Shoe Me

"Helloooo Lover" cooed Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) as she and Samantha Jones of Sex and the City fame gazed into a Manhattan storefront window memorably fawning over a pair of hot pink Manolo Blahnik heels. It often seemed Carrie's relationship with fashion was her best one, offering her comfort and consistency as she navigated her pseudo-fabulous Manhattan life.


Manolo Blahnik's worn by Carrie Bradshaw

Carrie's love affair with shoes escalated to new heights when her love affair with Mr. Big resulted in her donning blue satin Manolo's (currently on sale at Nordstrom's for a cool $945) for her wedding in the first SATC movie. It was a dreamy, dare I say poignant ("something blue") use of footwear. 

I thought about the relationship between women and their shoes in much more simple terms as my daughter and I recently shopped for her prom heels.  Our trek took us through shoe stores large and small and two department store shoe collections.  My feet did not hurt as much as my eyes when I saw some of the platform wonders before me.  While Nancy Sinatra's 1966 pop song insists these boots are made for walkin', many shoes that day seemed better suited for sittin'.

Literally putting his feet where his designs are, Manolo Blahnik told a Telegraph reporter in 2010 how seriously he takes shoe style and comfort when he explained, "My assistants and I will try out every shoe ourselves, walking up and down the factory floor to make sure that there are no blisters."
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8018703/Manolo-Blahnik-Men-say-my-shoes-have-saved-marriages.html

Shoe shopping with my daughters as youngsters consisted of rushing through being fitted for their shoes so they could head into the larger sizes and don the more extravagant, wondrous ladies footwear.  My staid shoe taste could not have ignited this primal interest. They were imbued by Cyndi Lauper's famed lyrics -Girls just wanna to have fun - as they awkwardly strutted their inner footwear fashionista.  Fancy footwear simply carries its own mystique.       

This photo reminds me of  the sliding board in Upper Darby ThomMcAn store.

Shoe shopping was great fun when I was a kid, but not because of style.  The two-story 69th Street ThomMcAn shoe store in Upper Darby was a marvel for one reason - a sliding board! While street level shopping belonged to adults, access to the children's section in the lower level was either by stairs or sliding board.  Imagine sliding into a store!  I recall cursing the very sad day when my growing foot size relegated me to street level shopping.  The thrill was truly gone.  

High heels, platform shoes (and their challenges) filled my closet floor as a teen and young adult.  I recall purchasing a particularly high pair of platform shoes in those disco pumping seventies and walking uphill to my after school job at JCPenney from the shoe store. I learned the physics of footwear quickly and painfully as I literally took one step forward, and two steps back working my way uphill.  All for fashion.

Today, it is not just high heels, but the stacked platform soles that truly elevate the wearer to wobbly heights.  The shoes beautifully elongate any leg, but a woman's ability to walk seems evermore challenged. Women walking smoothly in these shoes is a marvel.  I recall a lunchtime visit to a podiatrist when I was experiencing foot pain at work.  The doctor picked up my black patent leather pump and shook it in my direction announcing, "This is the culprit!"  Apparently my feet rebelled against the stiff, inflexibility of the fashionable heels. Curses!

The American Podiatric Medical Association web site is blunt about poor shoe choices: "Women inflict more punishment on their feet in part from improper footwear that can bring about unnecessary foot problems. Some of the problems result from high-heeled shoes (generally defined as pumps with heels of more than two inches). Doctors of podiatric medicine believe such heels are medically unsound and attribute postural and even safety problems to their use."   http://www.apma.org/MainMenu/Foot-Health/Brochures/Learn-About-Your-Feet/Footwear.aspx

Mojito by Julian Hakes

Footwear that breaks with the norm like this soleless creation by London based architect-turned-footwear designer Julian Hakes must be fodder for any podiatrist   Called "Mojito," it is a futuristic design wonder and makes me wonder what it feels like on? A girl can dream. In many ways, women's shoe fashions surely keep a steady stream of female patients flowing into podiatrists' waiting rooms.  As the song in A Chorus Line reflects, "What I did for love" could be extended to "What I did for fashion."  http://www.hakes.co.uk/

A recent NYTimes article  "Who Made That Stiletto?" notes the history of the shoe shape, with SATC costume designer Patricia Field weighing in on its place in the world of fashion. Asked if the stiletto will ever go out of style, Ms. Field remarked with aplomb, "It’s like leopard, for example. It’s a classic. Sometimes it becomes highly trendy, and sometimes it gets quieter, but it never goes away."

Junior prom heels

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/magazine/who-made-that-stiletto.html 

On prom night, my daughter and her friend giggled as they realized they had bought the same heels and implored me to take a 'shoe shot.'  It was a timeless rite of Spring as young women transformed themselves for prom night, stepping out both with high heels and expectations, all while standing on solid ground.


CNN International reporter, Anna Coren, interviewed Manolo Blahnik in March, 2012.
The 67 year old designer talks about his Sex and the City exposure in this brief video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/03/16/talk-asia-manolo-blahnik.cnn

Here is link to the transcript of the entire CNN interview with Manolo Blahnik:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1203/17/ta.01.html

Quilting Artistry

Take a few yards of various fabrics, cut them into measured shapes, and sew them back together.

Bare Bones Quilting 101.

While this is an over-simplification of a treasured and ancient art form, it is at the very least a starting point for even the most elaborate quilts. I recently viewed a collection of contemporary quilts which blew the traditional idea of a colorful bedspread wide open and introduced another creative slant to this art form. So, Quilters, before you slice me and my Quilting 101 definition into measured shapes, put down your rotary cutters and visit the Wayne Art Center’s current exhibition titled “ArtQuilt Elements 2012” which runs until May13, 2012. http://www.wayneart.org/exhibition/artquilt-elements-2012

The exhibit is a juried collection 48 works selected from a pool of 660 entries that vary in every way except for the basic requirement that they contain a layer of batting sandwiched by a quilt top and backing. Once that sole parameter is met, the pieces explode with unique interpretations.

I was grateful to peruse the exhibit with my very accomplished friend and neighbor, Lisa O'Neill, who quilts with such creativity and ambition, she leaves me breathless. Her book Sliver Quilts: 11 Projects *Easy Technique for Dynamic Results introduces a clever quilting technique and is due out this May. (Pre-orders are available on Amazon.) http://www.amazon.com/Sliver-Quilts-Projects-Technique-Dynamic/dp/1607054299/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334350760&sr=1-3 

I was struck by the diverse artistry as we slowly gazed upon each piece – abstract designs, meditative faces, even a pair of colorful skeletons breathed vibrant life into quilting. These are not your grandma’s quilts. Quilting serves as a metaphor for making sense out of chaos – and, in some of the exhibit entries, sometimes creating chaos from the sensible, as depicted in this entry by Kristin LaFlamme titled War Sucks.

Taking the traditional and turning it on its ear really opened up possibilities not only in design, but in some of the smallest details, such as the intricate stitching in Thousands of Words by Mary Ruth Smith.

(A closer look at the stitching in "Thousands of Words".)

The contemporary exhibit forced me to thoughtfully consider the message in each entry - whether or not the quilter succeeded in communicating a specific idea.  I found several of the written inspirations offered by some quilt makers overpowered the works in a rambling way. I truly believe the work itself should tell the story and a brief explanatory note should suffice. The works with concise notations were consistently the ones that touched me the most - they opened up space for appreciation, instead of telling me what to feel.  As each entry prodded me to understand its maker's intention, I delighted in many of them. Here are a few more personal favorites.  Enjoy!

"Twisted" by Dianne Nunez

"Down Pat" by Pat Budge (My favorite entry)

"Chinmoku:Silence" by Shin-hee Chin

"Forever Yours" by Susan Else (Yes, it is quilted!)

If you are a quilter or are curious about quilting, check out Lisa O'Neill’s blog and website aptly titled “A Thread From the Edge.” http://www.athreadfromtheedge.blogspot.com/