Find a piece · Retro suede runner
A running shoe from before running shoes got clever.
The seventies runner has outlasted every technical shoe that replaced it, and the reason is proportion. A low stack, a narrow waist through the middle of the foot, suede overlays doing the structural work that plastic cages do now. It sits under a straight jean or a midi skirt without adding the two inches of foam that make modern trainers read as gym kit no matter what you put above them.
Gola has been making this shape in Britain since long before it was retro, and the Tornado is the one with the toothed sole and the contrast side stripe. What to look for on any shoe in this genre: suede that's thick enough to hold a crease rather than collapse, and a sole that wraps up slightly at the toe. Flat rubber glued to a flat upper is what makes cheap versions of this shoe look like a costume.
It is not a shoe for actual running, and pretending otherwise is how people end up disappointed. Sixty years of cushioning research happened after this last was drawn. Wear it for the seven miles a day you do anyway, not the five you do on purpose.
The piece
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Nike — LD-1000 Suede Running Sneakers
at Bloomingdale's
Where it goes
For the other end of the sneaker question, where the shoe is meant to disappear rather than date itself, a plain court shoe in one colour is the opposite argument.
These go under the same denim the rest of the week runs on, and a wide leg with enough length to break on the toe is the cut that flatters a low flat sole.
Packing rather than commuting? the shoe you can get on and off at security matters more than the one that looks best in the photo.
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