SPERRY TOP-SIDER® + J. CREW

   Sperry Top-Sider® for J.Crew short Shearwater boots, $138 at J. Crew online.

Invented in the ‘30s, becoming popular in the ‘70s and ‘80s, on the decline since the ‘90s, Sperry Top-Siders® are making quite the comeback in 2012. Enjoying a resurgence that began in the late 2000s--due in large part to better marketing, celebrity endorsements and strategic partnerships with fashion forward brands like Band of Outsiders, Milly, J. Crew and the Japanese brand A Bathing Ape--the quintessential preppy shoe has been updated in a myriad ways (with varying colorways and fabrics including sequins and prints) and serves as the inspiration for many a brand.* If imitation is the highest form of flattery, then the Sperry brand should take comfort in its resurrection, knowing that its legacy is firmly established and living on through collaborations like the one from J. Crew. Get your Sperry Top-Sider for J.Crew short shearling boots, depicted above, for $138 here. Click here to see additional footwear from the Sperry Top-Sider® for J.Crew collection!

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* Recently, I spotted this Sperry boat shoe display in a local Macy’s and, a few minutes later, came across these boat shoes--highly reminiscent of the iconic Sperry boat shoe--in Steve Madden.