So after the tragic news that my fashion sneakers were lost in the Toilet Flood of ‘15, I had many people ask, “What THE HELL is a fashion sneaker?”

I’m so glad you asked. Fashion sneakers have changed my life*.

After I started my new job at the Museum, my left foot started to hurt quite a bit.  Like every step I took was ouch stoppit stoppit. I complained to my friend Maddy and she said, “are you walking all over DC in those cute little patent leather green ballet flats?” Me: “um, yes. but not just green; I have them in nude, too.”  (I could hear her adorably sighing via instant messenger.) Maddy: “That’s probably why your feet hurt. Ballet flats aren’t great for walking.”

Later that night I was on a regularly scheduled call with my parents and was telling them of my feet woes. My dad suggested I wear sneakers, although b/c we’re from the south, he called them “tennis shoes”.  I think my response was “Ew. Dad, no,” and then something like how I’d rather bear the pain than be caught dead wearing a business suit and tennis shoes like Melanie Griffith from Working Girl**.  Also, I don’t wear a business suit, or a suit of any kind really, to work, so my options are vast.

So, Maddy isn’t just a friend — she also writes an amazing fashion blog for the fiscally responsible gal called “Style Me Thrifty”.  Turns out she had been doing a little research for a post about commuter shoes and immediately told me that there were options available that lived between unsupported ballet flats, sensible pumps (which I never wear anymore) and tennis shoes.

Turns out, I love the Skechers memory foam jonx (you can Google it yourself) so much that I wear them on other occasions than commuting, which is why I came up with the term Fashion Sneaker.

As much as I try to deny it, I actually am turning 40 in 6 months, and that foot pain that I had was sesamoiditis, and I got orthotic insoles. Because I’m old, y’all! 

So basically, I DGAF if anyone likes ‘em or not….They’re comfortable and not offensive to Maddy who writes a fashion blog.  In my forties, “not offensive to a fashion blogger” is my standard.  Altogether now, sigh.

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*Just thought of a new blog post: All The Things Recently That Have Changed My Life (my microwave egg cooker! spray lotion!)

**I could do a whole post on that hair!