S is for Shoes.. or maybe Shirli

 'When I design a shoe I think about it as a sculpture to wear, an art piece you live with. You and your body affect its look and it affects yours. Footwear should have its life with and without being on the feet, on the contrary to cloths that exist only when being worn'.

Kobi Levi

Israeli freelance shoe designer

Now I know it may seem that I've revealed a streak of retifism during the four years I was in Italy but honestly I'm not turned on by shoes.  I just find that what designers expect women (and sometimes men) to put on their feet sometimes entertaining, often funny and frequently high art.    I do have other friends who's obsession with shoes does seem a tad unseemly - oh hi Shirli Happy Birthday this one is for you.

FOR AROUND THE HOUSE

ON THE PLAYGROUND

ROSA KLEBB'S SADDLE SHOES?

THE HUMAN CONDITION? 

In my artistic footwear design the shoe is my canvas. The trigger to create a new piece comes when an idea, a concept and/or an image comes to mind. The combination of the image and footwear creates a new hybrid and the design/concept comes to life. The piece is a wearable sculpture. It is "alive" with/out the foot/body. Most of the inspirations are out of the "shoe-world", and give the footwear an extreme transformation. The result is usually humoristic with a unique point of view about footwear.

Kobi Levi

http://kobilevidesign.blogspot.com/

WATCH THE BIRDIE

JUST TO CONFUSE YOU

ONE OF THESE IS INSPIRED BY A CARTOON CHARACTER - OKAY MAYBE BOTH!

And my favourites:

GONE TO THE DOGS

Apparently Kobi is currently working on a collection of shoes for men.  I can hardly wait? 


Thanks to Elaine for passing these on - and I repeat I am not a retifist!

08 settembre/September - La Natività della Beata Vergine Maria

Lunedi Lunacy

Now surely - I know don't call me Shirley - neither one of my faithful readers thought for a moment that I would go to Milano and not take photos of shoes????   I mean come-on now!  It was my last chance to take a look at the gloriously outrageous over-the-top fashion statements that are scarpe in Italy and more particularly Milano.  I just know I'm not going to see anything like these on the Sparks Street Mall or at Bayshore let alone adorning the tender tootsies of les belles dames d'Outaouais.

Just a reminder that a left click on the image will give you - should you really want one - a closer look at the art of the calzolaio.

As I strolled past the high-end shops on Via Monte Napoleone and Via Santo Spirito I came across footwear that once again had me wracking my brain to image where or when they would be worn.  Or perhaps more accurately why?  And let's add the remaining interrogatives?  Who would wear them and how exactly do they manage on those bloody cobblestones?

It would appear that despite a few lighter items, obviously for the beach provided you don't actually go to the beach, ladies of fashion will be sporting lots of thick leather straps and buckles this season.  And a few will even be aping my grandmother by wearing high button (okay laced) shoes as street wear.  But it also looks like they'll be changing into the comfort of ballet slippers for those more informal moments at home.

If the colourful booties at Missoni weren't enough I knew I could count on Rene Caovilla across the way to feature a few little items to stimulate the imagination and empty the pocketbook.  And notice the ballet slippers - they really are becoming all the rage.

And the rain and an approaching train departure meant I had only scratched the surface of the quadrilatero della moda.  I never made it over to Via della Spiga or the side streets for a gander at some of the more outrageous windows.  I'm going to miss the crazy world of Italian shoes - it always made for entertaining viewing.

20 giugno - Sant'Ettore

Italian Engineering Feets

Yes I know that should probably read "feats" but honestly every time I look at shoe store windows here in Italy I'm overwhelmed by the minds that could dream up footwear like this!  And I'm not just talking about the high fashion centres in Milano or Roma - these photos are from stores in Marsala, Trapani and Argrigento in Sicilia.  Not exactly the captials of the haute souliers. 

Perhaps even more remarkable than the footwear is the way that many of the women here are able to navigate cobblestoned streets and dodge careening motorinos while tottering along in them.  And still keep their poise as the runway models that they all know they were meant to be.

And you know its odd before I came here I don't ever recall looking closely at women's shoes. I've certainly never wanted to wear them - I mean I don't have the ankles or the calves for them and drag has never really been my thing. But damn you have to admire a country that can produce engineers to create footwear like this and more importantly the women who can figure out how to wear them.

14 maggio - San Mattia apostolo

Lunedi Lunacy

Its been a while since I posted any sort of lunacy of a Monday but its not if though there isn't plenty around. Normally a walk around Centro of a Sunday afternoon produces something to snicker at if not outright laugh. Yesterday was no exception and produced these little gems.

Now Church's is one of the most respect names in English footwear - I have a beautiful pair of velvet slippers that I bought from them over 20 years ago - and normally I love, even if I can no longer afford, their shoes but....

... when exactly the occasion would arise to wear either Royal Stuart or (I believe) Black Watch Regimental tartan shoes, I'm not sure. However should it ever become necessary I now know where I can get a pair for only €350.00 (roughly $470.00 CAD or USD).

Being on the practical side Laurent's first thought was: how do you clean them? My first thought? Why would you wear them unless you want to get beaten up?

14 febbraio - Santi Cirillo e Metodio

But Are They Lined With Plaid?????

Okay let's get one thing very clear, if I said it once I've said it twice: I am not becoming a shoe fetish. Its just not easy to ignore footwear in this country. As I was strolling through a very high end shopping arcade in Bologna last week I stumbled upon this rather startling display of, I guess you'd call it "punk", footwear.




What made it even more startling was the store window they were displayed in. This is not exactly a brand name I'd associate with cutting edge or even things with edges that cut!!!!

Any guesses?

29 ottobre - Sant'Ermelinda

I Am Not A Shoe Fetish! Honest!

Its just I can't get over the shoes on display here in Italy. Not just in the high fashion centres like Milano or the slightly lower fashion (except in its own mind) Roma but in the high end shops in towns like Pesaro.

Though these are not as outrageous as some of the footwear on display in Milano I am still trying to figure out where the smart upper middle class woman would wear these in Pesaro???? Though for some reason I am seeing them with a multi-pleated thirties style dress in a soft brown with matching fur at the cuffs in a revival of The Women. I really must stop watching those 30s movies!

28 agosto - Sant'Agostino d'Ippona

If The Shoe Fits ....

... wear it!

Okay I haven't developed some sort of foot or shoe fetish! Honestly! Its just that its hard to ignore shoes here in Italy. Particularly women's shoes. What is often considered acceptable day/office wear I still find a little startling even after three years. And the footwear often does give rise to questions such as:

• How does she walk on heels that high?
• Don't those leather straps going half way up her leg chafe?
• Where does she put her toes?
• Doesn't that clanking she makes when she walks bother her?
  
• Why the hell was she thinking when she bought those?

Last weekend on the trip to Milan it was a little hard to avoid fashion footwear. After all it is the fashion capital of Italy and one of the hottest fashion venues in the world, so it should come as no surprise that shoe shops abound and window displays are filled with enticing little bits of leather and sparkle.

Most of these shots were taken during a Saturday stroll around the fashionable shopping area of quadrilatero della moda - Via Montenapoleone and environs.
One of the first stores you hit as your turn off Montenapoleone to Via Sant'Andrea is Rene Caovilla, which means shoes, shoes and more shoes. If the red logo isn't enough of an indication then the delightful window display - my god but Italians know how to dress windows - leaves no doubt. And though those fanciful little numbers hanging in the window are strictly for display they does have some serious shoes for sale. Including those little studded numbers which can be all yours for only €595,00 (CAD797.37 - USD776.32)- obviously they weren't on the July sales list.
But these stylish bits and pieces of leather and other sundry materials were all marked at 40% or 50% off. I should explain that there are two legal sales months here were everyone and I mean everyone knocks their prices down: January and July. So these charmers can be had for as little as €150,00 or as much as €275,00 - cheap at half the price! Oh wait a minute that is half the price.
However there were no discounts for these mesh numbers nor the studded ones but I won't be surprised to see some one sporting them at our local tavola caldo come September. And I was happy to see that leopard spots never seem to go out of style!

And the men aren't short changed in the shoe department either. I actually found two pairs I wanted at Massimo Dutti but they didn't have them in my size - no honestly! However for a mere €1200.00 I could have had a pair custom made. Or for a 10th that price I could be sporting those smart blue snake skin numbers with the sparkly buckles. I'm just not sure they'd work with my current wardrobe. Maybe I'll just wait until the January sales.

01 agosto - Sant'Alfonso Maria de' Liguori