They are with me and they are heroically fab. My new GuidoMaggi sneakers, the Giant Cougar and the Munich.
A few weeks back I wrote about the new sneaker range and said I would give a full report after I received my own order. I explained in that piece how ‘personal’ sneakers are but also how very demanding the wearer culture is. They just HAVE to be on trend. No exclusions, no doubts, no messing. And I have to tell you that these babies are EXACTLY RIGHT and do the job. I waited until I had worn them a few times and to see how they felt before putting this all down for you – comfort? style? fashion? basically ‘do they feel cool?’.
Sneakers have to be right
And this is because you know how it is with sneakers – we call them trainers in the UK – they just HAVE to be right. Almost every other aspect of footwear can be improvised and can feature some kind of personal style or compromise with fashion. With trainers, probably because of the massive amounts spent on branding, it is very much IN or OUT. A style feels cool or it feels done with.
And I have to tell you it is the ONLY time I have ever thought in advance when buying elevators: “will they be right? Will I be cool with them?” before I received them.
And I have spent years basically not buying elevator sneakers because of these nagging doubts – “are they OK? Will they look out of place?” I told you in my earlier cautious piece how it had taken me several years.
Right on trend
And let me tell you that my own two new pairs from the guys at GuidoMaggi – I have the Giant Cougar and the Munich styles – are just totally fab. I can’t tell you how much I am into them and how they have rounded off my footwear collection. I have no doubts at all, specially after wearing them on a few occasions.
Here is the key. The Giant Cougar fit the current trend for the chunky or ‘ugly’ sneaker that is around and will be for some time. And the Munich are a kind of lower key but distinctive ‘class’ trainer that goes with dark jeans and even the really skintight spray-on skinnies I like to wear. And they have the great feel of a top brand, well made and distinctive but not stand-out unusual which often looks just not quite right with sneakers or as if you are trying too hard and spending too much just to look hip.
Now I am so used to adding 6” in height through my Hong Kong boots (and my Shanghai I suppose) that I braced myself for the inch that I might lose but it seemed to make very little difference.
4” (10cm) – you would never guess
Last night I wore my Munich sneakers with a pair of jeans and they were totally excellent and just right. You could never in a thousand years tell that you were adding 4” (10cm). Never. And I wore my Giant Cougar with the extra cm going around in the day and not only do they really add the height but they feel just totally 100% ‘normal’ which is what you want with sneakers. And the comfort.
With sneakers I had spent a long time for well over a decade occasionally wearing them, but your usual brands with my own added lifts – the max you could add was 2” and if you were not careful it would look not quite right – your heel too high in them etc. In these GuidoMaggis ones, the design and structure are both built to add that in and look totally normal.
Nothing will ever prise the 6” boots off my feet for many things, but my new pairs of sneakers have finally laid to rest the aggro and nagging feelings I have felt over my height addition when it came to trainers. My work – I run nightclubs – makes it unusual not to wear sneakers and I have often thought wistfully “wish I could get my 4”+ from the latest brands”. Now I have pairs to wear and it has rounded off my footwear real nicely. They are well worth the investment – and don’t wait all the years I did.
