When you were a kid and the highlight of your day was trying on all your mom's clothes, she probably mentioned to you how you should keep everything you buy because one day it will make a comeback and be trendy again.
I hate to admit this, but this was one time my mom was undoubtably correct and throwing away my crocs was probably the biggest mistake of my life.
If you thought that statement was serious, just know I would rather walk through campus in the dead of winter barefoot than put on crocs, but that's just me.
In all seriousness, four pairs of shoes have been on my radar lately and have proven to me that they are coming back full force and taking over Chapel Hill by storm.
One thing I have also noticed about these shoes is that they are making casual wear a bit cuter and making it a little classier and fashionable to wear tennis shoes.
1. Adidas Superstar Shoe
Credit: Adidas
We all remember these. I had a pink pair and thought it was the cutest thing ever to wear them with my orange cotton skort in the fifth grade but as of recently every fashion blogger or simply fashionable person now owns a pair.
They have truly reinvented themselves in a very obscure way considering the actual shoe has not changed at all, yet the stigma around them has completely reversed.
They represent a chic, city girl that has a very cool vibe around her and simply doesn't have the time or energy to wear anything less comfortable than these true "superstars."
2. Keds
Credit: Keds
Two years ago my mom tried to buy me a pair of Keds and I told her they reminded me of nursing shoes but hey, things change people change.
Now they add the ultimate element of cute to any outfit and have been marketed in a way (by the one and only Taylor Swift) that makes you feel like you can conquer anything and while you're doing it, you'll be doing it with a smile.
3. New Balances
Credit: New Balance
Call them "dad shoes" if you will, but New Balances have come back and are the leisure tennis shoe of choice around campus.
When I say leisure tennis shoe, I mean the tennis shoes that girls love to wear to look sporty, although we all know they don't do any sort of physical activity in them.
They make your casual t-shirt days just that much cuter and can be purchased in any color you want and seem to fit almost every personality of any girl.
They manage to hint at a fun, retro feel to a casual look and have somehow been thrown into the "I'm dressed down today but still look wonderfully preppy" category of outfits.
4. Slip on sneakers
Credit: Steve Madden
I remember seeing these all throughout middle school and associating them with the skater kids and thinking they only came in the black and white checkered pattern.
Contrary to my narrow-minded middle school self, these have now become the go-to shoe for girls who want to maintain a put together look while dressing down.
They give can give casual outfits the perfect element of effort, or effortful outfits the perfect element of sporty-chic.
I also would love to take a second and honor converse for their universal comeback years ago. They might be classified as "basic" now, but no one can deny how functional they are and the intense need to make a rainbow in your closet via colorful converse; after you buy your first pair, you simply just can't stop.
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