Everything old is new again in hip-hop this year, including fat laces. A throwback to the days when everything was big in hip-hop- dookie chains, boomboxes, Magnum markers - fat laces are a small, yet important testament to the need for individual expression released by New York's ghetto youth in the seventies through music, dancing, painting, and fashion.

Proper lacing can really accentuate a sneaker and add a certain swagger to your step, and fat laces came about simply as a result of young, urban fashionistas wanting to take what was often the most expensive item they had, and enhance their looks in a cheap and easy way. The process was completely homegrown: they took regular shoestrings, stretched them to the desired width, then ironed and starched them to retain the shape. Although there are several opinions floating around about who initially started the fat lace phenomenon, several historians credit Rock Steady Crew members Mr. Wiggles and PopMaster Fabel (who also started the later "elastic laces" fad), with setting off the trend. Sometimes, even ribbons were used to lace shoes, but the fat lace remains the big daddy of sneaker adornment.

Fat laces were on every fresh dressed homeboy and homegirl from the late seventies up through the late eighties, crowning popular kicks like Pony Starters, Adidas Superstars, and Puma Clydes. In the eighties, the rise of groups like Run DMC and the Beastie Boys made fat laces in a rainbow of colors common items in most shoe stores. But in the seventies, when they were homemade from standard shoelaces, color options were basically limited to black, white, or brown. To get around this, earlier youth simply dyed them, wrote their names or crews' names on them, or otherwise personalized them to further express their individuality - something that is sorely missed in today's age of any poser being able to buy a "hip-hop outfit" complete with baggy jeans and doo-rag in any mall in the world.

Fortunately, the recent surge in the market for "old school" shoes brought on by eighties nostalgia is bringing back some of hip-hop yesteryear's fashion flare, and fat laces are again the "must have" sneaker accessory. But unlike our hip-hop forebears, today we have even more colors, styles, and sizes readily available. From fat laces stamped with shoe and clothing company logos, to Day-Glo laces, checkerboard laces, etc., all ranging in sizes from the standard 1 inch, to the jumbo 3 inch, fat lace choices are everywhere.

So for the fat lace beginner, i.e., those born after 1985, here are a few simple rules to follow that will boost the fresh factor of your laces. First, the laces have to match the sneaker. Duh, right? But this is a common mistake. If you're sporting some Adidas Tobaccos, choose matching brown laces. If you're wearing some white (with black stripes) Adidas Promodel Hi-Tops, "sidekicks" of the Superstar, try rocking black laces with them (even though white laces are almost always acceptable with mostly white shoes). Just use common sense. Don't wear red laces with blue and white shoes, etc. Continued on page 2 »