Love It or Hate It -- January 13

Still not shopping. Still not shopping. Still not shopping.

(Actually, I splurged this weekend on new running tights. They had them on sale at my local bike store for thirty bucks. Be still my heart. Chic they are not, but they have a really nice brushed flannel-y lining that is super soft and toasty warm. We take our small pleasures where we find them.)

So. Not shopping, but still looking, and while I was out & about on the interwebs, I spotted these on

I'm still having my big chunky shoe thing, and we all know how much I love a good pair of nude shoes, chunky or no, but these gave me pause. They have a vaguely orthopedic air about them, don't they? (I think it's the nude perfed leather.) Or do they? I don't know, I can't decide. You decide for me. Vote in the poll in the top right corner of the blog & tell me what you think.

Objet d'Art

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