Last month, Leah McSweeney of Married to the Mob dropped a funky Reebok Freestyle Hi covered in bright red kisses.

It was extremely cool, limited-edition, and sold-out in approximately 50 minutes.

Suffice it to say, we don't have a pair in our closet.

We love the look of ballet flats and they are wonderfully convenient when you're traveling through airports -- easy on, easy off at the security checkpoint.

On the other hand, their thin soles can leave your feet feeling unsupported and sore. Plus we prefer something a little more robust, like tennis shoes, when we're trekikng around a new city.

Except, yuck, who wants to look like an ugly tourist in the tennis shoes? If only there was a cute pair of flats with nice cushiony soles...

A new trend is taking over the streets of Japan, literally. People are running in huge numbers, particularly young women who live in the cities.

The fad is especially strong in trendy Tokyo, where women's corporate marathon clubs are meeting before and after work to do a few laps around the Imperial Palace. The main goal is to "stay healthy, pretty and sane" with the extra benefit of getting to show off special marathon gear from Danskin and New Balance.

If you have tender toes, then you know that working out can mean more than just aching muscles. The wrong socks can rub your feet raw with rough material or sharp seams.

Many, many times we've been really cooking on the elliptical machine, thinking, "We're finally going to fit into that sample size dress!" only to cut the workout short because of painful blisters from our socks.

The LA Times published an article the other day about how rock stars are beginning to all look the same, and after a quick survey of many of today's top artists, we have to kind of agree. While we've spent many hours lamenting over how derivative and boring mainstream pop music is these days, we hadn't really taken notice of how conservative rock stars were dressing.

Where's the sex? Where's the wild hair? Where is the leather? Visionaries and rebels are few and far between in today's music scene. Instead of setting the rules for fashion, like many of their predecessors, most of today's music talent look like they're taking their cues from display windows at the mall. From John Mayer to Fergie, most of them look like they're heading to a photo shoot for one catalog or another -- and in a very real way, they are.

BET's 2008 Rip the Runway had a bevy of beautiful collections for women. From sporty and sassy to sexy (or more), each designer brought his or her own idea of what black fashion should be, and the overall effect, as BET promised was "so fly."

Respect M.E. by Missy Elliott and Adidas was the first collection of the night, and it was the perfect choice. Missy performed and models of all shapes and sizes brought a level of energy I've never seen on a runway before. They weren't walking, or strutting -- they were dancing. And the clothes were casual and sporty, but still with a sexy appeal. Guys were dressed in sweats while the ladies sported everything from short dresses to athletic capris.

Zac Posen couldn't have presented a more beautiful, feminine collection of girly dresses (and pissed off looking models). He strives to push glamor's boundaries, and makes a point to show off the female form. From ruffled and flowing to form-fitted and fishtailed, this line is all about looking like a glamorous woman.

CoCo Ri is a soon to be available line by Shante Broadus (aka Mrs. Snoop Dogg), and it offered a bit of everything. In large part, the clothes were really sexy, tight and flashy -- even a few items that looked pretty innocent ended up showing some bar or booty. As a nod to her hubby (whose clothing line, Rich & Infamous, was shown at the same time), her models walked or carried tiny little dogs on the runway.

Nelly and his Apple Bottoms finished out the night strong -- of course, first model walked out to Flo Rida and T-Painand was wearing "Apple Bottom Jeans (shorts) and boots with the fur." A lot of the clothes were really wearable and flattering (although I'm not sure about the holographic silver pants, but who knows). A lot of flattering colors and cuts were shown, but my very favorite (possibly favorite of the night -- sorry Zac Posen) was a STUNNING little black dress that would put every other LBD in the world to shame.

Be sure to check out the gallery of these designs and others from Rip the Runway!

Running against stiff competition like Nike and Adidas, Puma has been struggling in recent years. And really it's hard to compete with Stella McCartney designing for Adidas and Nike basically having the backing of every major sports superstar out there. But Puma is putting it's best foot forward. They recently decided to buy the Hussein Chalayan fashion label.

For Puma's fall 2009 line, Hussein Chalayan will supervize "the creation, design and collection of (Puma's) Sportfashion collection."

Chalayan will work out London, which makes sense since he already has a name for himself there. He's won Best British designer of the year twice.

Alexander McQueen already designs for the Puma and I don't really know how much it's done to invigorate the company. Really, Hussein Chalayan isn't a household name for people outside the fashion world. I don't know how much this is going to help the ailing Puma brand gain street cred. Although, maybe since the label is more well known in Europe it will gain some ground for Puma over there.

Good luck to Puma, but I have to say, I'll be sticking with Adidas!

Via Yahoo.

I'll be the first one to admit that good looking gals can get away with a lot. They can show up with no makeup, greasy hair and the outfit they wore last night and everyone will still say they look fabulous. However, the one thing beautiful women can't get away with is smelly armpits. Europeans can do as they please, but just as sure we use miles instead of kilometers, we have a low tolerance for stinky neighbors.

In some sense, choosing a deodorant is a pragmatic decision. Who cares who makes it? Who cares about the formula? The only question that really matters is "Does it work?" Unless you're like me and you're paranoid about the links between the aluminum in deodorant and Alzheimer's disease, in which you also have to ask yourself the question, "Will this deodorant poke holes in my brain later down the road?"

To get away from aluminum, I've tried almost every natural deodorant on the market. The naturals smell pleasant enough but inevitably they end up giving out about four hours after an application.

If you've had similar difficulties with your anti-perspirants, I would high recommend giving Adidas' deodorant stick a shot. One-hundred percent aluminum free, this solid stick behaves like a deodorant and an anti-perspirant by absorbing moisture through its cotton technology. I'm not sure how you can get cotton into a deodorant, much less how it manages to keep you dry all day, but it does -- and without the help of super-scary aluminum.

Okay, so maybe they're not your cup of tea, but legendary rappers Run D.M.C. brought a lot of style into the world. The trio of Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels ("DMC", in case you're wondering, stands for "Dirty, Mostly Clean") created a look that -- like it or not -- defined a great deal of urban culture in the 80s.

Black hats, black jackets, big glasses and chains were necessary, yes, but the most important part of the style was a pair of Adidas. Ideally, you'd have several pairs, as the tribute song "My Adidas" makes clear: "got blue and black/ when it's time to chill/ and yellow and green/ when it's time to get ill."

So, while they are important both as musicians and as the first group to bring rap into the mainstream, Run D.M.C. always will be just as important, as far as I'm concerned, for their lasting contributions to street style.

Long, long ago, in a borough far, far away, sneakers were not worn by yuppies, soccer moms, power walkers or office casual-types in their off-hours.

No, back then, sneakers were exclusively the domain of b-boys, streetballers, graffiti kids, breakdancers and their pals. Their domain? By and large, New York, especially in the outer boroughs.

And now you can learn all about these pre-Puma-chic years thanks to Where'd You Get Those? New York City's Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987. Author Bobbito Garcia brings it all back home, from the Adidas "Ivan Lendl" (remember him?) line to the Nike Airship to Converse All-Stars.

If you can't dig up a copy locally, Amazon.com and Powells.com are where you can find Where'd You Get Those?

Forget The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Forget The Royal Tenenbaums. Forget even Rushmore. Before any of these movies came along, there was Bottle Rocket.

Wes Anderson's first foray into filmmaking was co-written with Owen Wilson, and the movie is the film debut of both Owen and brother Luke Wilson. Fans of Wes Anderson will recognize many of his hallmarks: quirky characters, absurd but recognizable situations, a soundtrack of obscure but amazing songs and an underwater scene.

But Bottle Rocket was made with what appears to be a budget of about $763, so the hot outfits of Mr. Anderson's later movies (like the Adidas "Zissou" shoes in The Life Aquatic) are a bit lower-budget. Indeed, in Bottle Rocket, the best we get are matching day-glo orange jumpsuits and coordinated Breathe-Rite nose strips.

It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make for this movie, however.

Nascar may or may not be cool, as I opined in a previous post.

But Formula One? Michael Schumacher? Ferrari? C'mon people -- F1 is totally, totally hot. And especially the shoes, a style I like to think of as "moon boots meet Capezios". You've got velcro straps, a non-slip sole and a mid-ankle height. What more could you want?

Adidas makes a great F1 shoe called the adi Racer. Puma (the shoe of the Mighty Schumacher), in turn, has the Future Cat. Even Nike makes a Formula One shoe.

Will they make you cooler? Definitely. And they'll definitely, definitely help you avoid slipping should any oil leak onto the tarmac.