Hailey Bieber stepped out in Beverly Hills exuding her innate cool-girl street style agenda on March 28. She wore a 'Shrunken Sports Jacket' from Martine Rose paired with a dark blue mini skirt from Parisian brand Y Project. But the pièce de résistance to her retro-inspired look was a pair of metallic Nike Air Max 95’s – a shoe that epitomises the coveted dad trainer trend.
Though we can perhaps credit Tumblr’s ‘Normcore’ trend from 2010 for beginning the world's obsession with shoes that channel ‘more conventional, less aesthetically pleasing’, the return of the dad trainer over the last few years has been undeniably astronomical.
The release of Alexander McQueen’s ‘Oversized Sneaker’ in its SS15 collection was a significant player in the popularity of chunky footwear, but the truest dad vibes set in with Balenciaga’s ‘Triple S’ (meaning ‘triple sole’) sneakers that were released in 2018. They were undoubtedly the 'ugliest', most bizarre shoes of the moment, and you either loved them or hated them.
Fast forward to 2023, and like many trends over the last two years, the ugly dad trainer has reverted to its retro roots. New Balance have had a major comeback, and Nike Air Max’s have made an even more unlikely return than UGGs. But hiking brand Salomon’s shoes becoming ‘trendy’ has to be the most unlikely of all. Celebrities have officially revived ‘Gorpcore’ (a term coined by The Cut in 2017 that pretty much means wearing outdoor/walking clothes outside of their intended use), and Solomon has become 2023’s trainer of the moment, adored by Emily Ratajkowski, Bella Hadid and Rihanna, to name a few.
Hailey posed in one of her two pairs of Salomon's last month
Salomon’s are less chunky than the most It-trainers, and with its treaded soles and quick laces, the walking shoes are perhaps the pinnacle of ‘dad’. We should thank the fashion set though, for wearing the shoe in almost all settings: with cycling shorts and an oversized t-shirt, to jeans or leather trousers. The wholly practical dad trainer is officially as cool as it is comfortable.
Bella has had her white Salomon's since 2018
If they're supermodel-approved, they're good enough for us.
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