Fashion Icon Suicide

Far far away from his universe, I knew Alexander McQueen's name mostly for the blowback from his outrageousness. I mean, come on. Those Spring 2010 shoes! Positively reptilian! Did he design them for the movie Avatar?












So much fun to pooh pooh. Yet, also fun to look at. As a tribute, and a way to learn more about his work, some looks from his Fall 2009 collection, from New York magazine's Fall 2009 Alexander McQueen RTW shows.

Writer Quote of the Day

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” —W. Somerset Maugham, English novelist (1874-1965)


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Nothing like some cynicism to cheer up the February doldrums and my inevitable head cold.

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cigarette card image from NYPL Digital Gallery

Shoe Designer Quote of the Day

A shoe can tell you a lot of things: It can tell you that it’s stable and strong, or it can tell you it’s flimsy and light just by how it looks before you even pick it up. —Tinker Hatfield, Nike designer. From "10 Questions for Tinker Hatfield" by Jennifer Ernst Beaudry. Posted Monday February 08, 2010. From Footwear News Issue 02/08/2010.



The $170 Air Jordan 2010, which hits stores this week, has features that sound crazy to me: a transparent circle on the side and a "bottom-loaded airbag." Maybe it's just the confusing use of the word "airbag," which in this case, seems to be more like an air bubble, not something that will inflate at high impact.

I love the idea of shoes telling stories. The “story” here is about Michael Jordan’s playing strategy, that he starts out “transparent” to lull his competitors, and then he mixes it up, to keep them on their toes. The transparent circle with airholes toward the heel of the shoe is the translation of Jordan’s strategy. I get it. Pretty cool.

As always, I wonder about the practical implications. What will we see through this transparent circle? Will sock colors change as a result? Or will we just see dirty white socks? Or even worse, tiny beads of sweat?


photo from sneakernews.com

Hard-to-Toss Shoes

Every time I've tried to toss them, they'd remind me that we are old friends, going on ten years. I definitely haven’t worn either in the last year, and for the reasons below, it's time for them both to go.

• On the left, a sweet pair of Esprits, which I got at DSW, Downtown Crossing, Boston. Must’ve been when it first opened. Wore these as indoor sandals or around-the-pool flip flops. But once that band started to crack and dig into my skin, I stopped wearing them.

The unspoken factor, though, in the experience of wearing both of these shoes is the “shoefeel,” a term I am coining after the wine-tasting term “mouthfeel.” Shoefeel is the way the shoe feels as you walk, in terms of pleasure, spring, or support. Hands down, the Esprits had a better shoefeel. The molded footbed fit my foot perfectly. The rubber sole was both soft enough and hard enough to make me want to walk for hours, and the massaging nubs around the inner arch felt great on the nerve endings of my foot. I will miss these shoes.

The shoefeel: energizing and relaxing.

• On the right, the Josef Seibels, which my husband bought me in a South End shoe store on Berkeley Street, near the Chandler Inn. A place with a few womens shoes but mostly incredibly cool mens shoes. Since the store was often empty, I wasn’t surprised when I found a cafe had replaced it.

Wore these to work and as a general outdoor summer shoe. My husband loves the little ladder design up the front, but the slides were slippery enough that unless I completely clung on with my toes, they would slip off or go flying down the sidewalk. Plus the Seibels always had a weird lack of support in the insole, as if someone forgot to put any cushioning between the pieces of leather, so it caved in around my foot. I will not miss these!

The shoefeel: totally distracting and disappointing.