Are you on the verge of buying your first pair of Adidas sambas, but are unsure what color, what size, or where to get them? Are you wondering if the quality of the shoe is worth the price? Well, I’m here to answer your questions. Please don’t. They will kill you.

I slowly began to realize that the appealing element of these shoes to me was the trend, as much as I wanted to tell myself it wasn’t. It was forcing me to think about my outfit as a culmination of items, rather than a whole. And looking back, you can really see that there was extreme lack of cohesion within my outfits. I began falling into a culturally-driven mental trap, which was along the lines of “if I buy this one thing, I’ll finally be fashionable”. So, will Adidas Sambas kill you? No you necessarily, but they will kill the development of your personal style.

Obviously, I am exaggerating quite a bit. They won’t ACTUALLY kill you, but they will kill your personal style. I know because I was a Samba wearer back in 2024 (right on trend). I can’t even begin to tell you how cool I felt once I got my first pair. I wore them every day, beat them to oblivion, and ended up going through a pair every month or so. As I saw them appear more and more around me, they ended up loosing their charm. I slowly began to realize that the appealing element of these shoes to me was the trend, as much as I wanted to tell myself it wasn’t. It was forcing me to think about my outfit as a culmination of items, rather than a whole. And looking back, you can really see that there was extreme lack of cohesion within my outfits. I began falling into a culturally-driven mental trap, which was along the lines of “if I buy this one thing, I’ll finally be fashionable”.

It took me quite a long to figure this out, and figured, hey, other people must be thinking like that too. So, you must be asking, “well, what shoes should I buy then Henry?”. To start, you’re asking the wrong question. Let’s think larger picture. Choose a movie, any movie. I’m going to choose The Matrix. Think about how the the outfits they wear (leather, black, oversized, glasses), the actors they cast (odd, weird, friendly) and the sets they design (90s, neo-futuristic, green). Everything within this film is crafted to curate a specific narrative. The actor Thomas Anderson has acted in several other movies. But the thing that changes your percpetion of him is the culmination of elements surrounding and supporting him. He may feel completely different from one movie to the next. Picture your shoes like a actor in a movie. By themselves, they are just a thing. But when placed in new context, the narrative can shift. This is where personal style really shines. Placing new items in next contexts to create new narratives.

So, if theres one thing you can take away from this article, is that you CAN create your personal style, and its not as hard as you think. Trends inherent aren’t bad, but can be if you allow them to shift your mentality improperly.