It would be ideal if I could afford a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, but considering that will never happen in this lifetime, the second best option is this:

I was once a sneaker diva, particularly when I lived in the UK. I was going through the transition of living in a new country and being out of my element.  It was a pivotal time of trying to distinguish my identity as a lover of streetwear culture. (It was also just a state of confusion, period.) I collected sneakers just as much as I collected underwear. And it felt great to be ahead of the street fashion pack in cities such as Paris, London and Barcelona. But when I came back to Toronto this year,  the person who I always was slowly started to immerse herself into the usual. Either that, or I realized that the street wear phenomenon was an ephemeral fad.

Even though I don’t hold street wear in the high regard I once did, to me, when I see great contemporary artists immortalized in a sneaker collaboration of some sort, it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment. Not that I did anything to catapult this trend, but it was something I felt passionately about. I wanted to see a young generation of urban streetwear lovers embracing contemporary art. And I finally see it happening with a fashion emblem that personifies hip-hop culture: sneakers.

Reebok is the biggest supporter of this, and I’m not sure how the rest of the art world, or even Basquiat’s estate feel about it. But I hope that it continues…