For anyone who might (impossibly) still not be convinced that shoes are not merely things to put on your feet so you can walk on hot asphalt, but beautiful pieces of art worthy of study and adoration, I present Proof of My Beliefs:
Glorious. Downright iconic, is what that is.
Taken by my wonderful friend John Langford, professional photographer extraordinaire. I lent John some shoes to play with for a week, and this is one of the results. I'll show you some more later, but I had to share this amazing shot of one of my favorite shoes of all time. How gorgeous is that?
(The shoe is a Stuart Weitzman Lady in Red Quasar, in case you're wondering or keeping track.)
The foot is a very utilitarian thing. Feet in and of themselves are not actually that pretty. Maybe that's why we love shoes so much -- because they take a body part we cannot do without, that can plague us to pieces (says the woman who hasn't been able to walk without pain in almost a year), that is the most (oh, forgive me) pedestrian of limbs and make it exquisite. The Cinderella myth is a very deep one, and I feel very strongly that the fact that it's a shoe on which the whole thing hinges is not a coincidence. The right shoe makes a princess out of a scullery maid -- and we know that instinctively.
What's your favorite pair of shoes? Send me pictures & tell me about them -- I really want to know!
Photo: John Langford
4 comments:
Okay, that's THE most impressive bit of Shoe Porn I've seen. I would go to bed with those shoes. I dont' say that lightly.
I actually have a pair of shoes that are so special to me that I have them encased in a display box. My grandmother, who was raised in Mennonite home in Pennsylvania, was not allowed to have jewelry or wear patterned clothes or makeup or anything fun like that. Someone bought her a pair of red shoes when she was about 4, and they never got worn. They're boots, actually, with that kind of hook-and-eye lacing that goes up the side of each ankle. Really Nelly Olsen-looking, you know? My favorite fairy tale is The Red Shoes (if you haven't read it, you MUST get Clarissa Pinkola Estez's book Women Who Run with the Wolves and read her analysis of its meaning -- this is seriously a must-read, especially if you like shoes, and MOST especially if you like red shoes), so to me these shoes represent the wild child inside my grandma. If I had a picture I'd post it. Hmmm, maybe I'll take one and post it on my blog...
Ooooh....beautiful photo!
It hurts me - HURTS ME - that I can't see that picture. All of your pictures display fine.. apart from that one, which is a little red cross. I want to see it! Now!
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