In the last "You knew it was coming" post, I wrote about overall style. In this Part 2, I'd like to speak about one of the most important aspects of my style: shoes. Nearly anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am a huge fan of footwear. Soccer shoes, sneakers, loafers, even sandals; if the shoe fits and looks good, I'll wear it. Over the years, my shoe taste has changed immensely. Freshman year of college was my low point, and I could be seen wearing Nike Air Force Ones with fake Louis Vuitton, Burberry and other ridiculous designs. Much less embarrassing, but still not up to par, was my penchant for wearing running shoes with almost every casual outfit, from jeans to sweatpants. As I figured out more of what kind of image I wanted to portray, my clothing style changed, and with it changed my shoes. My 3-inch growth spurt between freshman and junior year also helped get me out of my old footwear into new, better-fitting, better-looking foot encasements as my style changed slowly.
My senior year at Davidson took me to the highest point yet in my shoe career. I was able to score a pair of special-edition Melvins Dunks, a pair of Jordan XI Concords, and the Evisu Genes I mentioned in the first "You knew" post for a bit more than the cost of one of Michael Phelps' meals. In addition, the Nike Air Max 90's rise to prominence in my wardrobe was chronicled on my feet, and the rest of my shoe collection began to flex its growing muscles with every trip to the mall. No longer content to be taken in by knockoffs, I began to search in earnest for unique shoes that caught my fancy, looking long and hard to find them for prices that wouldn't give my wallet a heart attack.
Towards the end of my senior year, I began to move slowly away from Air Force One Land, drifting into Nike SB, Nike Air Max and... loafer territory. More and more, high-top SB Dunks, Blazers, Nike Air Maxes and leather loafers seemed to be the order of the day. A pair of Nike Blazer SB's found themselves trapped in my closet, joined by Clarks loafers as well as grey and white Nike Air Max Wrights with nothing less than a pink air bubble. My two-year quest for the Mork and Mindy dunks (pictured) and Dinosaur Jr. dunks ended a few weeks ago when they arrived at my door, greeted with exclamations of glee, accomplishment and just plain stupidity.
To expound a bit more on my fixation with these two pairs of shoes, I must first give you some background. When AJ "I swear, I wasn't sleeping, I was trying to kill this bug in my eye by smothering it" Grant introduced me to the website KicksFinder.com, I was opened up to a whole new world of sneakers. Upon first visiting the site, two pairs of shoes caught my eye, both of which fulfilled my greatest desires in a pair of foot-gloves: ridiculously bright colors and outrageous design. From that moment, I resolved to own a pair of the red and silver rainbow-soled gems that were the Mork and Mindy dunks, as well as the glaringly silver and blurple (blue/purple) specimens named for the band Dinosaur Jr. It took me 2 long years of searching, eBaying, close scrutiny and patience to finally find authentic versions of the shoes that I could afford. After achieving this goal, I felt a sense of accomplishment but also a bit of disappointment. After all, as I told Will Bryan, my roommate, "I've now accomplished all my shoe goals." All that's left now is to tend to the shoes I have and save my money for the things in life that matter.
Like shoes*.
*Editor's note: Aaron West does not solely** care about shoes, but would rather not concern the readers of this blog with his other, more serious life concerns.
**Note from the corporate office: The use of the word "solely" was a poorly made shoe joke, that many will get, but approximately 2.74% of readers will not. In order to not alienate any portion of Aaron West's audience, the corporate office has required that the editor add the editor's note, as well as including this explanation to follow said editor's note.
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