Sneakers : Fashion, gender, and subculture 1st ed.

Author

• Kawamura, Yuniya

Additional Author(s)

-

Publisher

London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021

Language

English

ISBN

9781474262941

Series

Dress, body, culture

Subject(s)

• SNEAKERS

Notes

. .

Abstract

This is the first academic study of sneakers and the subculture that surrounds them. Since the 1980s, American sneaker enthusiasts, popularly known as “sneakerheads” or “sneakerholics,” have created a distinctive identity for themselves, while sneaker manufacturers such as Reebok, Puma and Nike have become global fashion brands.

How have sneakers come to gain this status and what makes them fashionable? In what ways are sneaker subcultures bound up with gender identity and why are sneakerholics mostly young men? Based on the author’s own ethnographic fieldwork in New York, where sneaker subculture is said to have originated, this unique study traces the transformation of sneakers from sportswear to fashion symbol.

Sneakers explores the obsessions and idiosyncrasies surrounding the sneaker phenomenon, from competitive subcultures to sneaker painting and artwork. It is a valuable contribution to the growing study of footwear in fashion studies and will appeal to students of fashion theory, gender studies, sociology, and popular culture.

Physical Dimension

Number of Page(s)

1 online resource (xiv, 186 p.)

Dimension

-

Other Desc.

ill.

Summary / Review / Table of Content

Introduction: placing sneakers within sociology --
Academic research on footwear --
Sneakers as a subculture: emerging from underground to upperground --
Sneakers as a symbol of manhood: wearing masculinity on their feet --
Sneakers as fashion: reclaiming masculine adornment --
The sneaker subculture from Durkheimian perspectives --
Conclusion: future directions and possibilities in footwear studies.

Exemplar(s)

#	Accession No.	Call Number	Location	Status
1.	01582/21	685.31 Kaw S	Online !	Available