Has Adidas Been the Leader of Effortless French Style All Along?

I ask you to consider two recent consumable products that have been published for purchase on several luxury corners of the Internet:

These white sneakers, so clearly manufactured in “dedication” to the now-pervasive Stan Smith sneaker.

And these red track pants, which I swear on the tampon in my left boob pocket, were Adidas in 2001. I know this to be true because I not only owned them but I snapped them off at any opportunity that would present itself. Dinner ready? Pants off. House phone ringing? Pants off. Brother crying? You know.

I still appreciate them — the pants and the shoes. So much that I have gone so far as to obtain the latter (granted, in an elaborate leopard print), but who the true purveyor is of the effortless style that these items seem to encapsulate should be questioned.

Here we have Isabel Marant, who tiptoed into fashion in 1995 with a line of bohemian style tunics and boots that jingled, and airy skirts that did wonderful things for women’s legs. Twenty years, almost to date, after the birth of her label, Marant has indubitably amassed her level of popularity based on her ability to sell a lifestyle that is so easy, so effortless, so downright cool, it never could have come with a price tag previously.

And then we have Adidas: a behemoth that’s been manufacturing sportswear since 1949, and while, yes, it is easy to blame the recent influx of “elevated sportswear” within fashion on a totem of 21st century dressing (we are ironists, and as such, should address that in the outfitting choices we make), there is a level of sincerity with which many of us live. If we’re taking to track pants that might simply just mean the silhouette is satisfying; they’re saying what they need to say, and you, or I, feel good in them. I’ll take this on step further:

Maybe I mean to wear Birkenstocks because I find them easy on the eye, or simply comfortable. And that pastel blue, Peter Pan-collared puffer coat? Yes, sure, a pillar of the way in which many young boys interpreted achievable warmth in, say, 1972, but also a fine way to stay warm in 2015.

So now I ask you this: are these sneakers and these track pants an ironic nod to a heritage brand that we’ve been softly overlooking, or are they simply a manifestation of The Changing Times? If that is the case, should we defer to point A and consider the inevitable — that Adidas has been the steward of effortless style all along?