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“Tennis Shoes”
06/11/08 ·

Object

Blue Serge Shoes

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An iconic French tennis shoe worn by the likes of style heros Serge Gainsbourg and JFK is finally making its way stateside for fall.

Ironically, La Tennis Bensimon, as they call it back home, was originally inspired by American Army surplus following World War II. Made of canvas and suede with rubber soles and a hand-finished look, they have a classic, timeless quality; unsurprisingly the women’s version was a fave of Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin. We like the basic navy blue cotton toile version pictured here, which comes in 10 colors and several variations.

Canvas sneaks are enjoying something of a vogue at the moment—hello Steven Alan—but we think these puppies will probably outlast the vagaries of fashion.

08/05/09 ·

Good Idea

This Sporting Life

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K-Swiss has been building up a rep as the Original Tennis Shoe for decades now, but it looks like they’re expanding into the ping-pong market. At the end of this month, they’ll be kicking off a new table tennis trainer with the help of the quirk purveyors at New York’s Partners & Spade.

If you want to pick them up, you’ll have to drop by the store on August 29th, when there’ll be a rousing ping-pong tourney afoot and the sneakers in question will be going for an inspiring $80 a pair. After that, you can find them in New York’s J. Crew Men’s Shop and L.A.’s Conveyor, or just settle for the clay-court version.