I think the following shoes from Sam Edelman might come close:

Farrah. Dress ‘em up, dress ‘em down — these vivacious and versatile shoes will work with just about anything.

Garland. For more than one season, gladiators have already established themselves as a contender for the perfect summer sandal.

Candela. These little pieces of flare will spice up any “This old thing?”s or “I just threw this on”s you can dish out.

And don’t forget to check out Shoefly for more great enduring styles and shoes!

]]> http://www.shoeflyer.com/2009/07/one-hundred-year-feet-er-feat/feed/ 0 http://www.shoeflyer.com/2009/07/espadrilles-an-historical-legacy-of-natural-elegance/ http://www.shoeflyer.com/2009/07/espadrilles-an-historical-legacy-of-natural-elegance/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:00:43 +0000 Colleen http://www.shoeflyer.com/?p=2492 Did you know that modern espadrilles are related to shoes Native Americans were wearing over 8,000 years ago?  Espadrilles are shoes with cloth uppers and rope soles.  According to the journal Science, some of the 8,000-year-old shoes from the Arnold Research Cave in Missouri resembled espadrilles, in that they were woven from tough, fibrous plants.  Leather was also used in some specimens, including the one shown here.

Typically, such materials would have degraded long ago.  These shoes survived because the Arnold Research Cave provided a dry, protective environment (and because cave looters never stumbled across this shoe stash). Using carbon dating, scientists were able to determine that the shoes are over 8,000 years old.  The scientists found four complete sandals and thirteen nearly-whole slip-on shoes, showing that some styles never go out of vogue.

Expose by Charles David

In fact, the more you read about the Arnold Research Cave discovery, the more you realize that some things never change.  Then, as now, shoe styles varied according to region. Ancient agave-based shoes from west Texas are very different from the woven styles found in Missouri.  Woven shoes found in Colorado were constructed of similar materials as the Arnold Research Cave shoes, but were made in a totally different style.  While they were probably far harder on their shoes than we are, our predecessors were attracted to unique, stylish shoes, just like us.

Pati by Pare

If you’re hoping to emulate the styles found at Arnold Research Cave, check out these modern espadrilles from the Shoefly collection.  Espadrilles are perfect summer shoes– they’ll keep your heels lifted and your feet cool and comfy as you frolic in the mid-summer sun.   Happy hunting!

Top photo via Arnold Research Caves.

The shoes from the Theatre de la Mode exhibit represent one reason why people make miniature shoes: to represent their full-size counterparts.  As in sculpture,  architecture, and interior design, shoe designers may create a smaller version of their final products.  Doing so allows the artist/designer to get a better feel for how the full-size shoe will look and be constructed.

Minis from Maryhill

Of course, the designers represented in the Theatre de la Mode had additional motivation:  they created miniature shoes because materials were difficult to attain after the destruction ofWorld War II.  Shrinking the fashion scale allowed Paris’ top designers to exhibit their work in a time when the world was hungry for beauty but short on stuff. The detail in these tiny shoes are incredible, especially for the time.  You can see just how miniature these Theatre de la Mode shoes really are by reviewing the top photograph of a pair of shoes being held– those hands look huge in comparison!

Many people today enjoy collecting similarly detailed, incredible miniature shoes.  Collectors typically gather just the right shoe of their favorite shoe styles. A stiletto lover will be attracted to a five-inch version of their favorite spike heel, for instance.  Display cases are available–some also in the shape of shoes.  As I browse the plethora of sites that offer miniature shoes for sale, I’m struck with how many are designed for a specific event, like an engagement.  There’s even a miniature shoe for survivors of breast cancer!  As a shoe fetishist, I think a miniature shoe makes a great gift– and (bonus!) they doesn’t take up nearly as much space as regular shoes.  (Mine are spilling out of my closet as it is!)

If you’re hoping to find a way to reuse all of those extra full-size pairs, check out our post on crafts using old shoes.  If, on the other hand, you’d like your regularly-sized shoes to appear more miniature, here are a few minimizing shoes from the Shoefly collection.  They’ll make your feet seem smaller– and leave you feeling like you’re walking on air.

Union by Diego di Lucca: These shoes will make wide feet seem skinnier. The heel and slingback are also minimizing.

Peer by Charles David: Showing more skin on the top of your foot is slimming. Dark colors and heels are also minimizing.

Tiffany by Cynthia Rowley: Accents like bows and buckles make feet appear bigger, so this shoe is perfect for those who hope to follow the gladiator/aggressive shoe trend without making their feet look huge.

The Theatre de La Mode show is an enchanting treat for any fashionista. As the museum’s audio tour for the exhibit explains, “In 1944-45, after the German occupation of Paris, the fashion world was really threatened…  The things that were most important to the fashion world were in short supply (needles, thread, fabric, fuel)… but Paris would never give up the claim to being the center of fashion for the world. So Lucien Lelong had an idea: that he would develop the 1945 fashions in miniature.” Wire was on hand, so twenty-seven-inch-tall wire mannequins were topped with lifelike sculpted faces and heads, and 55 design houses created scaled down, incredibly detailed versions of their best fashions for that season, including hats, shoes, and even gloves.  However, despite the fact that the Theatre de la Mode captivated and inspired fashion-starved consumers across the globe, the mannequins sat in the basement of a department store until the 1950s, when a benefactor brought it to the Maryhill Museum.

The shoes in this exhibit were lavishly detailed and completely fierce, to use modern fashion lingo. (I will post more pictures from my trip later in the week.) The Theater de la Mode exhibit shows just how powerful fashion and other forms of art can be.  Although those who had suffered from the war probably felt that their lives were as bare-boned and incomplete as those wire mannequins, the beautifully detailed pieces from the Theatre de la Mode buoyed their spirits and made their post-war world a little brighter.

Here are a few shoes from the Shoefly collection that remind me of shoes that I saw in the Theater de la Mode.  Enjoy, and remember: everything in the Shoefly store is 25% off right now.

Arch by Faryl Robbin

BV1855 by Biviel

Maddie by Joy Chen

Top photo via Maryhill Museum of Art.

As a lifelong shoe fetishist, I’m fascinated to learn how high heels and platforms have appeared throughout history.  As Gioia Dilberto writes for the Huffington Post, sky-high shoes are a “style throwback to the 17th century and Louis XIV.”  Dilberto explains,

The Sun King started wearing high heels as a way to show off his long, curvy legs, sparking a craving at Versailles for similar footwear. The King’s shoes sometimes soared to five inches and were often decorated with miniature battle scenes. He particularly loved red heels, which became a symbol of his power, and he forbade anyone but the highest nobles to wear them.

If he were around today, I’m betting Louis would be as gaga for over-the-top footwear as today’s celebrities are.  As the red carpets of recent awards ceremonies have shown, celebrities are clamoring for higher and higher heels.  Designers are being very obliging–Christian Leboutin will soon release an eight-inch heel, for instance.  One of the most sought-after “it” shoes is Louis Vitton’s Spicy (shown at right), which has been selling out across the country, despite an astronomical price: from $1,300 to $3,000.  Only those with gobs of money to throw around can afford these tribal lovelies, which could be part of their attraction.

Then again, extreme shoes have always been a sign of wealth.  In Venice in the Quatrocento (the 1400s), Venetian Courtesans were probably the only ones in town who could afford chopines, which represented the literal and metaphorical height of footwear fashion at the time–some extant examples are twenty inches high!  (Take that, Mr. Leboutin.)  Originally used as an overshoe to protect the wearer from street mud, chopines soon rose to meet the fashion demands of the divas of the day.  Even then, heel height seemed intertwined with economics– the higher your shoe, the higher your rank. (Some things never change–heel height often rises with economic woes, as women attempt to outgrow their money woes.)

Incredibly, some enthusiasts are still building chopines today.  Using blocks of poplar wood, leather, and a nice tight shoemaker’s stitch, Francis Classe built the eye-popping pair of chopines shown above. Just like the celebrities who we see sporting super-high heels today, Mr. Classe says that “the extra tall chopines would really only have been worn by ladies of great means; any kind of economic downturns probably wouldn’t have impacted [them] all that much.”

The celebrities may be able to afford to drop two of my mortgage payments on a pair of shoes, but I’ll opt for more reasonable Shoefly prices instead. I prefer wedges to heels, especially when I know I’ll be up and down all day.  Apepazza’s Naida fits the bill nicely.  The ruby faux crocodile accent and fun lines make it my favorite “accent shoe” of the summer.

Top photo used with permission from Francis Classe.  To learn more about how to build chopines, visit Mr. Classe’s site. Photo of Vitton’s Spicy shoe via LuxuryLaunches.com.

]]> http://www.shoeflyer.com/2009/06/the-height-of-fashion-then-and-now-chopines/feed/ 3 http://www.shoeflyer.com/2009/06/how-to-protect-your-feet-at-the-beach/ http://www.shoeflyer.com/2009/06/how-to-protect-your-feet-at-the-beach/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:07:31 +0000 Colleen http://www.shoeflyer.com/?p=2059 It’s been quite a while since humans had feet tough enough to withstand the natural environment. Our ancestors’ feet were huge, hairy, and hard.  Ancient humans could withstand the pressure of walking barefoot on hard surfaces thanks to a tough layer of built-up callouses.  Now, because they are almost always protected by shoes, our feet are soft, narrow, and offer very little protection against the natural environment.  As beach season approaches, it’s important to know how to protect your feet when you do decide to go sans footwear. Here are a few safety tips to keep in mind at the beach, via the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons:

• Look out for glass and other hazards. Don’t let sharp seashells and discarded glass ruin your day at the beach.  Keep a lookout for sharp objects in the sand.  If your foot does get cut, clean and treat it immediately, put on your water shoes, and try not expose the cut to seawater, which can contain potent bacteria.  Puncture wounds should be given immediate medical attention.
• Beware Jellyfish. Like the sirens of the invertebrate world, the enchanting appearance of jellyfish is deceptive.  Avoid these gorgeous monsters altogether, and remember that even dead, washed-up jellyfish can sting you.  If you are stung, remove any tentacles and treat wounds with vinegar, meat tenderizer, or baking soda to reduce swelling and pain.
• Put Sun Lotion on your Feet. Not only will lubing up your feet prevent unsightly tan lines; you will also avoid the “rare but deadly skin cancers” that can occur on the feet, as the feet geeks at the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons put it.
• Opt For Supportive Running Shoes. Running on uneven surfaces like sand can cause ankle and foot injuries.  If you can’t resist the sensation of running barefoot in the surf, be sure to properly care for any injuries you incur; see a doctor for any that don’t clear up after a few days.
• Wear Shoes If You Have Diabetes. As you probably know if you suffer from diabetes, this disease causes poor blood circulation and numbness in the feet.  This means you may not even notice a cut until it’s already infected and ulcerated. Don’t put yourself at risk; wear shoes, and check them often for pebbles and other objects that could cause cuts.
• Pamper Yourself After Your Fun in the Sun. Salt, sand, and surf are tough on the skin.  Sunlight burns, and salt water dehydrates your skin.  Ocean water may also contain irritants, so be sure to shower after your day in the sun.  If you leave salt water on your skin, it may cause irritation and itchiness.  Finally, moisturize your skin by drinking plenty of water and applying plenty of lotion.

Even if you’re determined to go barefoot, it’s a good idea to have a stock of cute beach shoes.  You’re sure to turn heads with any of the Shoefly kicks I’ve included here. Now get out there and have fun!

Top photo by Raveme.

Heels, however, cannot predict the future. They do, though, give us a sense of where we might be headed. For instance, Semmelback mentions that in the early 1990s, heels became synonymous with sex, and sexy, then, became the essence of femininity. According the Semmelback, the heels we see from that decade clearly reflect that sentiment.

During the Great Depression, Semmelback says something strange happened to shoes: they got smart.

“Fashion was linked to Surrealism and to intellectual concepts. [Designers] made shoes far removed from the stereotyped sexualized shoe.”

Today, Semmelback notices heels are becoming more architectural by design, still sexy, but definitely engineered to “push the envelope.” She speculates about what this new trend might mean: “It’s as though today’s designers are making shoes that can be sexy and significant.”

Well, I should hope so.

The exhibition, cleverly titled “Stepping Out: Footwear from around the World,” features nearly 70 pairs of shoes and will run until July 12. Patrons can expect to see men’s and women’s footwear, and everything from moccasins to sneakers to boots to sandals — all uniquely crafted with a message.

A recent piece reviewing the shoe show took the angle that shoes can have stories — some good, some bad — that most everyone can identify with. It briefly discusses the historical relevance of shoes and their implications regarding social status. In the past, and even today, it’s easy to identify the nature of someone’s work by the type of soles they sport. For instance, when is the last time you saw a Fortune 500 CEO tromp into his office wearing muddy work boots?

Furthermore, the exhibit also aims to address the psychological impact shoes have on us. Shoe blogger Meghan Cleary said: “Shoes, more than any other item of fashion that we put on our body, have a physiological impact on us — they affect the way we walk, the way we carry ourselves. There’s so much we can tell about people from their shoes.”

What are your shoes saying about you?

It appears that an upcoming New England art exhibition featuring shoes will attempt to answer these questions for us. The exhibition is called “The Perfect Fit: Shoes Tell Stories” and hopes to explore the cultural meanings of shoes. While the exhibit sounds intriguing and quite possibly enlightening, the initial concept of “shoes as works of art” brings a few questions to mind that I’ve never necessarily considered regarding footwear.

For instance, imagine your shoes as a work of art. What do they say about the designer/artist? What stories do your shoes tell? What message do they send to people who see them? These are not normally questions we pose to ourselves when purchasing a pair of shoes, much less when we debate on which pair to wear any given day. But what if we started each day asking ourselves, “what story do I want to tell today?” or if we asked, “what do I want to communicate?” before we bought that next pair of shoes?

Just food for thought as your next shoe decision comes along.

The shoe show is said to contain 120 pieces of art by 100 artists from the United States, Canada, and Israel, and it will premiere at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts. After premiering in Brockton, the exhibition will continue on to visit other cities. According to a local newspaper, Brockton was the largest U.S. producer of shoes during the Civil War and until the mid-1900s was considered the shoe capital of the world. The exhibit begins June 6 and will run until January.

Maybe it’s time for some inspiration.

[pictured: Journal by Franco Sarto]

As you can see from the video above, shoemaking can be a long and tedious process. Shoemakers formed materials like leather, rubber, plastic, and jute around a mold called a last. Lasts are now made of plastic, although they were traditionally made of iron or wood. Sometimes a different last is used for the right and left foot. Watch the video to see where it goes from there.

Although I’m a big fan of handmade goods, I’m glad we have access to manufactured shoes.  After all, the industrial revolution certainly increased the variety of shoes on the market. I don’t think the delicate, elegant shoe I’m featuring today, Sparktacle by Kenneth Cole Reaction would have been available before manufactured shoes– certainly not at the current super low price of just $35!