 "Fashion is not
something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has
to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening."
Coco Chanel
We have hidden and we have seeked; become the doctor and healed the patient; dressed up
Barbies and crushed Hot Wheels; acted as policemen and caught the thieves; and we've even
managed to put out fires with our plastic fireman caps on our heads. But, it's official -
childhood is over. Naturally, our souls resist, trying to come up with a new plan to
define our inner characters. This is where the search crosses the path of fashion. This is
a dangerous game that should be played seriously, otherwise we wouldn't have the
restrictions or revolution of clothing, would we? Fashion has the punch of a nuclear bomb
blast in our society! It allows us to transform ourselves, to become the statements we
crave to make about our social status, political standings, sexual preferences, religious
views, cultural backgrounds, and other aspects of our inner worlds.
Fashion is an immense topic, so in the memory of Salvatore Ferragamo, one of the fashion
world’s best shoe designers, and the founder of Polimoda in Florence (which has recently
started lecturing on "coolhunting" to fashion marketing students), I will narrow
the field down. This column is dedicated soley to shoes.  Women have always seemed to be obsessed
with them. From the moment we rose up onto our feet, shoes have contributed to defining
who we are! Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines, is famously known for
her vast shoe collection: "I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one
thousand and sixty." Madonna has claimed that a pair of Manolo Blahniks are better
than sex. Victoria Beckham has recently confirmed that she has a shoe fetish that only
Balenciaga can satisfy. Let me tell you, some women may have even taken this whole shoe
fetish one step too far! In Paris, manicurists have started painting the upper parts of
nails in black, and the underneath in red so that they will match the flashy red soles of
Louboutin heels.
But, that's enough for the ladies, who have all the glam available to them in magazines!
What about men? Let's talk sneakers! Henry Nelson McKinney named athletic shoes
"sneakers" because they had rubber soles that made the shoes quiet compared to
moccasins. The word comes from the verb "to sneak." Coolhunters have found out
that what Coco Chanel had claimed still holds true, "To be irreplaceable, one must
always be different." Seeing the increasing demand for the customization of shoes,
Adidas has given customers the freedom to create their own designs. So has Converse, Nike
and others. Taking the whole sneaker revolution one step farther, Vans has hired New York
fashion designer, Marc Jacobs; Puma has collaborated with British designer Alexandar
McQueen, and Adidas is paired up with the UK's Stella McCartney because, according to the
coolhunting reports, sneakers have been gaining value and respect. But, alas, these
designers still have higher social and economic class incomes in mind, and these sneakers
come at a high price!
Now allow me to introduce you to few sneaker labels that are playing an increasingly
important role in the trends that have grabbed the attention of coolhunters. First off,
there is Creative Recreation, founded in California in 2002. They define themselves as,
"characterized by originality and imagination, a refreshment of one's mind or body
through activity that amuses and stimulates play." Another is Greedy Genius, a
company that was been making a statement since 2005, and owes much of its popularity to
"Myspace." And finally, Stéphane Bucco's, The String Republic, combines graphic
design with fashion on espadrilles. What all of these have in common is creativity,
edginess, and most importantly of all...they've got cool written all over them. Order a
pair for yourself, then come sneak up on me.
Yiðit Turhan (EE/IV)
yt_coolhunter@yahoo.com
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