Sneakers. Cultural Biography of Sports Footwear

Sneakers have long become not only a phenomenon of modern fashion but also a phenomenon of contemporary culture, attractive and controversial at the same time. The book by sports design historian and journalist Ekaterina Kulinicheva attempts to look at the... history of this type of footwear not through the history of brands and models, but through the role that sports footwear played and plays in culture, through its "cultural biography," which largely defines our attitude towards this item of clothing. It is this biography that is the focus of the author’s attention. Sneakers turn out to be heroes not only of sports and fashion history but also of everyday life, medicine and corporeality, technical inventions and industry, cinema, music, subcultures, etc. Among the heroes of the book are not only brands and athletes, but also directors, musicians, and ordinary fashion consumers who accept or reject sneakers. Special attention is paid to sneakers as an object of collecting.