O Converse Chuck Taylor, mais conhecido aqui no Brasil como All Star, faz sucesso há décadas. Não é difícil encontrar gente, por aí, usando. Adultos, crianças e coroas, todos usam.

O tênis se popularizou entre os pretos por causa da prática do basquete, nos EUA. Aqui no Brasil, ficou popular na época dos Bailes Black, nas décadas de 1970 e 1980.

Os Chuck Taylor também são os tênis preferidos dos gangstas da Costa Oeste dos EUA. Não é difícil vê-los nos pés de rappers como Snoop Dogg, The Game, Ice Cube e outros.

“In LA we wearin’ Chucks, not Ballies” -  Tupac, na música California Love.

The Game, que tem aquele símbolo da Chuck Taylor tatuado no pescoço (!), na capa do The Documentary:

Agora uma coisa meio nada a ver, mas que tenho reparado. Os Chuck dos gringos são mais “encorpados”, tem uma silhueta mais bonita e um acabamento melhor.

Peguei duas fotos pra mostrar como os Chucks gringos parecem mais bonitos que os vendidos aqui. Na primeira, Lil Wayne de calça baggy, usando um Chuck cano baixo. Na segunda, Kid Cudi de calça skinny, usando um Chuck cano alto.

(Parece que escolhí de propósito, mas foi coincidência o fato deles estarem com roupas super parecidas. Bem básicas e estaile, por sinal.)

Amsterdam’s hottest sneaker boutique Patta teamed up with Converse and Le Le to create a special anniversary pack, which has recently hit retailers.  The pack features a Letterman inspired, reversible varsity jacket along with two of Converse’s most iconic styles: the Chuck Taylor and the Pro Leather 76.  The entire collection is now available at HUF.

I love when lines team up to help out with the probs in the world. Cause in reality someone will buy a pair a shoes over helping out some one else, which is terrible. So as yu buy yu help

♥duckie!

Last week some awesome sneakers arrived at our Blue Blood store in the PC Hooftstraat in Amsterdam! Coming from LA, sneaker brand Stampd’ is a huge success! Prior to setting up Stampd’, designer Chris Stamp used to paint his graphics on Chuck Taylor’s and Toms. He got such a rush from this that he decided to launch a website whereby consumers were able to design there “one of a kind” sneaker. This was a huge success that led to Chris Stamp starting up his own brand. He uses these sneakers as a source to portray his vision of what streetwear really is today and aims therefore to bring fun back into this scene. Both male and female sneakers are now available in our store. Here is a sneak preview.

Can’ wait to have them? Run to our Blue Blood PC Hoofstraat store before there gone…

BB

Here they go. Patta x Converse Chuck Taylor. Very Limited. Seriously. These aren’t in many places at all and we didn’t get many pairs. What else can we say? These are great. Subtle and classy. They are a little different than your regular Chuck Taylor. All quilted suede with smooth suede toebox and the sidewalls seem to come up higher than usual with no stripe. Burgundy corduroy liner with satin behind the tongue. They also feature a grey outsole and come with three sets of laces: burgundy, grey and white. These look great on. Phone orders accepted. 212-979-9514.

Click for more pics

Tomorrow, I should be able to run my final prints. Drypoint might just be my favorite printmaking method.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, but half of this blog is from California. I was born and raised in Southern California (NO ONE there says SOCAL so PLEASE stop it!) and I moved out east when I was 18. The East Coast was definitely… different. Culture, weather, food, religion, you name it, it was a SHOCK to me. But I also fell in love with it all. I hadn’t been back to California for nearly THREE years! This past Halloween, a few friends and I decided to go to California to visit my momma and to check out the California OUTLETS. I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, BUT OUTLETS IN CALIFORNIA ARE NO JOKE! We went to the Desert Hills Premium Outlets and the Cabazon Outlets in Palm Springs. It was a full day affair! Want to see what I got?

T purchased:

2 pairs of Jack Purcells, $17.50/each

I have many many pairs of Chuck Taylors, but no Jack Purells! So to make up for the lack, I purchased 2 pairs! I asked my mom which color she liked more, but she saw that it was 2 for $35 (1 for $19.99) and she said – GET BOTH! So I obeyed my mother.

Ann Taylor Skirt, $29.99

It’s often difficult to find skirts for work, but Ann Taylor skirts somehow fit my body perfectly. (Is it bad that I’m always a bit sheepish when admitting that I’m wearing Ann Taylor?) I found a similar skirt to the one above, and it looks fantastic on my bum! It’s a bit steep for $39.99, but we had a coupon for 25% off and we put it to good use!

Calvin Klein Pants, $35.99

Calvin Klein had some cute pants that I can wear to work and then for happy hour. $40 is a bit steep, but I rarely find cute pants that I feel comfortable in AND is bar-friendly. Ok, for the record, those shoes are ugly. And the pants are cuter than how they look on the model. Since I’m pretty short, the pants don’t cut off at such an awkward length. Yeesh I totally felt like I had to defend myself because the picture does not do the $40 pants justice!!!

My butt does NOT look that good in those pants!

But her butt really does look good in this picture. My butt doesn’t look like that so please don’t judge me too harshly when you see me wearing these pants.

We also bought a ton of dresses, but I’ll tell you all about that later!

With colder temperatures on the near horizon, you gotta be prepared. This fall we’ve already experienced some extreme lows and the winter is surely going to bring even colder temps, so guys, get ready with your flannel. The pattern that graces most flannel is plaid and therefore I’ll be showing you some items that aren’t specifically flannel but are graced with plaid.

There are a few things I associate with flannel: lumberjacks and my grandpa. My grandpa, well, he was a real badass. All grandpas are right? Mine rolled his own smokes for 60+ years, always wore flannel or pearl snaps, gave me my first guitar and was just an all around man’s man. I think it’s still possible to be a man’s man but look good doing it. That’s where this whole flannel thing fits in. Here are a few of my favorite flannels from this season:

The Hundreds has quickly become one of my favorite brands. They’ve got some great street/urban style clothing. They’re colors are bright and the designs are unique. Be sure and check them out.

If you’re looking to be a little more upscale but still casual then Topman is a great place to start your search. They’ve got quality goods at reasonable prices.

I still think Levi’s makes some great pants. You just gotta know what to look for and where to look. All of the above samples come from Urban Outfitters. While I’m not the biggest fan of UO they do have a good, reasonably priced selection of pants. Remember a couple things though: Urban Outfitters is mostly a retailer and not a design based shop. You can probably find any of the items they carry at some other place, like Amazon.com or another store. Secondly, if possible, go try the pants on. You’re always going to find a better fit and a more satisfactory purchase if you can do that. Thirdly, I hate the shoes the guy in the middle is wearing, sooo I think those pants are nice, just with some other shoes which segues perfectly into our shoes.

I guess I’m not very traditional when it comes to shoes. I have a hard time finding dressier shoes that I like so if I’m wanting to be upscale casual I’ll opt for something on the contemporary/classy/casual side, like a nice basic white Converse. Sure it’s a tennis shoe but worn well and it can set that outfit off. Otherwise go with something special but not too overpowering. Those Nike’s on the left are black and white, classy but urban. The New Balance have a dope pop of bright blue and I’m a sucker for blue.

Black and White Nike’s (you’ll need a translation tool, site’s in Japanese, sorry)

Converse White Low Chuck Taylor’s

Dope Blue Poppin New Balance

Remember fellas, if you’re tucking that shirt in, make sure your belt matches your shoes. I’m not sure how great a white belt would look but I’m also not expecting you to be tucking many of these shirts in, cos ya know, this isn’t exactly business attire. And you know, if you can’t afford any of the above, go raid your grandpa’s closet. If he’s a cool old dude like mine then you’re sure to find some golden nugs in there.

-Don

you can read other things I like to say at my personal site or at my fashion blog.

Depuis que j’arrive à m’en souvenir, je n’ai jamais porté de converse, j’en ai jamais eu envie, et jamais je n’en acheterai. J’ai toujours trouver ça moche en temps normal et encore plus moche quand tu chausses du 46. C’était mon avis jusqu’à ce que je découvre que derrière la hype éternel des Chuck Taylor, les mecs de chez Converse sortaient aussi d’autres modèles bien plus bandant chouette. Au détour d’un site je suis donc tombé sur ça :

Gros choc dans ma tête, et pépites dans les yeux. Des Converse Co. Je les veux. J’me renseigne rapidement sur les prix: 70$, comme XE est mon ami, j’fais la conversion : 50 oeufs. Ça me semble être une excellente affaire, donc tout joyeux je add to cart et me prépare à checkout quand je me rend compte que le produit est une exclu US crée pour Foot Locker…

Jamais je n’acheterai de Converse !

This is what I’m currently working on: a dry point etching of my “Chucks” photo. It’s not finished, but I wanted to run a test print to see how it looked. Back to scratching!

My matrix in progress, Oct. 28, 2009.

A test print of my in-progress dry point etch, Oct. 28, 2009

Several years ago I purchased Combat Handugnnery by Chuck Taylor.  It covered the basics of choosing a handgun, shooting, defensive tactics, and how to properly choose a CCW system.  A new updated edition of the book, written by Massad Ayoob is now available from Krause Publications.  Ayoob is the founder of Lethal Force Institute, and is widely respected in the firearms industry as solid teacher and expert witness.

The updated version of the book is a great read, and can be found in most major bookstores.  If you are new to handguns or considering expanding your knowledge on their use you should check out the book.  Ayoob covers everything from the basics to CCW and Open Carry.  You will definitely enjoy the read and be better becuase of it.

Recently, Converse has been involved in a number of collaborations. This time around they linked up with music band The Clash and designed a mini-lineup of the Chuck Taylor.

First Sac Brewing Company closes and then they go and cancel “Life.”

But I guess, all good things must come to an end, so Thursday October 29th will be the last night for the Sacramento hip-hop showcase known as Life. Life has been going on every Thursday for the past two years.  For part of that time, we had the opportunity to shoot some pretty good shows and meet some great people.  Below is a promo that we did for the show.  Thanks to Chuck Taylor for the opportunities.

I hear that admission will be free for the next two weeks.  The Distillery is located at 2107  L Street, Sacramento.