Odi et Amo: The Beckett Sneakers issue

With this post I want to inaugurate a new column, that will officially start from next jenuary: Odi et Amo. I think that the title says all: it will be dedicate to all those "stuffs" related to fashion world that you can just love or hate. This is a little anticipation.

Do you know when you look something and you don't have other choice but love or hate it? Well, this is how I feel when it comes to one of the highlight of F/W 2012-13: the Beckett, the sneakers signed by the french designer Isabel Marant, that seem to have become a true must have of season. Everywhere I look, there's someone wearing a pair of Beckett! I was undecided about writing this post, but then I said to myself, why not?

Awful ancestors, in the beginning were the Y-3, the heel sneakers signed by Yohji Yamamoto for Adidas, followed by Nike, Superga (maybe the most obscene ones) and Puma which shoes, after an ephemeral launch, ended up in the pitch black of oblivion from which, I hoped they would never come out. But you know life is unfair, so we have to see the rise of Isabel Marant's Beckett!

Few months ago they conquered the fashionistas of whole world. The first was Beyoncé in the music video of "Love on top", closely followed by the super models Chanel Iman, Irina Shayk and Miranda Kerr.

Beyoncé - Love on top

Chanel Iman, Miranda Kerr, Irina Shayk

Gloryfing by both celebritiesand the most common fashion addicted, presented in many different colors, the secret of these shoes is the little internal wedge, capable according to a lot of people, to slim the figure of every woman, that is combined with the classic compfort of sneakers. At the cost of attracting to me the dislikes of the most fierce fashionistas, I have to say that I don't like them at all: I think they are ugly, unfeminine and hard to combine them with other garments but jeans, leggins or tracksuits, despite on the street I saw girls wearing them with nothing short of preposterous outfits! For me, then, used to treat heels like a natural prosthesis of my feet, is unthinkble to wear sneakers outside of their charge area! Rather than staying on the treadmill with a pair of Beckett, I prefer to run with a pair of 12 cm Louboutins!

But beyond personal opinions, the question to ask is just one: are they really suitable to everyone? The answer is yes, if your name is Gisele Bundchen, you're 180 cm tall, you have a perfect body and your legs are tapered and mileage. If, instead, you are an ordinary girl with an ordinary body and an height in the average, the asnwer is absolutely no! They may be comfortable, they may lift you a little off the ground, but certainly they don't do miracles! And this is the proof!

Well, these girls are not exactly super models and I'm pretty sure that they know that, so what I wonder is: why?

Okay... I will not even comment these ones!

To facilitate the spread of these abominable shoes around the world (don't be mad those who have already bought them with love) are the cheap imitations, often even more ugly than the originals. Here a roundup of low cost versions proposed by brands like Manas, Promod, Buffalo, Zara, Bershka and Topshop.

And you, what do you think about? It's love or hate?