Favorite shoes,Popular culture,Sneakers,Style

SNEAKER CULTURE…WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

posted on : May 5, 2023 posted by : admin 0 Comment

Marla and I attended last weeks Denver Art Museum’s Luncheon by Design. It was a very cool fundraising event drawing Denver’s design and creative community, lovers of architecture and fashion, and supporters of the architecture and design department. The theme was…SNEAKER CULTURE.

Headlining the event was Elizabeth Semmelhack, the Senior Curator and Director of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto. She took us on a fascinating journey from sports shoes to the present day sneaker fascination. I loved her segment on shoe collecting which is huge. “Sneakerheads…you know who you are!“

I was fascinated with her segment on world famous Jesse Owens and his shoes from the 1936 Olympics in Berlin! Years ago I heard Jesse Owens was hospitalized in Denver. As a former track athlete and fan of all things running, I tried to visit him in the hospital, but unable to see him, I did leave flowers.

Walt Frazier was the first NBA player to sign a shoe deal. Puma was his shoe. Look at Puma’s video on Walt Frazier.

The union between Adidas and Run-DMC established a milestone in sneaker history, becoming the first sponsorship of a musical group from a sports brand. Check out this compilation RUN DMC-ADIDAS VIDEO.

And…in 1985 everything changed! Nike released the original Air Jordan creating one of the most successful brand-athlete pairings in the history of sneaker culture. Check out this video of Michael Jordan and the iconic shoe!

Koya Nyangi owns a fashion company advocating and championing African fashion globally. She was one of the moderators on a creative sneaker design panel.

Marla and some ladies in attendance.

Love the colors of the pants and shoes.

Creative sneakers worn by our good friend, Leanna Boers, owner of the Hoff Miller Showroom at the Denver Design District.

Many “Fashion People” at the luncheon wore some…interesting outfits. I believe the woman on the right wore an outfit made from one of our old fabrics when we owned Wesco Fabrics.

Track shoes were a very important part of my life beginning in high school. Adidas was my favorite brand.

As a senior in high school I received a recruiting letter from Bill Bowerman who was the track coach at the University of Oregon. I was 18th in the nation in the 440 yard run at the time. Bowerman later went on to co-found Nike shoes with Phil Knight. This is a statue of him at the amazing Hayward Field in Eugene. Click on the highlighted link for a wonderful history of Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman’s Nike Shoes. Phil Knight and his wife have donated over $1 billion dollars to the University of Oregon.

I’m taking the baton at the University of the Pacific…and of course wearing Adidas spikes.

I’m wearing Nikes for a 10K race in Denver.

My Nike track shoes I wore for masters track meets are now hanging on the wall of a grandson in Dallas who is passionate about track. We already have tickets for the track and field finals for next year’s Paris Olympics!

The creative Nike store in San Francisco.

Well what do we have here…Nikes, New Balance (x2) , and On shoes.

An early shot of Vaughan wearing his Asics shoes in Berkeley, California.

Paxton and Logan wearing their “On’s” in Bali.

The sneaker line-up: On’s and Adidas shoes.

I’m on my way to the fitness center while staying at the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas in 2019. Marla and I were there to see Lady Gaga in concert. I’m wearing Saucony Hattori’s, a now discontinued, super lightweight fitness shoe. I loved them as they were so light and easy to pack on trips.