"The Secret Life of a Sneaker Fiend" includes an interview with GGK author, Lori Lobenstine, and some great footage from the book. It was an honor to work with the talented teen editors on this piece, and we're really proud to be featured in a magazine by and about real teen girls. Here's the opening page from the article...

For more of the interview and these young women's ideas about sneakers, buy the magazine! You can find out more on Teen Voices including how to subscribe here:  www.teenvoices.com Sneaker artists, you can also find out about how to enter their monthly art competition!

Piper Carter (left), artist-about-town, made it all happen at "Old Miami" in Detroit. Over 150 patrons got to see a multi-media presentation of Girls Got Kicks, as well as rocking to the talents of the Born in Flames tour with Tamar-kali, Invincible and Wajeed. The event was presented by The Foundation of 5E Gallery. (For tons more pics, check out 5E Gallery's facebook page.

Tamar-kali

 Invincible

Rapper Miz Korona was in the house reppin FSF too!

Mel Wonder on the 1s and 2s

Like I said, it was a good crowd!

These female sneaker fiends were reppin' for The Foundation, a beautiful crew that really brings together females in hip hop culture in Detroit. Emcee Nikki (left) won the raffle for a pair of Bob's Classic Kicks, and Kirby (right) let us know her sneaker rule: buy a new pair of kicks every time she wears a pair for the 1st time! Always gotta have that fresh pair...

Speaking of Bob's Classic Kicks, I  had to go check out the real spot. (Including the vault in the back.) Female sneaker fiends who missed the event can pick up a signed copy of Girls Got Kicks at Bob's!

A photo exhibit of all of the amazing Melbourne fiends is now up on Cheech's Facebook page. What a crew. Don't sleep on the ladies!

Thanks Cheech and M.A.F.I.A.!

Manuelle wrote in recently to see if she could bring Girls Got Kicks to Montreal. This Canadian definitely has some love for MJ and his kicks...check the 23 tattoo on her neck!

Anyone for a roadtrip??

Girls Got Kicks' official launch in Detroit will be a packed event complete with the Michigan Raw Beat Battle and a special performance of the Born in Flames Tour. It will also include a multi-media presentation of Girls Got Kicks, so don't miss it!

Many thanks to sneaker aficianado and artist-about-town, Piper Carter, for helping make this exciting event happen!

Melodee Malazarte

In honor of the Girls Got Kicks event in Melbourne, our guest photographer, Cheech Sanchez, is posting an image a day throughout February on her Facebook page. Check out more of these Melbourne female sneaker fiends HERE...  Or you can check out the standing gallery at The Vic throughout February.

Amanda Miller

Photos from the packed event coming soon!

I met Kerin Rose at Sneaker Pimps NYC in 2006, when she amazed me by carrying one fabulous bedazzled Chuck Taylor in her bag. She’s now famous for her spectacular eyewear (a-morir.com), worn by the likes of Rihanna, Grace Jones and Lady Gaga. When I interviewed her for Girls Got Kicks, I had to ask if she’s still carrying magic kicks in her bag…

My bag is always filled with sparkly magic tricks! I’d love to work more with sneakers, but right now outside of eyewear, I do mainly face masks and head pieces. However, any and all of my clients that have seen the shoes lose their minds without fail. Very few singular items can literally drop a jaw the way a Converse covered in 3000 hand-applied Swarovski crystals can. 

The Melbourne Girls Got Kicks exhibit opening night is coming up quick! If you're in the city of sneaker freakers, don't miss this big event at The Vic Bar on February 2nd. You can hear M.A.F.I.A spin, buy Girls Got Kicks or even a one-of-a-kind Cheech Sanchez portrait. Don't miss it! For more information on the event or to RSVP, click on the event facebook page. (You'll also see information on the killer after party and on how to pre-order books so you make sure you get your copy...)

In her first-ever solo show, Cheech Sanchez presents a series of photographic portraits of female sneaker enthusiasts taken exclusively for the recently released international sneaker book, Girls Got Kicks. The photo series has since developed into a unique snapshot of female street culture in Melbourne. Juxtapozing feminine curves against the graffiti-laden laneways and back streets of Fitzroy and St Kilda, the exhibition is set to throw a bright spotlight on an otherwise elusive group of uniquely Melbournian women.

The opening night - hosted by Melbourne’s very own sneaker queen, M.A.F.I.A. - also acts as the official Australian launch for the book Girls Got Kicks. The first ever photo documentary of badass female sneaker heads, Girls Got Kicks bursts with portraits and stories as rich and varied as their ever-growing sneaker collections.

The Blast, a worldwide hip hop blog, recently interviewed GGK author Lori Lobenstine. Here's the intro by Lindsay Bess...

MY ADIDAS (are too tight…and why are they pink?)

Sup everyone!  I’m back for a second week in a row to wax poetic about a book I recently found out about:

GIRLS GOT KICKS by Lori Lobenstine

Basically, it’s a photo-documentary about ladies and their love for footwear - with no high heels in sight (love em, but this is NOT that kinda book).

This book is basically written for any female who has at one point in her life sworn by Nike or Adidas, has ever scrubbed her shoes with a toothbrush, cares about how they are laced (tied or untied?), preferred sneaks over heels at a jam and thought she looked better than everyone else...

HOW DID THE IDEA FOR THE BOOK COME ABOUT? 

LL:  “The idea for the book came about around the same time as the idea for the site…there seemed to be a lack of a real community for female sneaker heads.  The sites I came across were very male-dominated, with pics of naked girls surrounded by shoes or a hot girl holding a pair of Jordans in her teeth.  That is not us! I felt there needed to be a site dedicated to real female sneaker fiends, a space for us to come together and see each other and be recognized. What writing the book and creating the site did was connect and bring out thousands of women around the world who love kicks.

For full interview, click here.

You can tell she loves her SBs! Keep the fan mail coming and be the next featured reader...