By Allison Hamila

What you wear can say a lot about you. What you put on your feet can be even more revealing.

Are you a stiletto wearing vixen? Do you trot around town in the newest pair of Lebron James endorsed Nikes? Or are you a purveyor of the classic, simple, clean, white sneaks? Are you a girl who needs something in every color? If those last two sentences describe you, you might be wearing a pair of Converse All-Stars. And if you are really cool, you might just be wearing your Chucks.

The iconic classic has gone from being just for athletes to the mainstream, evolving with each decade it touches. You cannot stereotype an All-Star wearer, as everyone from emo skater kids in girl's jeans, to hipster guys in Seven jeans wear them. Not to be outdone are girls who just can't mismatch in pink (I fall into this category) and poets who want to be taken seriously in their white pair which are now so dirty theyre gray.

"I like to wear them because they are comfortable, and the dirtier they are the better," Julieann Delacruz, a psychology major at the University of Arizona said.

Delacruz is a drawer. She covered her white Chucks in dirt, and doodles wrap around the length of the rubber.

"I did it in my fiction writing class because I was bored," Delacruz said.

She has also worn her Chucks for fancy occasions. Once she decided to throw them on to attend an academic banquet.

"All of my friends were like 'Julie, what the heck!' I told them I wore them because I wanted to," she said.

Chucks can be dressed up and down. That is part of their appeal. I wore them out to dinner at PF Changs with my pink prom dress. I don't know if it was the prom dress or the fact that I wore it with pink Chucks that shocked people more. Mostly I just wanted to match and feel a little like a fashion spread in bright pink sneaks, a puffy dress, and a jean jacket.

Alexandria Kassman, a sophomore creative writing major at the University of Arizona likes her Chucks in bright colors too. She sports teal ones around campus along with a neon yellow back pack.

"I like bright colors and they are so comfy and cool," Kassman said.

Kassman does not like the fact that the shoes are made by Nike, however. She also does not like that the shoes have become so popular.

"I don't think they should be trendy. They are made in sweatshops. I don't think anything made by Nike should be trendy. I'm a hypocrite though because I wear them," Kassman said.

Freshman pre-architecture major, John Schmelzel, keeps his clean and white as possible and wears them with his Hollister sweatshirt and designer jeans.

"They are just easy to wear," he said.

There are All-Star purists, like my father who wore his high tops around to embarrass me countless times before they were cool again. I would catch on later. I own four pairs.

There are 22 different styles at Lady Footlocker and even the mannequins at the GUESS store and EXPRESS are rocking Chucks. They've gone from underground to corporate. You can even find them at Dillards and Macy's.

There is no average All-Star wearer. There is no mold that they fit into. The real purists wear the high tops in only white or black which is the only colors that the shoes came in until 1966. The shoes have not been redesigned since Chuck Taylor; a basketball player put his feet into them in 1921, whose signature is still emblazoned on the side.

The shoe was mostly considered for basketball until the 70s and 80s when they could be seen on the feet of everyone from Punky Brewster to Marty McFly. Although Converse is still considered a place for basketball shoes. It seems that only the hardcore fans of the shoe or listeners of alternative music will rock the high tops anymore.

In 2003, Nike bought out the compay and, which is when it went into its recent image over haul. Chucks' recent resurgence is compliments of the entertainment industry. Flip through any US Weekly or People magazine, and you are bound to find a pair of Chucks somewhere.

The shoes represent irreverence to each user. Especially when they appear on movie characters insteps. In 2004's "A Cinderella Story" starlet Hilary Duff's character Sam sports pink high top Chucks with her ball gown. Sam is unlike the rest of her peers; she's smart and serious. Then there is a character like Dwight McCarthy, a violent quasi villain, played by Clive Owen in 2005's "Sin City" is seen in the movie and in the comic book that the movie is based off of wearing red Chucks. In the film, they are one of the few things in color. There are Chucks in the future too; Will Smith has a pair on in his film "I, Robot" which is set in 2035.

There was a time when Chucks were reserved only for the rock crowd, you know those scary kids at your high school who would look at you strangely when you were getting excited about the newest *NSYNC CD. Now you can find a pair of Chucks on one kid in every kind of group. When I was in high school, I was almost scared to wear them. My sister was much braver and starting stepping out in black ones when she was a freshman. For, me at that time Chucks represented a kind of group to which a kid in AP classes who was on the newspaper did not belong in. It wasn't until college when I decided that there was no reason not to wear what I wanted.

An employee at the Lady Footlocker in Tucson mall said there is no single type of woman who buys the shoes. She has seen old and young alike slip into one of the store's 22 options.

Chucks are all about personalization. There is a feature on the Converse website where you can design your own pair to truly set yourself apart. Each pair of Chucks means something different to someone. There are those who wear them to fit in, those who wear them for pure comfort, and those who wear them because they simply identify with them. They can change their personality with every color, hi or low top. The shoes become a part of you.

For now though Chucks might be just a fashion statement. There are internet fan lists dedicated to them. There are collectors of the shoes, the Guinness Book of World Record holder owns over 400 unique pairs. They are as much a statement as a hobby.

What do your shoes say about you? If you have a pair of Chucks laced up on your feet it might say: Don't you dare try to put me into a category or I dare you to try to put me into one. You'll probably be wrong.