It’s been a long time! Sorry for being away so long. It’s been extra, extra busy in the office trying to prepare for the upcoming holidays. But I couldn’t leave this week without showing you some more quirky shoe-ish things.

These are cardboard sculptures by artist Mike Leavitt. Leavitt is a big fan of sneaker culture so many of his sculptures are paper re-creations of iconic sneakers. But he’s also expanded into other territories, making a boot and women’s heel as well. Here are some of my favorites below. Be sure to look at all of his sculptures on his website here. You can even buy some for yourself! =)

Photo: Mike Leavitt

Photo: Mike Leavitt

Photo: Mike Leavitt

Although the previous spiky shoes win for volume of spikes, today’s pairs of spiky shoes win in length. Imagine being impaled by one of these bad boys. Ouch!

Photo: I Don't Like Mondays

Photo: I Don't Like Mondays

These shoes come from Danish designer, Barbara Gongini. There are also some boots below that look more like a hair wig than anything else. It could possibly double as your next Halloween costume.

Photo: I Don't Like Mondays

Both glittery shoes and thigh-high boots are trendy this Fall/Winter season for women. But men are way ahead of the curve in both departments. Back in 2009, Givenchy unveiled its new line of Fall/Winter 2009 Men’s Fashions. Among many other daring looks, these glittery thigh-high boots were included.

What do you think? What would you say to a man if you saw him walking down the street in these sparkling thigh-highs?

Designer Kobi Levi has designed a variety of novelty shoes with quirky ideas. I don’t know if these are actual shoes or just concept designs–I’d think they were just concepts if the Chewing Gum shoes below weren’t actually being worn on a foot–but nonetheless, they’re pretty clever. These were my three favorites that I culled but you can see more at Kobi Levi’s blog (fair warning: two of the designs–’XXX’ and ‘Blow’–are definitely NSFW).

All photos: Kobi Levi

This Friday is Hat Day at Shoe Metro. In preparation and inspiration for that fateful day, I present to you …… Shoe Hats! An assortment of hats fashioned after or actually made from shoes. Because shoes, especially high heels, are too beautiful to be all the way down at your feet. You have to raise them up high in the sky!

And who says that men can’t wear shoes are their heads too?

A popular London department store, Selfridges, commissioned Dutch design duo Lernert & Sander to create a series of window displays to promote their new shoe galleries. The designers came up with these amazing displays, turning a number of household appliances such as washers and irons into high heel shoes. The designers say it is “a humorous take on fashion as an ideal escape from the daily grind.” Check them out.

Check out some more pics after the jump. Continue Reading…

These shoes are all very scary. Can you imagine literally getting kicked in the butt by someone wearing one of these spiky shoes? That kick would definitely leave some scarring. These are like brass knuckles for your feet (as opposed to brass knuckles ON your feet). Heaven help us if these ever become popular and women walk around everywhere with deadly weapons at their disposals.

These architectural shoes were designed by Pierre Hardy for Parisian art house, Balenciaga. The shoes were unveiled earlier this year as part of Balenciaga’s latest Fall/Winter collection. Hardy took classic styles like loafers, oxfords, and booties and constructed these shoes using a variety of different materials including leather, wood, plastic, metal, and other synthetics.

Check out more pics after the jump. Continue Reading…

German designer, Iris Schieferstein, seems to have a weird fetish for using dead animals’ body parts to create her shoes. Of course, many shoes are already made of dead animal skin–leather. But Schieferstein’s seems more the work of a taxidermist than a cobbler. Check out her infamous Hoof Heels below.

As if that weren’t enough, she added guns as stiletto heels to the equestrian monstrosity, as if taking a cue from the previously mentioned Chanel Gun Heels.

And if you thought that horses were the only animals harmed in Schieferstein’s world of design, here are her latest ‘Temptation’ heels. They bring new meaning to the term ‘pigeon-toed.’

Wow, Dr. Marten’s is really going all out for their 50th anniversary. Last week, we saw their limited edition Dr. Marten’s flash drives. This week, I ran across these collaborations between Dr. Martens and Sanrio, the company behind Hello Kitty that also happens to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The Hello Kitty-themed Mary Janes and boots both feature Hello Kitty’s signature bow and a Hello Kitty-Sanrio logo detail on the footbed. Check them out:

Are there any Hello Kitty fans out there? What do you think of these shoes?