Model Crush - Anai Ekalino

My obsession for dark skin has just leaped to a whole nother level and i wouldn't like it to stop. I'll watch it sky rocket to heaven so it meets the Fashion God and tell me what he's like. Meet my super model crush Anai Ekalino; 6'3 Feet tall, originally from Sudan, raised in Abu Dhabi, UAE. I hope to meet her in the after life if not soon.

Photographers: Orin Fleurimont and Natasha Kertes

Spring Color Splash - Red On Red

I don't need to say much, "Red" is the new "Floral Print" this spring no doubt about that. Not only is it a color of love but also a color of happiness, go out feel the spring breeze filled with floral scents hitting your shoulders as you walk the streets in red. Paint your town red, paint your sartorial instincts red. Let your clothes bleed, be red.

Go on and stop the traffic, stay stylish.

Pictures in association with: GaTsh Fros

Footwear History, Dirt On Dirt Part II - The Vans

Paul Van Doren was born in 1930 and grew up in the Boston Area. When he reached the eigth grade, he realized he didn't like school and promptly left. He had a passion for horses and at the age of 14 and a half made his way to the race track. He was known as 'Dutch the Clutch' and for a buck he would give you odds on the race. Paul’s mother couldn’t stand he wasn’t working or going to school. She dragged him into the shoe factory where she worked and got him a job making shoes and sweeping the factory floor.

 This was to define the young Van Doren’s future. In twenty years, Paul worked his way up the ranks and became the Executive Vice President of Randy’s, a Boston based shoe manufacturer. Randy’s was well known at the time and made canvas shoes for Bob Cousy, the flashy Boston Celtics legend who was later voted one of the top 50 NBA players of all time.

During the early sixties, Randy’s had become the third largest manufacturer of shoes in the US. But they had a factory in Gardenvale California that was losing a million dollars a month. Paul Van Doren, his brother Jim Van Doren and long time friend Gordon Lee were given the task of straightening out the factory, and after 8 months they turned the west coast factory around and it was doing better than the one back in Boston.

 Three months later Paul Van Doren sat his five kids down and announced he was quitting his job to start a new shoe company. “Don’t worry we’re going to be fine” he said to his children, who weren’t at all concerned. Their dad was fanatical about cleaning and they were hoping this meant they only had to wash his car every second day instead of every day as it was currently.
 Paul had been making shoes for most of his life and the most he ever saw the company make was a dime a pair and they were making hundreds of thousands of shoes.
The retailer was the one who was making all the cash. His dream was to have his own factory and his own retail stores. He was a great business person, his brother Jim was an amazing engineer and their friend Gordon was an excellent manufacturing man. They formed the Van Doren Rubber Company with Serge D’Elia, an Belgian friend Paul made in Japan, who had been supplying shoe uppers from Japan to the USA.

The company was formed with Paul and Serge owning 40% each and Jim and Gordon owning 10% each. It took a year to set up the factory at 704 East Broadway in Anaheim. It was built from scratch using old machinery the bought from all over the USA. It took a lot of machinery and was a lot harder to do then, compared was with todays modern processes. Since 1900 there had only been 3 companies that had manufactured vulcanized footwear in the US, Randy’s, Keds and Converse.
And now there was Vans...

From Dirt On Dirt part II we all are aware of how obsessed i am about worn out dirty shoes, they suit my personality, my mindset. My feet feel much happier with dirty shoes. Lets all move to the sound of Indie in our dirty Vans and connect with the 10 years old little ones within us, it's allowed plus it does not hurt at all, it's like fashion's own therapy or should i say it's like yoga? You tell me. ☮

Play With Those Vans Vans Vans Vans Vans Vans In The Mud. Get Some Dirt On Those Vans. Free Your Spirit :)

Footwear History, Dirt On Dirt Part I - The Converse

The origin of Converse shoes dates back to 1908 when Marquis M. Converse established the Converse Rubber Company in Malden, Massachusetts. The small company began producing shoes in 1909. In the last hundred and three years, the company has grown to become the largest  manufacturer of footwear worldwide.

Converse made its mark on the footwear industry when it introduced the canvas All Star® basketball shoe in 1917. Through the endorsement of Basketball Hall of Famer Charles “Chuck” H. Taylor, the shoe captured a majority of the basketball shoe market. As the first athletic shoe endorser, Taylor became a salesperson for the company in 1921. He traveled the country promoting the shoes and conducting basketball clinics for coaches. His signature was added to the ankle patch of the shoe in 1923, and the shoe style became known as the Chuck Taylor® All Star®.

As one of the most popular shoes of all time, over 550 million pairs of the Chuck Taylor® All Star® have been sold. Until the 1970s, when leather supplanted canvas on the basketball court, the shoe retained between 70 and 80 percent of the basketball shoe market. The Chuck Taylor® All Star® continued to be popular as a fashion shoe, and it continues to attract devotees eighty years after its introduction. During the 1970s, Converse developed new, high-performance leather shoes and acquired new endorsers. Following in the tradition of Chuck Taylor, NBA basketball players Larry Bird, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, and Dennis Rodman have endorsed Converse basketball shoes.

Now that we know the theory of the Converse lets all reveal the hippie in us and get that dirt on it, there's just something about a dirty converse you can't ignore. ♥