The last time I wore trainers in a non-sports situation was on a French Exchange trip with school. Myself and my best friend were 15 at the time, and had been invited to stay with our twin exchange students for a fortnight in rural France. I can still remember so vividly, the four of us strolling down a cobbled street, chatting away in broken english and french - our petites françaises were tottering along in their kitten heels (always one step ahead dans la mode) while myself and my fellow anglaise pounded the streets in our matching style statements of the time: brown bomber jackets with fur hoods, baggy jeans and of course, the latest Adidas skater trainers.
We couldn't have made a greater contrast to our francophone amies.
Suddenly our conversation moved from a light hearted exchange of swear words and funny expressions to a rather blunt outburst delivered in unison by the twins:
"Why do you wear zese shoes? you don't like to feel pretty?"
Shocked, myself and my friend exchanged embarrassed glances,
"Pourquoi? mais c'est la mode in England!"
We were defiant, angry even! We didn't need to wear little heels to prove our femininity - hadn't Destiny's Child only just told us that we were all independent women? Beyoncé wouldn't want us to 'throw our hands up at her' in some prissy little shoes! Oh no! We wore our 'sneakers' and we wore them with pride...
Of course looking back, we can see that we looked like Sean-Paul wannabes, but at the time? Well, we were bang on trend!
And just who has the last laugh now? If Isabel Marant can make trainers look this beautiful, then I think it may be time to dig out my old bomber and baggy jeans...
