Every week a different FADER staff member will pick a clothing item or accessory that he or she has lately been spending a lot of time with—or would like to—and write a little love letter to it. We would’ve done a column on who we’re dating but that seemed a little bit much. This week Chioma Nnadi writes about the Dr Martens Shoe in Pewter.
The first person I knew that wore Docs was my friend Ruth from high school. She was the first girl I knew that had her boyfriends stay the night, and the first girl I knew to take her girlfriend home to meet the family. We used to talk trash at the back of our science class while she fucked up her docs little by little with a bunsen burner. Actually, that part isn't quite true. She did always screw-up her shoes, but mostly she sat at the front of class arguing with the professor about composite molecules or elements on the periodic table or whatnot. Badassness and brains.
These metallic docs don't really scuff in the same raggedy way, and you probably shouldn't scrap off the leather and write reminders on the exposed toecaps like Ruth did. That shiny finish though, is the best part. It's not silver or gold, it's pewter which scientifically speaking is a malleable metal alloy, stuff that turns blue when you burn it. The shine on them gets more hazy with ever wear, like an old silver spoon—the kind of spaceman shoes you ought to wear in a laboratory full of boys.