THOUGHT PATTERNS

Tonight I'll dream of shoes

Like most women I have a passion for shoes. Although, luckily mine is controllable. I'm often content just admiring them visually. I will (most probably) not be seduced into throwing money on shoes I will never wear, simply because they sing their siren song to me and are utterly gorgeous (pointy toe shoe that squeezes my toes or sexy and extravagant skyscraper heel). I also have a bit of a passion for the history of shoes (clothing and costumes also). I just found photos of some truly remarkable ones, some particularly unusual, but also some that would be very wearable even today...

Starting with...

The shoemaker's wife showing collection of his goods ranging from boots to slippers.

I love the colors of her outfit.

Three elaborate 16th century ladies shoes called Venetian Chopines. I guess these were the original platform shoes? To keep ladies toes dry while walking along Venetian canals.

 

Three elegant wooden sandals from Bally Shoe Museum. Hmm, it must have been hard to keep these on one's feet, holding onto these sandals with nothing but one's toes!

Various styles of shoes of all ages from the 15th to 18th centuries as seen in an exhibit at the Museum of Costume, Paris.

If I didn't know that the top two were shoes I would have thought they were corsets!

Many types of shoes w. text, showing styles from 17th and 18th centuries.

Richly decorated shoes: for men, from second half of 16th century (top); ladies shoe, from England, 17th century (center); ladies shoe from France, from 17th century. (Pointy toe alert!)

Illustration of many types of shoes, w. legend "New Summer Chaussurie".

I've always loved these types of booties.

   Sketches of footwear at fashionable watering place near North Foreland.

...

And finally these... I would love to wear them this summer...

Three Egyptian sandals made of strips of Palm leaf from (L-C) 19th or 20th Dynasty (1320-1085 BC) & (R) 1st or 2nd century AD from Bally Shoe Museum.

... and these below in particular....

Gracefully designed sandals from Mauritania in Africa: (L) for man, (C) for woman; (R) for child from Bally Shoe Museum.

Now off to bed, and hopefully dreaming of shoes...

xoxoxo

(LIFE archive}

Wish, long, crave for...

... these silhouette shoes... they are too good to be true...

Literally, as they are from 2008 Camper "Twins" collection and (I believe) are not available anymore. Very sad. :( 

 

The "Twins" line was about shoes that do not exactly match but compliment one another. "They're twins. Not identical but complimentary. The idea of a pair never made such sense." 

 

Love. Want. Cannot have. Ah, well...

xoxoxo

{via design is mine}

Oh, Marie

How did I miss seeing these shoes before?

Look carefully at the ankle strap, you will see Marie Antoinette and her ship hairdo!

Christian Louboutin partnered last year with world-renowned embroiderer Jean-Francois Lesage to create a very limited-edition shoe collection (36 pairs) inspired by Marie Antoinette. They were launched on February 23rd at the Christian Louboutin boutique in South Coast Plaza, and then again on February 26th in New York at the Madison Avenue boutique. Each pair is stamped with a limited-edition number, sold in a specially created box, and retailed for $6,295.

What a tribute to Marie Antoinette, best remembered for her legendary excesses and for big and imaginative hairdos.

Dita Von Teese has a pair.

 

I think I would go for the blue ones, you?

 

 

Or a pair of each.

 
I can just imagine myself walking (falling) down steep San Francisco hills in one of these! :D

 

Ouch, be still, my heart.

And, I have just the perfect thing to go with the shoes, my Marie Antoinette Necklace...

 

Or, my Marie Antoinette Papercut, to hang on the wall of your salon or boudoir...

  

Available in my shop!

xoxoxo

{shoes via here, here, here & here}

Some thoroughly gorgeous shoes...

...some useful, some useless, they all work as objects of my admiration. 

 

 

 

Dita Von Teese's shoes, she tweeted about them. Wouldn't you? :) If you're on twitter, she's mighty fun to follow - Ditavonteese)

 

Paper shoes by designer Violise Lun

 

More Violise Lun

 

And more.... I really want a pair of her wonderful paper shoes to display them under the bell jar in my living room

 

Romantic and beautiful Dior shoes from 1961

 

Barbie shoes... no, actually for real women, from Vivienne Westwood collection. Unbelievably adorable.

Marie Antoinette's (the movie Marie), colors galore

Shoes with a bee? And thorny heels? Which are 18 karat gold, btw, and the silk petals are hand-dyed. The bee is made of gold, onyx and agate. Price? A real trifle. Only $27,945. 

 

That was a good sight to behold :).

 

xoxoxo

 

{via Marieaunet, farewell my beloved brunette, suicide blonde, The Tum Tum Tree}

 

Would You Be Mine? I Will Love You Forever

Have you seen these shoes! My god, I'm absolutely and forever in love! I just spotted them on one of my favorite blogs rockstar diaries and they stole my heart.

 

And guess what else, they are Chie Mihara shoes. Well, of course. The greatest shoes there are. {Available at Tani}

 

 

{Sumaya wearing Chie Mihara Saco, styled by Naomi of the rockstar diaries, photo by Candice)

 

Shoes, I really, really want you.

 

xoxoxo

High hills need rational shoes

I bought a pair of lovely, sexy, high heeled boots last year. Wore them five times, and that is stretching, put them in the closet and forgot about them. Not that they are not comfortable, they are, while I'm sitting down with my legs nicely crossed over, or if I'm standing still and posing. No other shoes or boots fit me the way that these do. But there is one problem, they have high heels. You ask me what is the problem? Am I not a woman, and isn't this a problem that all women have but eventually get over it, get used to it, get thick skins (on their feet)?

Yes, but deary, I live in San Francisco, the town with the steepest streets in this corner of the galaxy. See proof below:

 

 

Filbert Street

 

(photo credits ICE rider- this is a far better shot than any I took!)

 

The first time I took my boots for a spin, I walked alone (what a fool!) to Trader Joe's. For a little shopping. There was no one to keep me from falling, no one to lean on, no one to help me balance. Downhill was tough enough (my calves hurt later like I had the longest workout ever), but up the hill, with two shopping bags... the only thing I can say is that the way I walked uphill, and the speed I was walking, it wasn't looking all that sexy. Anyway, there were a few more attempts made several days later, clenching Terry's arm, yelling with teary annoyance to slow down. And Terry is never in any rush when walking, let me tell you, usually I'm the one giving him the speed up! pep talk. So, I decided to give up, for a while, or at least when we are on foot, which is most of the time. So my boots are sitting sadly in my closet, not on a wall of shame, but in a little pile of dust. And I feel guilty, horribly guilty and I promisse to be braver and to wear them more, but for now I'll just put them in a little spotlight right here:

 

 

A nice areal shot of the boots on our gorgeous Tibetan carpet.

 

I am a flats girl, who loves the heels and has the occasional attempt at owning a pair. But, my unwillingness to be taller than most people, my unwillingness to roll down instead of walk down Grant Avenue every day, and my unwillingness to unnecessarily exercise stops me from becoming a true believer.

 

I recently read a book by Gyles Brandreth- Oscar Wilde and the Death of No Importance (from The Oscar Wilde Murder Mysteries series),quite an entertaining murder mystery book that uses real characters such as Oscar Wilde, Bram Stocker, Arthur Conan Doyle, and real events in the telling of the story. And I've learned that Constance Wilde, Oscar's wife, was involved in such a thing called Rational Dress Society. You see, during the Victorian period various reformers proposed, designed, and wore clothing supposedly more rational and comfortable than the fashions of the time. Fashions such as these:

 

 

(photo via Strangegirl)

 

Apparently one of the common deaths amongst women was getting burned to death, caused by their huge dresses getting caught on fire whilst they were standing near the fireplaces in their homes. So, the Rational Dress Society was formed and it described its purpose thus:

 

"The Rational Dress Society protests against the introduction of any fashion in dress that either deforms the figure, impedes the movements of the body, or in any way tends to injure the health. It protests against the wearing of tightly-fitting corsets; of high-heeled shoes; of heavily-weighted skirts, as rendering healthy exercise almost impossible; and of all tie down cloaks or other garments impeding on the movements of the arms. It protests against crinolines or crinolettes of any kind as ugly and deforming….[It] requires all to be dressed healthily, comfortably, and beautifully, to seek what conduces to birth, comfort and beauty in our dress as a duty to ourselves and each other."

 

(source Wikipedia)

 

I applaud their effort and can say that I fully agree, until, alas, I acquire these:

 

Bruno FrisoniSatin Shoe Boot

 

(photo via Design Crack)

 

xoxoxo 

More new goodies in my shop...

Just a quick hello to the hardworking readers of the blogosphere and an announcement of new items in my shop.

Shoe connoisseurs, here is a shoe collection for you...

No. 1

   

No. 2

 

No. 3

 

Neatly sorted...

   

In a pile...

 

Rows of shoes...

On the wall...

 

Available each shoe separately as: My Shoe Collection, #1, #2 & #3.

Each piece is entirely handmade and signed on the front. This is an original Papercut, not a print. The artwork is hand-cut out of paper, mounted on beautiful parchment paper and displayed on a sturdy 6" x 7" black mat. The artwork is sealed with several coats of clear protective finish. A little ribbon loop for hanging is attached securely to the back of the mounting board. The artwork is ready to be displayed on the wall of your home. Each piece includes a unique certificate of authenticity.

I bid you goodnight!

xoxoxo

Cute, cozy, comfortable & copasetic

To start with cute & cozy....these vegan ballet flats from Etsy seller Hydra Heart are the cutest and coziest thing I've seen in ages:

 

 

 

They are one more reason that's making me seriously think about returning to veganism. Are vegan shoes going to be the tipping point for me? I am a female of the species after all, and shoes secretly rank slightly higher on the list of things that matter than something like "ethical commitment or moral conviction concerning animal rights, the environment, human health, and spiritual or religious concerns".

 

Shallow? Moi?

 

Be it, as long as those shoes walk me down (or up) the path to the better future, it's all right. Right? Well, finding good non-leather shoes was always an issue and one of the reasons for my vegan wobbly foundations (having no real substitute for cheese another), but since more and more places are showing up with fabulously designed beauties... I am several cheese slices away from attempting that tofu & pleather trick again. One little kind vegan step at the time, and no better way to do it than in:

 

Moo Shoes

   

 

Te Casan(designed by Natalie Portman, the actress & a vegan)

 

Ragazzi Vegan

 

 

 

 

They are all quite cute, cozy, comfortable & copasetic.

xoxoxo