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"The Rise of Sneaker Culture," which opens at the Brooklyn
Museum on Friday and runs through Oct.4, reveals how the
comfortable athletic footwear developed as people had more
leisure time and sports rose in popularity.
It includes about 150 pairs of sneakers from museums, archives
of manufacturers such as Adidas, Converse, Nike, Puma and Reebok
and from private collections.
"It's an exhibition that explores this item that is very common
to most people," said Lisa Small, the curator of exhibitions at
the museum.
"Everyone has a pair of sneakers, but this show kind of explores
its history from the 19th century through today and how it's
become this kind of iconic form of footwear that has so many
different meanings."
Divided into six sections it shows how sneakers developed from
early 1920s Keds canvas top shoes to more specialized sport
sneakers in the decades leading to the early 1970s.
It spans the development of high-end sneakers linked with
hip-hop and basketball stars such as Michael Jordan. As luxury
designers and celebrities such as Kanye West jumped into the
game, the elite element continued.
"We have a shoe that Kanye designed for Louis Vuitton," said
Small. "We have sneakers by Christian Louboutin, that's another
really interesting fact. High-end women's shoe designers entered
the men's sneaker game. So we've got Prada, we've got Louboutin,
we've got Jimmy Choo's."
Some of the highlights include all 23 pairs of Air Jordan
sneakers Nike created with former NBA star Michael Jordan and a
pair of Adidas signed and donated by rap group Run DMC.
Visitors can also view the running shoes that Adi Dassler,
founder of Adidas, gave to Olympic athlete Jesse Owens to train
in for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and share their own sneaker
stories in an interactive display.
(Reporting by Alicia Powell for Reuters Television, writing by
Patricia Reaney; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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