I’m not sure what’s with the whole obsession with turning sneakers into heels or anything that’s higher class than sneakers. I guess there might be something democratic in mixing low brow with high brow. Or maybe it’s just really avant-garde like that. Of course, sometimes taking risks doesn’t work out.

Case in point: Burberry Prorsum platform “pumps.” They’re sneakers with ginormous demi-wedge heels, a sort of monstrous, Frankenstein-ish hybrid of platforms, wedges, and casual sneakers (they’re even green like Frankenstein). They take “chunky” to a whole new, wholly dangerous level. These shoes look like walking around with giant anvils in your shoes. The designer gods weep before them.

Photo: Net-A-Porter

Insult to injury: you’ll have to shell out $850 for these. Check them at Net-A-Porter.

Wow. There are a lot of brass knuckle heels. I mean if you really want to wear brass knuckles on your footwear, there are no shortage of options available to you. It kinda boggles my mind how many different shapes that brass knuckle pumps come in. I’ve already seen a pair of brass knuckles booties in the past. Little did I know there were brass knuckle mary jane pumps, brass knuckle platform sandals, brass knuckle high-heel slides, and more. Oh heavens …

Photo: Amazon.com

Photo: Amazon.com

Photo: Amazon.com

And in case you were wondering, no, we do not carry them.

The Bench: Uncut fashion show took place months ago back in July, which makes us extremely late to the party (oops). The show employed a number of top designers from Dubai. And the shoes were extravagantly … something. While I can appreciate the artisanship at work in these ornate platforms, from afar, they remind me of Lady Gaga’s meat outfit. Not exactly a delicious sight, at least to me.

To check out more pics, head to Style Bible which covered the entire event. What do you think of these shoes? Totally beautiful? Too much?

Photo: Style Bible

Photo: Style Bible

Photo: Style Bible

Do you have really bony feet? If not, do you want bony feet? Alicia Keys certainly does. She was rocking these platform pumps with tall skeletal heels last week at the FIFA World Cup 2010 Kick-Off concert. These heels come from Dsquared2′s Fall/Winter 2010 collection.

You can check out footage of Alicia Keys’ on-stage performance at the World Cup concert below. There are some pretty clean shots of Alicia in these shoes. Continue Reading…

Not that I have any pets, let alone a pet spider or bug, but this has to be some form of animal cruelty. To add further insult to injury, how does this even make sense in the context of stripper shoes? What sane person would take a gander at these bugs cruelly trapped in the platforms of these shoes and become seduced by their attractiveness? Oh shoe designers, how disturbed so many of you are …… **sighs**

My dentist told me to eat less sweets but I’m sure that indulging in them through my eyes would be just peachy. It is Weird Shoe Wednesday, after all.

Photo: Dezeen Design Magazine

Belma Arnautović, a design student from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sarajevo, Bosnia, designed this collection as her graduation work. Titled Lolice, the collection of shoes is inspired by candies and cakes, featuring ankle boots, heels, and even some towering platforms. And the shoes are actually wearable. Check out more pictures after the jump. Continue Reading…

We have a special Friday edition of Weird Shoes today because I just found out about these and they’re kinda crazy like that. I couldn’t send you off into the weekend without checking out these shoes first.

Photo: Core77

This was an art project called “Level”  by Berlin-based artist Hans Hemmert dating back to 1997. Basically, he threw a party wherein anyone entering the room had to wear blue foam “shoe extenders”–like attachable platforms for your shoes. Guests chose the correct size shoe extenders that would bring them to a height of around 2 meters (about 6’9″). The idea is to bring everyone to the same eye level and help eliminate awkward talking positions at parties.

On the one hand, this seems like a really dangerous idea in that it seems to take away from people’s individuality. On the other, I’m short myself and I can feel sometimes how my short stature affects the way that people talk to me or even approach me. At the very least, I’d be interested to see how differently it would be to talk to someone at the same eye level.

What do you think? Is this yet another way to conform the masses or is this an experiment in empowerment for the short people of the world? Don’t be afraid to leave a comment!

Cork Platforms: Maybe not possible if not for WWII?

And speaking of shoe collectors, I came across this great interview with a vintage shoe collector named Jonathan Walford over at The Collectors Weekly. Walford actually works at the Bata Shoe Museum that displayed the On A Pedestal exhibit we featured some months ago. Here, he speaks on the history of shoes and shoe design in the 20th century. He had a lot of great stuff to say, like how the advent of the mini-skirt in the 1960s resurrected the boot or how Mary Janes might’ve been invented by a cartoonist. What I thought was really interesting was the effect of wars on shoe design and how it led to the creation of cork platforms. Check out a quick grab below:

“Walford: A few homegrown American design talents began to show up, but American retailers were leery of taking American designs. They always wanted to sell the latest fashions from Paris or London. They never wanted to say ‘buy the latest fashions by so and so from Ohio’. World War II changed that because U.S. retailers were cut off from Europe’s fashion leaders. Suddenly they had to look to the local talent, and there was a lot out there. They would even promote the names of U.S. shoe companies like Herman Delman in advertisements.

Collectors Weekly: How else did World War II affect U.S. shoes?

Walford: Actually, both world wars had an impact. From 1915 to 1918, material shortages forced European designers to replace some of the leather in their shoes with gray felt or cotton. This was especially true for boots. In World War II, again because of a lack of leather, materials such as wood and cork were used in soles instead of leather. That created the platform, which became the fashion throughout the war and even into the early 1950s.”

Imagine taking a bath in a big, giant, fabulous shoe! How great would that be, right?

A designer in Italy had that exact idea and created a line of tubs that look like women’s platform heels. These tubs are built for you to recline into with your head at the heel and your feet at the toe. Water streams down from the jet at the heel and drains out at the toe. They come in a number of designs, all decorated in an elaborate glass mosaic style. There’s even one based on heels worn by a Barbie doll (the tubs were unveiled last year, which was Barbie’s 50th anniversary).

Photo: Telegraph.co.uk

Photo: Manolo's Shoe Blog

I just wish we could have shoe-shaped soap and shampoo bottles to go with the bathtubs. And shoe-shaped sponges. And shoe-shaped bubbles! At the very least, they should design a shower in the shape of a boot. THEN, my life would be complete.

Last night, the Grammy’s took place, which meant another occasion for celebrities to show off their fabulosity. There were plenty of great looks to go around from a number of celebs. And then there was Lady Gaga, whose outfits always puzzle and confound me with equal feelings of transcendent, joyous wonderment and mocking scorn. At times, I think, “Wow, that looks amazing” and at other times, I’m like, “Wow …… she really made an outfit out of Kermit The Frog puppets.”

Photo: Sindh Today

Her outfit last night was a retro-futuristic, solar-system-inspired purple dress that looks like it was ripped straight out of a 60′s Star Trek episode. To complete her ensemble, Gaga sported a pair of towering bejeweled platform shoes, custom-made by Armani Prive (as was the dress). Between these and the ‘Armadillo’ heels from her music video for “Bad Romance,” Lady Gaga must really want to get taller. Someone get the woman some milk, please!

Continue Reading…