Tag: celebrity

Dying for a pair of sneakers

 

Sneaker obsessed individuals aka sneaker heads, collect sneakers as a hobby and status symbol. This craze started in the United States in the 1980s, with the rise of skater subculture and hip hop, injecting sneaker brands such as Nike with tonnes of street credibility. Back then there were 4 people employed by Nike to work on collaborations, now there’s a whole building dedicated to cross branding. Traditionally shoes were created around athletes (famously Michael Jordan’s stratospherically successful Air Jordans), nowadays it can be rappers, DJs, fashion designers, and more.

So why are we so obsessed?

Well, sneaker head culture is cool, there’s the slang, Dope = fashionable, Fire = very good, Goat = greatest of all time, Heat = rare, Steezy = stylish, Yeezy = designed by Kanye West – I could go on…

There’s the collectors, an A to Z of cool, a plethora of rappers, DJ’s and A list celebs, to name but a few; Mark Wahlberg, David Beckham and Jay Z. Collector and actor Jerry Ferara – Turtle in the hit TV series Entourage, even had an episode written about his sneaker obsession.

 

Then there’s the collector’s fanaticism, hypebeasts (trendsetters who only buy the latest releases) attend conventions, wangle invites to special release parties and it’s not uncommon for dedicated fans to queue outside shops for several days to get their hands on the latest nibs (unworn boxed sneakers).

The biggest collectors have thousands of pairs of kicks. Mega collector DJ Clark Kent has what he calls his ‘one a days’ a fresh out of the box pair worn daily. Kent has cooked up some of most sought after Nike colabs, such as Nike LeBrons and ‘Black Friday’ AF1s. Chances are if a rapper wants a pair of kicks they’ll either go to Nike corporate or Clarke Kent. Now that’s sneaker clout!

Of course, most sneaker heads use wads of cash and contacts to secure rare treasures like the  Air Jordan black and golds (The first Air Jordan produced, only 12 pairs were made and the price today $25,000!)

But there’s a tragic dark side to the sneaker industry, every year an estimated 1,200 people die over sneakers, many blame the huge marketing hype pumped out by the mega brands, (Nike, Adidas, Reebok) for creating a consumer feeding frenzy, which in turn creates violence.

Kicks, sneakers, keds, trainers, call them what you want, there are those willing to commit murder to get their hands on a limited-edition pair of kicks. Is it really worth it?

 

Pimp my Pooch

Wigs, coats, sneakers and diamond encrusted collars, you’d be forgiven if you thought that I was giving more column inches to Kim and Kanye. Not quite, just to Americas pampered pooches.  From rappers Rottweilers to Paris Pekinese’s A listers are employing pet stylist to coif, dress and accessorise their pets.

If you want to protect your pet against harsh winter weather, forget the gortex, why not go for £700.00 mink coat, though ethically questionable (why is a minks life worth less than a dogs?) it sure will make a statement when you and your best friend are out for your morning stroll.  What’s better than a designer bag, a designer dog carrier obvs, put your pooch in Gucci, or you could try the Louis Vuitton monogrammed canine carrier for a mere £2000.

 

Not got a Chihuahua, no problemo, there’s plenty of designer gear out there for dawgz in the hood, studded leather harnesses, baseball caps and leisure wear abound, if sequins and pink don’t quite work for the Rottweiler.

Notable famous pet pamperers include Sharon Osbourne who reportedly spends £230,000 a year flying her two dogs next to her in first class. Paris Hilton is another famous dog lover, Tinkerbell her beloved Chihuahua has a wardrobe to rival most humans. While head of the couture brand Chanel, Karl Largerield’s two Siamese cats each have seasonal made to measure wardrobes and a maid each.

When it comes to excess, perhaps the most OTT accessory of them all a 52-carat Diamond Dog Collar a mere snip at £1.5 mil. Studded with more than 1600 hand-set diamonds on 18K white gold attached to a crocodile leather collar. This £1.5 million collar just makes you wonder how much ransom money the owner would be willing to pay if their precious pup were kidnapped… not that I would ever do such a thing???

While most of us don’t have the kind of dosh Sharon does, it seems we mortals are following suit. Pop into your local pet shop and likely you’ll see a wall of fashion accessories. With the pet industry, reportedly worth 7 billion in Britain this year, top fashion designers are jumping on the gravy (bone) train. A study carried out by a consumer research group at the height of the recession found that people would rather scrimp and sacrifice on themselves than their pets own. Is it any wonder with statistics like there these the designer pet industry is booming?

A word of warning to you newbie pet owners who might be persuaded to buy Burberry raincoat for your best friend. One round in the park on a rainy day and your pooches stylish mac will turn from dapper into a muddy, torn, soggy mess – remember they have fur people!

Would I make this up?

Listen up people… Many of you who buy makeup will most definitely have heard of and most probably used MAC the high-end high street brand with attitude, celeb endorsement and philanthropic credentials. The likes of Ru Paul and Rihanna have lent their names to their charitable causes. MAC sells a rainbow range of eye shadows, lipsticks plush brushes in slick roller bag kits and their own brand of perfumes. Personally, I like MAC, their products have breadth, style, texture and as many colours a girl could want. Their clever branding, sleek packaging, cool staff appeals to the Goth and the girl next door alike. Their noir clothed sales assistants are well trained, helpful and able to pursued me to part with my meagre student grant!  I believe most are wannabe makeup artists, which means that they know a thing about skin tone, face shapes and what eye shadow colour really will suit a certain customer.

 

The down side? Yes, there is one… MAC is expensive, with mascaras priced at around £20 (blink blink!) it’s not the most ideal place to shop for students. Even if a fraction of that money does go to worthy causes.

Here I turn to Topshop, who launched a makeup range a few years ago. Topshop makeup is roughly half the price of MAC. But what about quality you ask? We’ll here the skinny, both makeup ranges are made by the same manufacture, meaning pretty much the same quality product.

 

So why are people still shopping at MAC if that is the case?

Well there are a few reasons I can think of:

MAC’s excellent branding – with their minimalist interiors, hip staff, Matt black packaging and kaleidoscope of lippy and eye shadow colours – it’s cool to be part of ‘team MAC’.

 

And well many people also like to stick to what they know!

My verdict – don’t be a sheep – it’s pays to shop around. Get away from the heard mentality. After a week after purchase, the packaging will have been long ago discarded, the glamorous assistant a dim and distant memory, the lid will be missing from your lippy and it will be rolling around at the bottom of your (likely) over stuffed makeup bag.