I’VE JUST got back home from the East End of London. I rarely leave the centre of town, but this morning my agent asked me to take my portfolio to a printing company, to get some cards made up for clients. So I get myself a travel card and a bottle of water and join the crowds on the underground… When I get off at Liverpool Street everyone is wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase. My trainers stand out and I feel a bit like Melanie Griffith in the 80s hit Working Girl where she wears a smart suit with trainers but changes into her heels once she gets to the office.
Then I take a bus even further east and drive past a market and very colourful streets full of vegetables and racks of Indian-looking clothes. I also notice lots of England flags everywhere: people’s balconies, shop fronts, cars, people – I even spot a man with a cropped haircut bleached blond and a red cross died on it! In fact, if by a miracle we end up in the final I think I might get my nails done especially with the St George’s cross, how much fun would that be?!
But despite our efforts to keep our spirits up in true British fashion, the morale is low. I, for one, was speechless on Sunday after the last minute of the England-France match. As it unravelled in front of my eyes in what felt like slow motion, we were taken from victory, to failure and finally to embarrassment… At least we beat the Swiss.
All this thinking about sport takes me to review my sports wardrobe, otherwise known as fitness chic, and I realise that my trainers in particular – which I wear so much – are showing signs of age. I’ll have to do a little window shopping on my way back. I own a pair of Gola Velcro ones which are easy to wear but really more of a shoe than a trainer, and some K Swiss classic white ones with red stripes, but I fancy a new pair, something nice and bright for the summer.
I go to Frontier in Soho to have a look, as I have often borrowed shoes from there for photo shoots and I know they have a good selection. Two very cute male assistants – who look like they have just returned from a skate park, with baggy jeans worn very VERY low and with underpants showing – are in the store. Very friendly and helpful, they talk me through their latest arrivals, styles and trends: “Vans are the most popular skate shoe,” they say. “These are very wide and comfortable.” They have a navy pair I try on, but they look too wide and I feel like a bit of a tomboy in them. We then look at the latest Gola shoes, classic in shape, bright and slim fitting, but – once again – I am not sold on the shoes as they are a little bit too bright for my taste. Then, I am shown a pair of New Balance red nylon shoes with gold trimming and the gold ‘N’ logo on the side. I try them on and simply have to have them.
I make my way home and put them on straight away. Once in my office, looking at my feet with a big grin on my face, I realise I don’t know how trainers began. I am intrigued about their origin, so I have a little browse on the net… Trainers originated in the US and – like most brilliant inventions – were made by accident. The first sneakers were made in 1866 out of vulcanised rubber, canvas and laces, and were worn by rich people while playing cricket and tennis on the beach. Charles Goodyear spilt sulphur into his hot rubber mix, which turned out to be perfect to make shoes, as they would stay firm and bouncy in hot or cold weather. Americans called them sneakers, because you can sneak around quietly, and we called them trainers – because they are meant to be worn to train – even if we just look the part and we’re only training to look fabulously casual!
