WHY WHITE TRAINERS ARE SO RIGHT
WHEN did women, such as myself, who couldn’t imagine going about their life without their trusty high heels, find themselves swept up in a whirlpool of white trainer love? While it’s hard to pinpoint the date exactly, I’d place it somewhere around 2017.
Admittedly Phoebe Philo, the fashion designer, had worn a pair of simple Stan Smiths six years earlier, when she took her bow at the Celine show in 2011. But it would take several more years for the trend to mature. And by the time Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning film director, dared to buck the red carpet diktat by teaming a white trouser suit with matching trainers at a premiere in August 2017, women the world over were beginning to sit up and notice. And boy, how we succumbed.
Where once we glided through summer on a rope wedge or dainty kitten heels, or in my case 9cm Manolo courts interspersed with a few Prada mules — we have now become pretty well inseparable from white trainers. And there have never been so many different styles on offer.
Let’s face it, bar Her Majesty the Queen, it’s hard to imagine a woman who hasn’t owned a pair. They’ve graced Downing Street — only yesterday Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries turned up for work in a pair — and Buckingham Palace . . . who could forget Emma
Thompson rocking up to receive her gong in 2018 wearing a pair by Stella McCartney? The Duchess of Cambridge and Samantha Cameron are also fans.
Indeed the possibility of reaching peak trainer might be looming. What a terrifying thought. Whatever could replace it?
Certainly over the past five years trainers have only grown in global popularity, becoming the lucrative cash cow for high fashion houses such as Balenciaga, Valentino, and Louis Vuitton and giving the handbag a run for its money as a reliable source of revenue.
BUT the extraordinary thing about trainers is they have a dual identity, and are able to operate at two polar opposite levels. They can be high fashion statements and completely ordinary at the same time. Utilitarian and sporty while still being rarified objects of desire. And although worn by so many people of all ages and professions, they have managed to maintain their allure. Quite some feat for a pair of white shoes derived from the cotton footwear Henry VIII wore to play real tennis at Hampton Court.
Indeed, there is an irony in the fact that the original appeal of sneakers, the more recent prototype of today’s trainers, was in street style and adopted by musicians. The transformation from street to chic came when sportswear brands such as Nike, Adidas and Puma realised they could charge a large premium on their everyday styles for microbranded ranges; Stan Smith for Adidas, Michael Jordan’s Nike Air Max. Small change — huge price difference.
This high-low mix is the trainer’s secret. When Michelle Obama wears trainers for a short shoe shuffle with Ellen DeGeneres, or more recently Olena Zelenska meets up with Jill Biden, you are looking at women who want to be part of the commonality of womanhood, as opposed say, to the distanced Gianvito Rossi spikes of an aloof Melania Trump.
Contrast this with the curious picture of Meghan Markle this week, navigating the turf of a Santa Barbara polo field to watch her prince, in spiky black high heels. I can’t be the only woman who thought, what on earth’s going on? Why isn’t she wearing those vegan Veja trainers she so adores — and indeed first brought to mainstream UK attention?
Surely that would have been more suitable than those shin spikes sinking in the turf. But then there’s no knowing what’s going on, when it comes to Meghan.
My own descent into trainer dependency came in 2018 in the form of a £400 pair of Balenciaga trainers that I bought during a rainstorm in Athens (as you do).
I’d never owned a pair prior to that. And certainly never considered spending such money. But these were objects of such beauty, pointy-toed with a grosgrain black band that they lured me in. I never regretted it. Everyone complimented me on them, even the
local dry cleaner, and I still mourn their passing. Which is a constant state of affairs when it comes to white trainers as they need to be replaced so often.
Nothing looks quite as gorgeous as gleaming boxfresh trainers and nothing as dispiriting as a grimy pair past their first flush. To combat this almost immediate obsolescence, it’s worth considering pairs with a bit of extra design detail so the glory is not 100 per cent dependent on that pristine whiteness.
Chloe has beautiful embroidered suede and mesh trainers which combine femininity with edginess. Penelope Chilvers’ Rocks have Velcro fastening and brown suede backs to add a dash of ruggedness. M&S have plain white laceups which are so inexpensive you could buy a couple of pairs to see you through the summer.
The mystery, though, is why we have so taken to these pieces of footwear that do little to define the ankle, lengthen the leg or even flatter the calf.
The easy answer might be comfort, but then sheepskin slippers are also comfy and few of us would ever spend triple figures on them. Nor has the appeal of a trainer anything to do with the sloppiness of pandemic dressing.
No, it’s that they allow us to feel rooted. We know we wear them rather than them wearing us.
A pristine pair of trainers is the easiest feel-good item in the world. Let’s just hope they don’t go out of fashion anytime soon.