Campus 00s: Cute or Clown Shoe?
Image Courtesy: Instagram
From New Balance 550s to Air Force 1s all the way to the now seen-everywhere Sambas, lifestyle shoes have taken over the fashion world. Platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram have catapulted the popularity of this category of shoe and has made it almost impossible to obtain them at the peak of their prevalence. Now, we have a new shoe on the scene which has rapidly taken over my for-you page: the Adidas Campus 00s.
Although the Campus’s first launch was in 2022, the shoes have just of late created a stir over their new colorways. Their vibrant colors have been launched all on ASOS’s page, and most of them have completely sold out and are only available through resale. Because of this extraordinary hype that I have witnessed of the shoe, I decided to take it upon myself to see if they are truly up to the hype. I will be honest, I am no reviewer by nature but when I have an excuse to buy new shoes, I do it. And so I did.
Was it impossible to pick between all the colors? Yes, very much so. Still, I settled on the colorway Pink Fusion, a Barbie pink hue that literally screamed my name when I saw them. My review of them will entail three central questions:
- How do they look when styled?
- How do they look paired with a “lowkey” outfit?
- How versatile are they?
A common critique of the Campus 00s is that their size resembles that of clown shoes. These questions will bring me to the conclusion of whether the shoes are more clown than cute. Now let’s get on with the review…
Image Courtesy: size.co.uk and Jaclyn Camp (me)
The shoes arrived pretty quick after I ordered them, and I was excited to try them out. I was a bit disappointed at my first glance at them because from what I saw, all pairs are supposed to come with two pairs of laces–one white and one that compliments the color of the shoe. My pair only came with pink—not the end of the world, obviously, but the white would’ve looked cleaner on them. That still did not stop me from wearing them out the next day.
One thing I quickly noticed about the Campus 00s was that they run big, so if you want to buy a pair, consider going half to a full size down. I paired them with a pair of wide leg cargo pants from Abercrombie, a basic black tee from Brandy, and a pink baby doll tank I thrifted. The fit was spectacular. When I tell you my confidence was otherworldly, I am being serious. No one could tell me anything as long as I had those shoes on my feet. I also received a lot of compliments, so that is a plus! Even though my first day impression of the shoes was an easy 9.5/10, I wanted to see how they would look for the lowkey fit day. Could they be a cute, relaxed shoe as well as a fire fit one? Let’s see…
Image Courtesy: My amazing brain for coming up with this fire fit.
For the second day, I paired them with a classic black nike middle swoosh crewneck (don’t kill me for brand mixing) and some thrifted low wide leg, gray sweats. The look was nothing spectacular, but again: I. Felt. So. Confident. These shoes also fit the comfy vibe for sure. Not only are they very comfortable, the tongue on them is plush and the laces are huge. In a way, they felt like slippers when I wore them with my sweats. I was so stunned by the versatility of them, and I still received compliments on my outfit even though I was literally in plain sweats! I started to think these shoes are magic.
Image Courtesy: My roommate who I made take these of me.
For the last test, I decided to pair them with a pair of pants that are not wide leg. In nature, these shoes are pretty chunky, so I wanted to see if they really would look like clown shoes when not paired with wide-legged pants. I chose to wear a pair of classic align leggings with a skims black tee. With the somewhat slimming fit, I was nervous to see how they would look. Obviously, your opinion is your own, but I honestly felt like they didn’t really give clown shoe. Was it the cutest fit I have ever worn? No, but the shoes still served I think.
Image Courtesy: Jaclyn Camp (me)
From my serious studies on if the Adidas Campus 00s are clown shoes or not, I have come to the conclusion that they are indeed cute. I would recommend these shoes to anyone. They are not only comfy, but I have discovered that they are versatile and there are endless amounts of cute fits that can be assembled with them. I may or may not have another pair on the way already…
Strike Out,
Jaclyn Camp
University of Notre Dame
Editors: Victoria Dominesey and Maddie Arruebarrena
