Chic's in Vans...

My first pair of Van's were custom slip-ons in red and white. This still baffles me because I can't stand the color red and have never been a fan of the slip-on. The only thing I can figure out is that perhaps the character Randy (she was the coolest) was wearing red in the movie "Skatetown USA" and that the slip-ons made my feet look smaller.

See back in the day...Van's was a little shop in Santa Monica that only had solid colored sneaks. If you wanted to show your "Flair" you got them customized. It was an arduous task to pick THE RIGHT combo...Especially since you had to wait weeks to get them. When they arrived you would either bike or walk down to the store, with anxiety and eagerness, to meet your new sneakers. My mother, God bless her, had just bought me the red and white alternate paneled Dolphin shorts with a matching red Lacoste so I was ready to GO!!! As I write this I am cringing at the thought of me walking out of the house looking like a human candy cane THINKING I was as cool as Randy and as fashionable as Elle Macphearson. Side note: I was almost 5'10" with braces, had a Dorothy Hamill haircut and in desperate need of some highlights! "Yikes" is the only word that comes to mind...

Some time after...I learned a very valuable lesson. Less is more. I had bought the slip-ons too small (remember to made my feet look even smaller) so I only wore them a few times before the bleeding blisters forced my mother to buy me the "Off-the rack" navy lace ups! Who knew that, by default, I was even closer to both Randy and Elle than I thought. If only my mother would have let me have highlights!