TOMORROW IS NATIONAL TWO DIFFERENT COLORED SHOES DAY

I haven’t heralded a National Day in just a little over two years. I did it a lot during the pandemic because there were no opening nights, parties, shows, restaurants, or events of any kind to write about. So back then, out of semi-desperation to entertain my homebound readers, I came up with the idea to research “special days” to see if any of the topics would be interesting enough for an INAM column. I chose days that meant something to me, so I would have fun things to say about it.

But ever since life has gone back to normal, I’ve had even more occasions and activities to write about than I have time for!

However, one special day caught my attention recently, and it happens tomorrow. Not that I think anybody except for a few young basketball players, (whom I’ll get to shortly,) will do it, but I’m letting you know, just in case.

So tomorrow will be National Two Different Colored Shoes Day. And trust me, not only is it something that I totally know about, but I basically invented it! (But with sneakers only, not just any two shoes.)

Only when I did it, it was not just for a day—it was for several years! And not one other person was brave or fun enough back then to copy my unique fashion.

Let me tell you how I developed my style of wearing two different colored sneakers, which I became known for. I was doing my local TV show, Karen’s Restaurant Revue, at the time, and was getting a lot of national attention because of it. So Reebok had been sending me their various colored sneakers, which I was rocking very proudly all the time. (When I wasn’t decked out in stilettos and a mini dress, that is. But maybe I’ll get to that if there’s ever a National Dress Like a Harlot Day. Or maybe I can get it started!)

And then it happened—a hairdresser misunderstood, (which is a major understatement,) what I told him about cutting my long hair. I had said that Mr. X said to take some of the volume out on the top, and the first thing I heard after that was a scissors cut—right at the bottom of my head! He had cut all my hair off!!! I said, “I meant to make it short just on the top!” And he said, “Now you have it all over.” It was a nightmare. For years!

All of a sudden, my big ears were visible and my nose looked even bigger when I couldn’t hide my funny face a bit by dazzling the crowd with my luscious locks. So, I think in a subconscious attempt to take people’s attention away from my head, I began wearing two different colored Reeboks to deflect their eyes as far away from my hair, (or lack of it,) as possible. All the time. And…it worked! (By the way, my socks were always still an actual pair—I’m not insane! Just fashionable.)

I became known for rocking my two different colored sneaks, but I did it with solely, (see what I did there?,) Reeboks. (Well, actually, until Mr. X took me on a fateful trip to Santa Fe, which I’ll tell you about in a moment.) I was a very lucky girl to have such a fun shoe company sponsor me like that, and I was happy to stay loyal to them.

I did it for a whole bunch of years, until I began clubbing. That meant that I wore dance boots or heels at night, (of course—no one wears sneakers at a proper dance club,) and…pajamas all day!

I swear, people still ask me why I don’t wear two different colored shoes anymore. But I think I’d look like a crazy lady now, who got dressed in the dark, as opposed to an eccentric, funny, and cute young girl. I still have all the sneaks in my closet, and am occasionally tempted to resurrect my old style. But I think better of it. I had actually mostly forgotten about it.

And then, last month, while I was watching March Madness, the college basketball tournament, what do I see but several young players rocking my old style! I could not believe it. I didn’t know whether to be honored or upset. But, honestly, I can’t really imagine that they’re actually copying me. Unless their parents told them about me. Or they saw old pix of me on the internet. It’s actually quite possible that one guy did copy me and then the others are copying him. Either way, I’m happy to see it out there again.

But the ballers are just doing it willy-willy; they put any two sneakers together. My style was to wear two that matched my outfit. And my nails. Lest you think that meant I had to wear the same colors all the time, I have to laud Reebok for having a large palette. I swear, I had white and black pairs, of course, plus three shades of pink, two of blue, yellow, gray, red, and even neon orange!

After I’d been rocking them for a couple of years, Mr. X took me to visit his old college stomping grounds of Santa Fe, New Mexico. And we came upon…several colors of…sequined sneakers!!! OMG. I’m not kidding about how in love with them I was. (And still am!) I have small feet, which meant the boutique shop didn’t have my size in stock. So Mr. X insisted on ordering me a pair in every color. (Am I a lucky girl or what?) And when the ultra-sparkly footwear arrived at our house, I put them all on a bare black lacquer table, and just started crying from how beautiful they were. (I still have all of those, as well.)

So, whether or not you have two disparate sneaks to rock tomorrow, I wish you all a Happy National Two Different Colored Shoes Day. I know how my feet and I will be celebrating.