As soon as Barry Keoghan could hop out of his Mad Hatter-themed getup for this year’s Met Gala, the Irish actor threw on a comfy tracksuit and a trusty pair of uptowns to hit the afterparties. Box-fresh white Nike Air Force 1s are Keoghan’s sneaker of choice; he’s worn them to fashion weeks, musical festivals, and as it turns out, most of his workout sessions.
On a recent episode of Complex’s “Sneaker Shopping” video series, the Oscar-nominated actor met up with host Joe La Puma to discuss his footwear proclivities. When they broach the topic of Air Force 1s, Keoghan admits—to La Puma’s shock—that he even wears the storied basketball shoes to run.
“I go running in Air Force 1s, and they’re probably the worst to run in,” Keoghan says, adding that he’s gone for six-to-seven-kilometer runs in the not-especially-bouncy AF1 Lows. But he doesn’t stop there. “I skip, I train, everything [in them]—I’m not even messin’. They’re just comfy,” he says. “I wear them for everything.”
He only recently received a pair of proper running trainers, though he shares that once he put them on, “I was like, ‘This doesn’t feel right.’”
The Dublin native tells La Puma that he personally thinks the AF1 is the best shoe ever made, and that he wears them every day. “I do everything, even sleep in them,” Keoghan jokes. “No, I don’t sleep in them. I do get into bed with them on, sometimes.”
LaPuma inquires further, even referencing a scene in Spike Lee’s 1986 debut She’s Gotta Have It, when the camera pans down to reveal that Lee’s character Mars leaves his Jordans on while having sex.
“Different time, different story,” Keoghan demures. But there have been instances, he admits, when “I get onto the bed with them on and be told off like, ‘Get these shoes off the bed.’”
Well, as Keoghan’s girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter might counter: Have you ever tried this one?
