(click to enlarge)For most of the late 90s and early 00s, the tapered-jeans-and-white-sneaker combo was a fashion statement reserved for either your fashion-backward father or a member of the Seinfeld gang. Now the tables have turned and hipsters, famous hipsters (Pete Doherty). and even me, have traded in our bootcut jeans and Euro trainers for the more grunged-up look of white sneakers against dark denim. But these are not the pristine white sneakers of yesteryear, but rather dirtied, scuffed, and marked versions of their former pristine selves. After all, not everyone wants to, or can, do grunge with flannel and greasy hair, right?
I think this is a case of function, rather than fashion.