Taylor Swift’s style is a good reflection of her music. Both things summon adjectives like “approachable,” “widely palatable,” “inoffensively normal.” No hate! Just that, you don’t get to be as big as Swift without making stuff that’s incredibly digestible.
It’s thus appropriate that Swift would co-sign the world’s most ordinary New Balance sneakers — you could say they deserve each other.
In fairness, Swift’s red and white New Balance 550 shoes were part of the Kansas City Chiefs-themed outfit that she wore on September 24 while supporting reported new beau Travis Kelce, so they weren’t necessarily fashion for fashion’s sake.
On the other hand, Swift could’ve just opted for some regular white shoes if all she needed was plain sneakers, so the New Balances were very much a choice.
And not necessarily a terribly choice, or anything: 550s are a fine shoe, they’re just played-out to the point of extreme blandness.
Within only a few short years, New Balance’s hit low-top sneaker has evolved from a cult smash to an omnipresent, ultra-normal staple worn by everyone and their kid sibling. The New Balance 550 was once impossible to keep in stock; now, it’s widely available at every chain sneaker retailer in every conceivable colorway.
The 550, with its retro chunk and neutral colorways, is one of the most mass sneakers currently on the market, the very epitome of a normal shoe. In fact, if Taylor Swift was a sneaker, she’d probably be this one.
To the surprise of no one, Swift’s obsessive fanbase immediately sold out the identical 550s currently available on New Balance’s website. Worked for her $673 butterfly jeans, why wouldn’t the Swifties snap up extremely normal $110 sneakers?
In response, New Balance restocked the red and white 550 shoes on September 26 and gave them place of presence on the site, though that didn’t stop enterprising resellers from trying to turn a buck by flipping spare pairs.
Perhaps New Balance just saw the writing on the wall and had reserve pairs…
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