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THE TIMES

13th November 1998

Helen Rumbelow reports:
Celebrities were overshadowed last night by those that had carried them to power: their training shoes.
The stars may come and go but there will always be others to fill their shoes, said the organisers of the first art exhibition featuring trainers, which opened yesterday.
In a West London art gallery the trainers donated by 20 celebrities are displayed in see-through acrylic boxes. Others are valuable examples from the 20-year history of the trainer. These souped-up plimsolls have names as famous as almost all of the people whom they have sprung to fame.
...Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls...
...Sharleen Spiteri from the pop group Texas...
Noel Gallagher of Oasis gave away the cheapest pair, Converse All Stars that he got for Ł30. On the side is scrawled: "Quite sane was here."
...Michael Jordan the basketball star...
...Damien Hirst the alternative artist...
Alan Grant and his brother James have organised the exhibition at the Notting Hill Arts Club. They expect to raise hundreds of pounds in auction for the Centrepoint homeless charity at the endc of the month. It is testament to how "much more than mere performance-orientated coverings for your feet", trainers have become, a rise and fall charted in the first unauthorised celebrity biography of the shoe.
'Sneakers, Size Isn't Everything', charts the life, looks, and lovers of the trainer, and perhaps even its death. For this year Nike revealed its first loss in a decade.

c 1998 Andrew Turner

aturner@interalpha.co.uk

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