Happy Feet

 
Did you know that you can customize Nike sneakers? This feature — NIKEiD — has been around for almost ten years. In 2008, I designed a pair of sneakers so awesome that when I was wearing them people routinely came up to me — on the street, in restaurants and stores — to ask about them. They looked like a pair of black and white saddle shoes supported by orange rocket boosters. Think about that.
 
Now think about my despair when Nike discontinued the model. Looking back, I wish I had ordered 50 pairs of those sneakers to see me through my expected lifetime. It would have been a modest investment — possibly even a smart investment when inflation is considered. I could have stored them at U-Store . . . in Hyattsville.

 
But I didn’t. So every year, I scour the Nike website — which gets more and more complicated without getting faster or better — looking for a similar sneaker.
 
I haven’t found one, but I found these in March — and am delighted with them.
Sneakers of delight
Sneakers, as seen by Directrice when she is wearing them

 
 
Perhaps you need a different angle on the sneakers.
Is this better?
Is this better?

For bubble-walking
For bubble-walking
 
 
I like a lot of cushioning in my sneakers. I want to feel like I am walking on bubbles, or clouds, or lyric poems.

I’ve never understood the barefoot-Paleo-running trend. Paleo man had an average lifespan of 35 years, and spent that life running from predators and after food. He wasn’t running for exercise. There is no scientific evidence suggesting that his ankles and feet wouldn’t have been completely wrecked by decade five — which I am deep into — had he lived that long. Also: Broken glass!
 
 
 
Here I am, embarking on a bubble-walk.
 
If I have not previously shared my philosophy of exercise clothes, I shall do so now: black, grey, and white. I know that may seem grim, but black and white don’t show perspiration. The grey adds a little color.
Ready to move
Ready to move, share colorful pants with the neighborhood

Those are my serious exercise sneakers.
Here are my fun sneakers, which I did design using Nike ID.
 
 
 
The Photographer said, “They sort of look like bowling shoes.”
 
As if that’s a bad thing. I love bowling shoes.
Nike Cortez x Directrice (as private citizen)
Nike Cortez x Directrice (as private citizen)

Bowling sneakers in context
Bowling sneakers in context
 
 
Just the thing for weekend errands in the neighborhood and watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

View one
Aerial view
View two
Action shot

View three
From below
View four
Portrait

Whilst The Photographer adjusts various settings, there are lots of test shots. Sometimes the test shots are better than the posed shots; they frequently cover a range of emotions.
 
Coy
Rocket saddle shoes gone forever
Direct
Better to have loved and lost
Laughing at self
Than never to have loved at all

Colorful sneakers: Nike FlyKnit Air Max, still available and on sale; Black & White sneakers: Nike Cortez iD

14 thoughts on “Happy Feet”

    • Oh no, Jennifer L — the sweats are really old. I think they may have been JCrew’s first foray into yoga clothes, easily 6 or 7 years ago. They are kind of perfect. If I see anything like them in the future, I will let you know.

      Reply
  1. Most of the people I know who’re into the barefoot or the shoes with toes and little cushioning running apparel are young. It is a fact of nature that cushioning in the feet migrates to the waist as the years go by.

    Both pairs are sweet.

    Reply
  2. I didn’t know you were a fan of Phryne Fisher. Perhaps some day you can do a post inspired by her fantabulous wardrobe. Accessorizing with a pearl-handled pistol strictly optional.

    Reply
    • I love Phryne Fisher and the entire cast of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. I think it’s such an engaging series. It’s sophisticated, but never vulgar. I gobbled up all three seasons after watching one episode with my mother last summer. I am very worried that there will not be a fourth season because Essie Davis has moved to England!

      Reply
    • I’ve been totally encouraging The Directrice to write an entry on the sartoriality of Phryne Fisher. I’ve even given her a couple of screenshots to work with. If you want her to do an entry on Phryne, tell her!

      Reply
  3. I love the Phryne Fisher books (and the descriptions of her clothes), and am impressed that she is played in the TV series by a wonderful actress who is actually older than the character is in the book. How often does that happen? .

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    • I love Essie Davis in this role. She conveys such sophistication combined with high spirits — and I love that she is clearly not an ingenue or waif. She’s a woman in the prime of her life!

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  4. Ah, Phyrne! I adore the books and have read them again and again. Less sure about the TV series – it’s excellent in many ways and I would adore it if I hadn’t read the books, but I struggle with the changes to the characters. No Lin Chung? Phyrne and Jack Robinson?!? Watching the series does make this displaced Australian very homesick though, so that may colour my opinion of it.

    Reply
    • WAITAMINUTE! Are you saying that Jack and Phyrne — clearly a couple for the ages — are not a couple in the books? That’s just wrong. (Lin Chung does, I believe, appear in at least one of the episodes as a romantic interest of Phyrne’s.) I am sorry you are missing home — are you here in the U.S.? For long?

      Reply
  5. No, Phryne and Jack are most definitely not a couple in the books, which are by Kerry Greenwood, if you’d like to seek them out. I’m in Scotland, 3 1/2 years so far – and mostly it’s just fine, but gum trees? Recognisably Australian characters and locations? The light and colour? Gets me every time.

    Reply
  6. EEK! I’m a total Phryne Fan!! Her clothing makes me swoon!
    I also found another murder mystery series set in Australia – also delightful, yet less sartorially interesting… The Doctor Blake Mysteries! Also on Netflix…

    I’m also a huge fan of Nike flyknit… it’s a must since I’m in Oregon and headquarters is down the road. It’s my civic duty.

    Reply

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