In a world where sneaker culture speaks louder than just about anything else in the realm of aesthetic, it should come as no surprise that people everywhere are stepping up their lace game harder than ever.
Gone are the simple days of merely tying up your bunny ears and hitting the road. In the modern world, there are as many ways to tie your shoes as there are character deaths on an episode of Game of Thrones.
Beyond your average ways of lacing up a shoe, the newest and coolest way to rock your laces is to wear them completely untied. Now, people over the age of forty just about anywhere absolutely resent this idea.
They think that it is just another millennial psych experiment designed to prove how special, unique, and ridiculous we all are, but there is more to it.
Wearing your shoelaces untied is not merely doing an impersonation of a kid on a playground who has been running so much that their shoelaces have come undone.
No, in order to effectively rock the untied shoelaces look, you must practice the art of lacing your shoes in a way that accommodates it.
You won’t look cool if you run off to show someone your favorite pair of designer sneakers and trip because your shoes are slipping off.
The point of wearing your shoelaces untied is about giving the free lace appearance without actually risking any bodily injury.
This requires lacing your shoes in a way that makes them feel tied without you actually having to tie a knot on top, and that is where the true art of this style comes from.
Another benefit of wearing your shoes untied is if you leave all of your laces loose it will not pull together and crease the shoes as bad if you are trying to keep them like new.
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How to wear shoes untied
Crossover lacing is a relatively popular way to lace shoes that allows you to pull off the untied shoelace look without having to give up too much of your shoelace security.
This style is focused on lacing the shoes over the top in a seemingly traditional crossover pattern that allows you to control how tight the lower portions of the shoes are without forcing you into a crazy or complex lacing pattern.
This particular style helps you to jump into the untied shoelace look without requiring you to develop complex lacing knowledge in order appease the internet masses when they check out your pics.
The shoes listed above are Vans.
The only difference between this pattern and the average lace up is that you will go over the tops of the shoe as you lace rather than going under the eyelet like you would with an average pair of sneakers that you have absolutely no interest in looking cool in.
This style of lacing pattern also allows you to have the security to wear your shoes untied without forcing you to pull the laces too tight in a way that demonstrates how badly you’re trying to look cool. This method can be used to wear boots untied as well.
Bar laces for untied look
Bar laces became popular years ago and are a fan favorite for people who like to wear skate shoes.
This iconic look gives your shoes a futuristic appearance where your laces come across in sleek and smooth bars without any of the lacing mechanics visible, giving them the illusion of a clean and simple lace job. A lot of people like to do their Converse laces this way.
This look is ideal for people who want to wear their laces untied simply because it is actually incredibly difficult to tie them at all once it has been done since both of the tips will end up inside the shoe.
This means your only option for tying it would be to tie them under the the tongue of your shoe, and while it might sound like a good idea at first, after about thirty minutes of that knot digging into the top of your foot, you will realize that untied is not the way that you want to go.
While this look is known to jive well with flat shoelaces on skate shoes, a more popular modern trend involves using rope laces (they are the fancy looking round ones) on athletic shoes instead.
Related: What Are Red bottom Shoes?
Other methods to rock untied
Bun knots are not just a hairstyle focused on making guys who do a lot of yoga also appear like free spirited and otherworldly beings, but are also a fairly popular new trend when it comes to lacing.
This particular look kind of straddles the line between what does and does not constitute as tying your shoes, but it allows you to tie your shoes in a way that never really needs to be tied again.
This particular method of wearing your laces isn’t really focused on tying for security, but rather tying as an aesthetic alternative to leaving the tips of the laces dangling or stuffed inside your shoe.
You will begin this look by doing the same crossover lacing option from earlier in the article, but instead of leaving the laces to their own free will, you will be scooping them up into a bun knot to keep them in line.
Since this look is built around untied ideals, it is important to note that you are not actually tying the shoelaces in a way that will provide any kind of support.
In reality, you will leave the laces loose and then tie the tips into the bun knot in order to add a functionally useless but aesthetically awesome finish. I really like this look when I am wearing Jordans.
Below is an untied look that involves simply running the excess shoe lace that you would normally tie, back through the eyelets.
Conclusion
You can tell a lot about a person by the way that they wear and care for their sneakers, so it should come as no surprise that sneaker heads everywhere are rallying together to find new ways to show exactly how chill they are through the way they wear their shoes.
You might think that every lacing pattern is complex, but the reality behind them is that you are more or less five minutes and one how-to article away from looking like a sneaker influencer with the kind of Instagram that garners likes faster than a baby fox picture.
All you have to do is find out what your signature style should be, and then get them laced up. At the end of the day, we believe in you. Now get out there and look awesome.
For another great tip look at: How To Wear High Tops With Jeans.