Monday 15 February 2010

On the tube: In the pink

The first ever Nike trainers I got was a pair of Nike Rio. In grey. They were a present from my mum and I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get her to part with the £19.99 they cost because my paper round money didn't cover it.

With those I wore a pair of brown Louis chunky cords and a Fila sweatshirt which had a pink arm, an orange arm, and green flashes at the shoulders. And in this outfit I was the man. I was head and shoulders above the rest, I led the fashion way at Hellesdon High School.

That was in 1987. I saw my first pair of Nike Rio since then on a tube out of Bank Station. They were attached to a bloke wearing a pink and purple Berghaus jacket.

So I'm torn between a love of this fella's look on the basis of sentimentality - the whole taking me back to my starting out as a terrace casual thing - and a pity for his wholesale surrender to the look of the Shoreditch fool.

Because you might get away with Eighties retro sportswear on the streets of Hoxton, but I regard my day-glo Fila top as a fashion victim mistake. And in twenty years' time when this fella stumbles upon this blog, I think he might feel the same.

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2 comments:

  1. Now then, I'm sure that's this...
    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_bosAW9BYmp4/Sp1AwgYjwII/AAAAAAAAAbY/wzNDFkAE4_I/s400/Snapshot+berghaus.jpg
    You've got to be prepared for attention/stick in that one, I'd wear it (probably) just not on the tube. Although I thought it was a womens version when it came out.

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  2. The odd thing is he looked kind of quirky cool in his own way, and he has bigger balls than me, for sure.

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