As anyone who knows me knows, I'm not a sneaker person. I mean I love the comfort, I've just always felt more...dressed, when I'm in boots or booties or basically anything but sneakers. But recently I've discovered a few pairs that are striking the right balance between sneaker and not-a-sneaker, and I thought I'd share them for those of you with the same weird thing about sneakers that I have.
Admittedly these are all on the spendy side -- they're more like sneakers that replace boots, than replacing other sneakers. And for that reason, I'm looking at really high-quality brands, with styles designed to both look good and last. Let's just say that Ellen would probably dig them all too.
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PLAE
First, I'm a new devotee of PLAE -- the kids shoes we've loved for years, only now they make them for adults too. They sent me a pair of the PLAE Abra WP shoes in black (shown up top) and...wow. They're well-structured and stylish, but still comfy, with that funky closure system -- they close using very thin nylon laces that hook around a sort of bolt at the ankle, eliminating the most sneaker-y thing about sneakers, those fat laces tied up with a bow. The leather's holding up quite nicely so far, and I find myself reaching fo them more than I expected. I even named them my cool pick of the week on a recent episode of Spawned.
Inkerman
just discovered the gorgeous shoes from Inkerman at a local maker market and...oohhhh. Though their collection is heavy on men's shoes, they do offer a few female styles including the beautifully constructed Max Hightop Sneaker. Made with ethically-sourced full-grain US leather, it has the look of a classic English dress shoe, only sitting on a nice, fat, cushioned sole of a sneaker. They are just stunning in person -- you almost wouldn't think it was a sneaker until you took a closer look.
ECCO
The ECCO Soft 8 high top is one more option for a sweet sneaker that doesn't look like a sneaker. With the thinner laces that I like from PLAE combined with a chunkier sole like the Inkerman high top, it's kind of like a hybrid of the two. It looks luxe with that premium leather, and I do like that the sole is black instead of white. If you look at the video on the Zappos site you can see just how sleek they look on the model.
