Reeboks Wit the Straps!

I am a sucker for songs that call out fashion trends, but especially if they feature beats that make you want to get up up and shake your booty. Which is why I'm LOVING the song "Low" by Flo-Rida (somehow T-Pain is involved, too). In "Low," the key lines in the hook are: "Shorty had them Apple Bottom Jeans and the boots with the fur'''" which alternates with "Them baggy sweat pants and the Reeboks with a strap.." Too cute!

I'm not sure about the evolution of Flo-Rida's song "Low" 'cause even though I just started hearing it, there are YouTube videos of people dancing to it from a year ago (though maybe it was T-Pain's magic touch that got it mainstream attention). The official video is very much just okay, but maybe now that's it rocketing to the top of the charts, they'll redo it and get some more dance action.

Crap official video or not, there's a bunch of homemade videos of people dancing around to the song, and these are my faves:

This little girl is Awesome with a capitol A:


A very adorable foursome, I love the girls jumpsuit-y thinger:


Cheerleaders, which, I can NOT believe their advisor let these Wholesome County white girls do a routine to this, but oh well, the world aint what it used to be and that is a great thing as far as I'm concerned:


And this one just 'cause the way the whole "no homo" state of mind has infected the rap world, the sight of dudes gettin' down has become a total rarity and plus, I think it's funny how they sort of act out the lyrics by pointing to their sneakers when Flo-Rida sings "Reeboks with the straps...," which, while very four-year old/Hokey-Pokey dance move-y of them, is also just too damned adorable.

Foot Locker Trying to Buy Genesco: It Aint Over Yet

I told ya this was gonna get greasy:

So it turns out that the rumor of Foot Locker wanting to buy Genesco (you probably know this company from its Journey's or Underground Station stores) are true. What happened was that the CEO of Foot Locker, Matt Serra, made an offer earlier this month, which the CEO of Genesco, Hal Penningto, treated like an unsolicited email from a Nigerian investor. So Matt went and took his offer to the street so that the people could decide. 'Cause, after all, Genesco is a publically held company and as such the shareholders do have a say.

Here's the excerpt from the letter in which Matt snitches out Hal:

Serra wrote: "Given Genesco's failure to provide a substantive response to my April 4 letter and recent public speculation, we thought it would be best for both of our organizations, and our respective shareholders, to make our position public."

I have no idea how this deal is going to go down, but I will tell you that the thought of Foot Locker owning Genesco sickens me. And I am not unilaterally opposed to big companies expanding through purchases--it's the nature of the beast when you're a publically-held company: grow or die. For example, I think PPR's purchase of Puma will go down in history as a great one. Same with Nike and Converse. But Just like Adidas buying Reebok, something in my gut tells me that this move will ultimately not be a good one for any of the parties involved and for retail in general.

Jay-Z in Adidas

Sorry for the utterly craptastic quality of the image. It's a closeup of Jay's shoes, which I pulled from Beyonce's "Upgrade U" video. Since Adidas owns Reebok, which makes the S.Carter shoe, there's no big conflict of interest, but it makes me wonder what the heck is up with Sean's shoe. One of these days I'm gonna have to remember to ask a buyer if it's even being made anymore.


^^You may not be able to make out the shoe, but it's hard not to miss the Adidas Trefoil on the tongue of the shoe.

Reebok 25th Anniversary Freestyle Party

'Member yesterday I said I was going to a Reebok party? Well I went and it was a blast. Eighties nostalgia was everywhere: roller-boogie dancers, Downtown Julie Brown hosting, and trays and trays of gross 80s food like mini-burgers and pizzas, corndogs, carrot sticks and dip, not to mention wacky cocktails in multiple colors (I had to leave before they served up the Twinkies, dammit!). The highlight of the evening for me had to be when the legendary Spinderella (!!) kicked off her set on the ones and twos with....wait for it, "Push It"!!!

Here are some of the images:


^^Happy Birthday to Freestyle


^^Wall art that detailed Freestle's history


^^My hang crew: KiKi, Constance and my blogging partner at HighSnobiety, Samia.

^^Partygoer: that's her Mom's purse she's showing off. Lol, me and Samia also brought our Moms' bags!

^^One of the servers (Samia was nice enough to hold her tray of corndogs for the picture)

There were also some celebs there like Cybil Shephard and Brooke Shields. We all figured that they were part of the nostalgia theme, but then Tara Reid showed up and it was like, huh, what'd she have to do with the 80s?

Legwarmers Optional: You Knew it Had to Happen!

Jane magazine's latest issue features a story by Celia Ellenberg on the latest retro craze, aerobic dance classes! Crunch Fitness is offering Retro-Robies classes where you can dance along with classics like "Shake Your Groove Thing," "Freeway of Love," and of course, "Footloose."

^^Click to enlarge article.

Perhaps not coincidentally, tonight I'm attending an event celebrating the return of Reebok's Freestyle, described as "a star-studded event commemorating the 25th anniversary of one of the most successful women's footwear collections of all times." Oh yes people, it's time to bring your braided, terrycloth headbands out of retirement!