More recently the no-show has shown up (discreetly, as is its wont) as the official sock for the designer sneaker.

As a child, Mrs. Heyward said, Nicholas celebrated his birthday with cake, parties and gifts of video games and designer sneakers.

He was often teased for wearing hand-me-down clothes and Fayva knockoffs of designer sneakers, he said.

Ms. Chwe, the owner of Juno, a shoe store specializing in designer sneakers and boots, is in a better position than the other merchants.

And the labor is mostly voluntary, not to put bread on the table but to put designer sneakers on the feet and high-tech music in the ears.

His New Museum solo incorporates skateboards, household furniture, a stuffed pet dog, fake fingernails, baseball bats and photographs of designer sneakers, all put to unexpected uses.

They took his designer sneakers and jacket, then ran.

Today I think more of the waste of a pair of hundred-dollar designer sneakers than I do of the humiliation suffered at the hands of my peers.

Now those wonderful folks who brought you designer sneakers, baby vegetables and insider trading are giving children's birthday parties - and no one gives missals as gifts.

DRESS CODE: For men, designer sneakers, black Prada sweater, crisp jeans.