his first menswear collections for Paris fashion house Balenciaga, cult designer Demna Gvasalia punctuated each look (that’s fashion speak for “outfit”, gentlemen) with trainers straight from the Blacks “Industrial Footwear” section, complete with chunky, clunky soles, tech fabrics and climbers cord laces. A host of other, similar styles – complete with mesh panelling, textured rubber panels, exaggerated sawtooth soles and questionable colour clashes – have followed suit from the likes of Prada, Lanvin and even adidas. Deliberately “ugly” and riddled with design nods to functionality, they fly in the face of the sleek, upmarket trainers that are built for anything but running.
What’s clear is that the dad trainer is a world apart from his racier younger brother, the fashion trainer, who evolved a decade ago when the sporty shoe was elevated by way of glossy patinas, sumptuous suedes and exotic skins. Trainers suddenly became viable options to pair with suits, representing a loosening of tailoring rules that saw them walk off the streets and into the boardroom or glamorous bar. It’s telling that Lanvin, the brand that created a standout trainer in patent leather and suede in the mid-noughties, now offers a pair that wouldn’t look out of place jangling from your North Face backpack. These new low-tops might look like they’re ready for the great outdoors, but their natural habitat is more likely Shoreditch flat-white emporia than the Shropshire dales.
For as much as they mimic classic dad attire from the Eighties, they’re a tricky beast to master for any man over 35 with a brood of his own. It’s perhaps best to leave them to the millennial generation, safe in the knowledge that you paved the way with your sturdy kicks. If you’re game for a fashion adventure, don your dad trainers with artfully turned-up jeans in a dark selvedge denim – to make sure their bulky, amorphous shapes stand out – and stride with pride. Dad bod entirely optional.