Oh my God, total side note, but that photo of the shoes in the entryway...totally reminds me of that episode of Sex and the City where someone steals Carrie's Manolos and she has to force Tatum O'Neal to replace them for her.
It's really quite ridiculous. Shoes as art, instead of shoes as apparel. The former is some artistic director with a conceptual drawing, whilst the latter is a shoe manufacturer making things people can actually wear. Don't get me wrong, I love shoes. But, shoes need to fit feet, our feet shouldn't have to fit the shoes.
I love pointed toe shoes, but our feet really aren't shaped that way, are they? These shoes work when the designer makes the ball-of-foot area wide enough before narrowing to a point.
I honestly do not understand why shoes that cost $1,500 can't be lovingly engineered and crafted by Italian cobblers to be super freaking comfortable. I would pay that much for shoes if they looked good and felt comfortable for a full day of taking the subway, and stayed that way (with a resole here and there) for years. This is another nail in the coffin of the mistaken belief that luxury = quality. Luxury, at this point = status signaling only!
It depresses me that the bloody-footed wearer of the yellow shoes is trying to make the whole outfit look 'casual' and 'slung together' with raw edge jeans... the raw edge feet kind of undermine the attempt...
Wow. That photo of the battered feet made me gasp. I love shoes, but also love not being in pain, and almost never wear a heel approaching even 3 inches. I just can't endure that level of injury.
As far as spending into four figures on a bag or pair of shoes, I've never done it. If you're being driven everywhere, or you have the space in your home to devote to lovingly storing things like that, more power to you. But if I spent that much on something, I'd be constantly paranoid about damaging it in some way, so no thanks!
The MiuMiu show was interesting in respect to shoes though, wasn't it? What the models actually wore down the runway were docksiders/boat shoes (and I actually really liked them). I think you're right with the interpretation that the MiuMiu woman is on a boat by day, but somewhere glamorous and in extremely high heels by night. So, I guess if stay in at night I can just live in flats, and Miuccia would approve. Works for me. :)
I love to look at the endless sea of the insanely high YSL Tribute pumps from the 00s on resale sites to remind myself that's why I can only wear sneakers and loafers now.
I will be curious to see if brands' attempts to make cruel shoes their next it-bag revenue stream works or not. It bags took off during a period where we still had style gatekeepers and legacy media setting the trends; in this highly diffuse influencer ecosystem, it would not be hard to build an entire aspirational brand out of mocking or rejecting the aesthetics, class messaging and gendered implications being pushed by the Cruel Shoes Girlies.
Oh my God, total side note, but that photo of the shoes in the entryway...totally reminds me of that episode of Sex and the City where someone steals Carrie's Manolos and she has to force Tatum O'Neal to replace them for her.
(Great piece, as usual, Amy.)
My thoughts exactly lol.
It's really quite ridiculous. Shoes as art, instead of shoes as apparel. The former is some artistic director with a conceptual drawing, whilst the latter is a shoe manufacturer making things people can actually wear. Don't get me wrong, I love shoes. But, shoes need to fit feet, our feet shouldn't have to fit the shoes.
"shoes need to fit feet, our feet shouldn't have to fit the shoes" -- perfectly stated!
I love pointed toe shoes, but our feet really aren't shaped that way, are they? These shoes work when the designer makes the ball-of-foot area wide enough before narrowing to a point.
I honestly do not understand why shoes that cost $1,500 can't be lovingly engineered and crafted by Italian cobblers to be super freaking comfortable. I would pay that much for shoes if they looked good and felt comfortable for a full day of taking the subway, and stayed that way (with a resole here and there) for years. This is another nail in the coffin of the mistaken belief that luxury = quality. Luxury, at this point = status signaling only!
Once again , dear Amy, thanks for going where we wouldn't DARE. Murrells and Clark's for me, thanks, with Sofft heels for those rare occasions. Whew!
Thank you for reading. Did you catch Pamela Anderson's latest heels? I had written this story before I saw them on IG, but o. m. g.:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cyg9tufuAfR/?img_index=2
Sweet baby Jesus, Pamela Anderson can levitate.
Thanks to Sex and the City, I thought that running around New York in (painful) heels somehow made me a real, desirable woman. Now 40, I want comfort!
Love your "admission" of the foot in rubber Birkenstock haha
The women most able to afford “It shoes” are high-net-worth middle-aged ladies with a reduced appetite for painful shoes. Good luck to the brands.
It depresses me that the bloody-footed wearer of the yellow shoes is trying to make the whole outfit look 'casual' and 'slung together' with raw edge jeans... the raw edge feet kind of undermine the attempt...
Wow. That photo of the battered feet made me gasp. I love shoes, but also love not being in pain, and almost never wear a heel approaching even 3 inches. I just can't endure that level of injury.
As far as spending into four figures on a bag or pair of shoes, I've never done it. If you're being driven everywhere, or you have the space in your home to devote to lovingly storing things like that, more power to you. But if I spent that much on something, I'd be constantly paranoid about damaging it in some way, so no thanks!
The MiuMiu show was interesting in respect to shoes though, wasn't it? What the models actually wore down the runway were docksiders/boat shoes (and I actually really liked them). I think you're right with the interpretation that the MiuMiu woman is on a boat by day, but somewhere glamorous and in extremely high heels by night. So, I guess if stay in at night I can just live in flats, and Miuccia would approve. Works for me. :)
I love to look at the endless sea of the insanely high YSL Tribute pumps from the 00s on resale sites to remind myself that's why I can only wear sneakers and loafers now.
I will be curious to see if brands' attempts to make cruel shoes their next it-bag revenue stream works or not. It bags took off during a period where we still had style gatekeepers and legacy media setting the trends; in this highly diffuse influencer ecosystem, it would not be hard to build an entire aspirational brand out of mocking or rejecting the aesthetics, class messaging and gendered implications being pushed by the Cruel Shoes Girlies.