Style Girlfriend x The Nylite Project

Last summer, Tretorn introduced The Nylite Project, with fashion bloggers, stylists, and editors lacing up in the 120 year-old Swedish brand’s classic canvas sneaker.

They were nice enough to ask me to participate in the project’s latest go-round - this year with a DIY theme to celebrate several new styles and colors of the iconic sneaker – and I thought I’d share the fruits of my footwear labor.

To get the creative juices flowing, the shoes arrived with lots of fun arts & crafts accoutrement – markers, paint, dye and the like.

Or at least, they would be fun for someone who didn’t have a panic attack every time she walked by the arts & crafts table at camp as a kid. Seriously, I do not have an “art” bone in my body. I don’t even know why I put “art” in quotes like it’s not a real thing. I mean really. I can’t paint. I can’t draw. I can barely write in cursive.

So I did the only thing I knew how – I called in my most creative friend and made her help me. My inspiration? My hair – a lovely ombré shade that’s the serendipitous result of an ill-advised blonde period that’s still growing out.

We dip dyed the sneakers in what was labeled as black, but turned out to be more of a navy blue. Which is great, because I love how they came out even more than what I’d been picturing in my head. They look like I bought them in a bright blue, which faded after wasting away the summer walking around Cape Cod (or, you know, the Williamsburg waterfront, but you get the picture) with an ice cream cone in my hand.

Now if summer will just hurry up and get here so I can wear them without the socks.

Photos by the talented James Nord.