Some women own more pairs of shoes than there are days in the year. I heard someone being interviewed on the radio recently who said she owned between 400-500 pairs of shoes. The presenter was aghast! This lady was a singer who earned enough money to buy all of these shoes so why shouldn't she? Men often obsessively collect things - whether it be sci-fi memorabilia, records, antiques, sport merchandise and so on, so why shouldn't women be collectors too?
It's somehow seen as indulgent to collect shoes. Why is it not so indulgent to collect any of things I just mentioned? What practical use do any of these pieces of merchandise have? At least with shoes you can wear them. Of course I won't categorise records as frivolous merchandise as they can be played and listened to, or put in frames on a wall. I also have quite a record collection myself!
I am a shoe collector. No matter whether I am having a thin or a fat day I can wear a nice pair of shoes to go with whatever clothing I choose to put on. What's wrong with that? I do think you can judge a person by their shoes, that's not being mean but if someone makes an effort with their shoes you know they pay attention to detail.
I suppose I see fashion on the whole as a form of art. What we choose to dress ourselves in can be a reflection of our personality. Those of us who care about what we wear from head to toe are in some small way showing ourselves as art on a daily basis. If you do this routine of deciding what to wear every morning, you are an artist of sorts. Why not have plenty of shoes to choose from to reflect how you feel on any given day?
Some pairs of shoes I own are pure works of art, they really are. People would tell me that's a silly thing to say about footwear but I truly believe it. I don't own any shoes by Manolo Blahnik, Chanel, Louboutin or Gina, but for the high street shopping mortals amongst us there are still amazing shoe designs to be found out there. My favourites are Irregular Choice, Red or Dead and Kurt Geiger. I am going to give Irregular Choice their own blog post soon as they deserve it! The main thing I can say about these three brands, along with many others is that they make beautiful & interesting footwear that are not only works of art, but mostly pretty practical and comfortable to wear too. That's not too much to ask from a pair of shoes really is it? Art, beauty, and practicality, what's there not to like about that.
Future posts on shoes will also include photos, as you can't write about things of beauty without showing them too!
I agree - one can never have too many shoes (at last count, I think I had close to 20 pairs, all carefully collected over at least a decade - same applies to handbags, now I think about it, though I suspect I have more of those than I do shores...). I personally love Camper shoes - comfy (not to mention practical, gorgeous and quirky) from the get-go, no breaking in required!
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