Ooooooooh shoes. There I said it.

They’re shoes. Or are they arctitecture? Or are they sculpture? I know that must seem ridiculous to most guys and the gals who don’t love shoes. How can anyone seriously elevate shoes to the realm of art? But no surprises here …I don’t really care.

My first foray into shoes as sculpture began with a shoe by Robert Clergerie that I found on sale when I was at a conference and not attending the lectures. It was sculpture. So beautiful. So simple. I had to have it.



Bad pic but they are fan-TAS-tic. The band is black suede and the heel base is brushed steel, finished with a rock hard piece of plastic heel that can withstand Manhattan streets. Question was and is, do I wear them (they are extremely well constructed and comfortable) or do I use them to separate books on my bookshelf? Plain and simple, they are sculpture.


That shoe made sure that my head was turned any time I saw something that looked like mid-century sculpture.


Then I found this at a store called United Nude, in the neighborhood that is now called NoLiTa. My heart skipped a few beats when I saw these:



It was based on the Mobius strip and someone made it into a shoe. As I sat down to write about the shoe that started my love of shoes as sculpture I found this story about the guy who designed this one.


Nephew of Rem L. Koohaas, Rem D is also an architect in his own right. I just love that he brought his design sensibility to shoes. Just look at this...

I might need these. They have a new store on Bond Street (why didn’t I know about this? Thank you NY Mag for letting me know what is going on in my own ‘hood)

Here is another Robert Clergerie shoe that I love and wear frequently. Believe it or not, they are extremely comfortable.





I think these examples distinctly put some shoes in the category of sculpture. But I don't really think of sculpture as something worn. As they have a functional purpose, does that put them in the category of architecture?

Well, the top pair of Clergeries may have to go into the more rarified category of art because I really don't want to risk destroying them. The orange Mobius shoe may go there as well because they are so poorly constructed that they tear the bloody hell out of my feet and cannot be worn without a host of ugly band-aids.(LS can attest as well. She has the same shoes)

The next shoe post will be on just plain old beautiful shoes.



Hee!