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Christmas 1957
Holiday Dress-ups with the Brown Shoe company
Source: LIFE magazine
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Monday, December 25, 2017
STREAMING CHRISTMAS
Friday, December 22, 2017
1938 - 2017 | ANDRE PERUGIA V/S GIORGIO ARMANI: TO BE OR KNOT TO BE
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1938 | André Perugia for his own brand Padova
Sandal with draped heel
Musée International de la Chaussure, Romans
2017 | Giorgio Armani
Sandal without draped heel
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Sophisticated and elegant, this velvet sandal is ideal for special occasions. The shoe features crossover straps at the front creating a bow.
Source: Giorgio Armani web site
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938 | André Perugia - Padova
Sandal with draped heel
On display at the Footwear Museum of Vigevano. Gift of Yvette Lafaury
Photograph: Irma Vivaldi
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However, Perugia’s sandal main feature wasn’t the knot but the draped heel, as presented by Paris Soir (November 23, 1938):
"Perugia, 2 rue de la Paix, launches the draped heel. This model and all its variations are protected by international patents.”
Two known models of the Perugia “draped heel” are kept at the International Footwear Museum of Vigevano (picture above) and Romans’ Musée International de la Chaussure (top left page).
ANDRE PERUGIA
BOTTIER
I N D E X
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1938 | André Perugia - Padova
Sandal with draped heel
On display at the Footwear Museum of Vigevano. Gift of Yvette Lafaury
Photograph: Irma Vivaldi
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Tuesday, December 19, 2017
1959 | VEGA | VIGEVANO
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1959 | Vega
Vigevano
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 | Vega
Vigevano
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO
PART 1
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1959 | Vega
Vigevano
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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Friday, December 15, 2017
1959 | MARVITT | BOLOGNA
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1959 | Marvitt
By MARio VITTorio Galletti | Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 | Marvitt
By MARio VITTorio Galletti | Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 | Marvitt
By MARio VITTorio Galletti | Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 - 1963 | C.L.A.M.S.
BOLOGNA
1959 | VOGUE
BOLOGNA
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1959 | Marvitt
By MARio VITTorio Galletti | Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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Tuesday, December 12, 2017
1959 | BRUNO VANNINI | BOLOGNA
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| Bruno Vannini Bologna Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer) |
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| 1959 | Bruno Vannini Bologna Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer) |
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| 1959 | Bruno Vannini Bologna Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer) |
1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO
PART 1
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| 1959 | Bruno Vannini Bologna Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer) |
Friday, December 8, 2017
1959 | VOGUE | BOLOGNA
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1959 | Vogue
Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 | Vogue
Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 | Vogue
Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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1959 - 1963 | C.L.A.M.S.
BOLOGNA
1959 | DESIGNERS AT THE 14TH NATIONAL SHOE FAIR OF VIGEVANO
PART 1
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1959 | Vogue
Bologna
Source: Ente Moda Calzatura Italiana catalog (Spring/Summer)
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Tuesday, December 5, 2017
1966 | SEPTEMBER 3 - 11 | 6TH CAMPIONARIA IN FLORENCE [LEATHER GOODS TRADE FAIR]
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3 - 11 September 1966
Florence Leather Goods Trade Fair | Campionaria di Firenze
Source: Export magazine
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A good selection of SS33 shoemakers (Parabiago Footwear District) at the 6th Campionaria in Florence such as Alfiere, Du Barry, Olonia and Castea).
A successful event that attracted the previous year brands from 63 Countries and a grand total of 1.607 exhibitors (700 Italian shoe factories).
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3 - 11 September 1966
Florence Leather Goods Trade Fair | Campionaria di Firenze
Source: Export magazine
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1966 | Creazioni Du Barry
By Stefano Marazzini | Parabiago, Milan
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1966 | Creazioni Du Barry
By Stefano Marazzini | Parabiago, Milan
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1966 | Castea
By Fratelli Castelli
S. Lorenzo di Parabiago, Milan
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1966 | Alfiere
By Cozzi & C.
Cerro Maggiore, Milan
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1966 | Olonia
By F.lli Galli
San Vittore Olona, Milan
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SS33
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3 - 11 September 1966
Florence Leather Goods Trade Fair | Campionaria di Firenze
Source: Export magazine
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Monday, December 4, 2017
1956 - 2017 | PAGANS' MIKE HUDSON
“[The Pagans] were all widely read … basically blue collar guys,” Hudson told me during an interview in 2011. “I knew guys driving forklifts who wrote better poetry than David Byrne.”
Mike Hudson (as told by Brian Costello)
Source: LA Weekly (Mike Hudson obituary)
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Source: Anello & Davide
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“During our free time we'd shop for clothes at the local thrift stores or drop acid and head down to the stadium. Our closets began to overflow with garish smoking jackets, transparent plastic raincoats and goofy pastel-leather sports coats. Pointy shoes galore, those made from the skins of endangered species being especially prized. I bought a thirty-year - old black cashmere overcoat that was like brand new for fifteen dollars and considered it a triumph. Still would, if I could find one.”
Mike Hudson
Diary of a Punk (Tuscarora Books, 2008)
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Photograph: Kathy Ward
Source: Family Fare 12" back cover (Glitterhouse, 1990)
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Friday, December 1, 2017
DAVIS SEDARIS | PIGS' PERSONAL TOYS
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Diary No. 74
The Actual Boot (England 1910, unknown photographer, Martin Parr Collection)
Source: David Sedaris - From “David Sedaris Diaries.”
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February 1, 2003 - London
A law went into effect, and starting yesterday every pig in Europe is entitled to a personal toy. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs has defined these toys as “manipulable materials,” meaning, basically, anything that can be pushed by a snout. THE GUARDIAN reports that English pigs favor model fire engines, rubber boots, footballs, and chains hung from the ceiling. Failure to comply means a 2,500-pound fine.
David Sedaris
From: “David Sedaris Diaries (Little, Brown and Company, 2017)
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Way Ahead Of Their Time
The Pork Dukes - S/T (A.K.A. Pink Pork)
(Wood Records, 1978)
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Tuesday, November 28, 2017
A LOT OF MONEY ON SHOES | FEAT. SYLVIA PLATH
“Why do I not wear heels ... because I look like such a bobby soxer in flat shoes? I am young, naive, childish, sixteen emotionally. My reactions are too obvious, too excitable easily. ”
Sylvia Plath (1953)
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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Red Prysock And His Orchestra
Fruit Boots (Mercury, 1957)
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“I was grateful for a good dinner and tried to be nice to Sally who was very serious and deadpan and who never walked because her feet hurt (looking at my paper-thin red ballerinas, she said somewhat resentfully: "I could never wear shoes like yours")”
Sylvia Plath (1956)
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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The Bangles
Sweetheart of the Sun (Model Music Group, 2011)
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“Slipped into my dirty red down-at-the-heel ballet shoes (which I must throw out) & tried to sit in the relatively clean & unfeverish livingroom after wandering about collecting dirty plates & glasses & stacking them intricately in the yellow plastic dish pan. ”
Sylvia Plath (1958)
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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Down at the heel red ballerinas ready to be thrown out/sold
Source: ebay
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“Time slips shockingly by with our 'schedule' unbegun as yet - and nothing but a whole year, undivided, ahead: the discipline demanded is enormous. I have been tired, feverish, cramped. We have spent a lot of money already - on shoes (I bought mine too tight as usual & got frightful heel blisters from my 'walking shoes' on our first walk at midnight through Scollay Square”
Sylvia Plath (1958)
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
“She sat with me, leafing through a copy of Vogue she had brought & giving me a little monologue on each page, talked of "almond" - toed shoes, and the new round toe (I said I thought it was the old round toe) and how she had bought a blue beret in Exeter, and how wonderful Brigitte Bardot was …"
Sylvia Plath (1962)
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
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Vogue magazine | April 1962
Source: Sun
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Friday, November 24, 2017
THE COBBLER ACCORDING TO FRUTTERO & LUCENTINI
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19th Century | X-Radiograph(s) of "Cobbler"
Dutch School Or German School
Source: Harvard/ Art Museums
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Examiner: “Because you think in snobbery terms, also parochial, of your quarter. In more open and nonconformist environments, craftsmen such as cobblers, blacksmiths and carpenters, are not considered low-ranking professions. In fact, their jobs go hand in hand with other studies and creative activities. Do you know that Spinoza, whatever his relationships with Silvera, made eye-wears? "
Female Candidate: Yes, but he wasn’t the glassmaker (and moreover Spinoza, as far as I know, cut mostly lenses for microscopes and telescopes), and ... "
Examiner: "Then think of Hans Sachs, the famous shoemaker-friend of Dürer and Luther, who studied Latin, the flute and the resoling of shoes, inspiring along the way Wagner's “The Masters Singers Of Nurenberg“. Or think about the Dresden cobbler who hosted Goethe in 1767, giving him the inspiration for the “Ewige Jude” character and, later, "Faust". Again, think of “Shi the carpenter”, honoured by the Chinese! ... Not to mention the son of the carpenter of Nazareth, who learned and also practiced his paternal job? Would you tell me that this was not a gentleman? "
Female Candidate: "My God, Christ is one thing ..."
Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini
From: The Lover Of No Fixed Abode (1986)
Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini
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19th Century | Albert Dürer Visiting Hans Sachs (Engraving)
Stephen J. Ferris
Source: Harvard/ Art Museums
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Esaminatore: «Ma perché lei ragiona nei termini snobistici e, se lo lasci dire, provinciali, del suo ristretto ambiente. In ambienti più aperti e spregiudicati, attività artigiane come quella del ciabattino e del maniscalco, del fabbro, del falegname, non solo non hanno e non hanno mai avuto nulla di basso, di disdicevole, ma spesso si accompagnano ad altri studi e alle attività creative più diverse. Lei lo sa che Spinoza, quali che siano stati i suoi rapporti con Silvera, faceva l'occhialaio?»
Candidata: «Sì, ma altro è l'occhialaio (e del resto lo Spinoza, a quanto ne so, intagliava soprattutto lenti per microscopi e telescopi), e altro è...»
Esaminatore: «E allora pensi a Hans Sachs, il celebre poeta-calzolaio, amico di Dürer e di Lutero, che studiò congiuntamente il latino, il flauto e la risuolatura delle scarpe, ispirando a Wagner i suoi "Maestri Cantori di Norimberga". O al ciabattino di Dresda che ospitò Goethe nel 1767, fornendogli il modello dell’ “Ewige Jude" e più tardi dello stesso "Faust". O a Shi il carpentiere, onorato da tutta l'antichità cinese!... E il figlio del falegname di Nazareth, che apprese ed esercitò anche lui il mestiere paterno? Non mi dirà che per questo non sia stato un gentiluomo?»
Candidata: «Dio mio, Cristo è una cosa...»
Carlo Fruttero & Franco Lucentini
Da: L’ Amante Senza Fissa Dimora (Mondadori, 1986)
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20th Century | Cobbler (Etching)
Dwight C. Sturges
Source: Harvard/ Art Museums
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Tuesday, November 21, 2017
THIS SHOE BY EDUARDO GALEANO
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Subculture Suicide 7" EP (Dirt Cult Records, 2016)
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Rafael Bieber picked it up: “This shoe, the one you’re looking at, has a story.”
He told me it had belonged to a patient who had trouble breathing.
Sometimes a machine or medication opened his lungs for a time, but then the air would abandon the suffocating man, no matter how much he implored it to come back.
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No Class
Keine Klasse II (Deranged, 2012)
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One night in his distress, the fellow threw this shoe at the windowpane. At last, air came into his house and into his body, and he slid into a deep sleep after so many enemy nights.
When he awoke the floor was littered with shards of glass.
But they were not from his window, not from a window at all: they were what remained of the mirror, his mirror, shattered into a thousand pieces by this shoe.”
Eduardo Galeano
“This Shoe” taken from: Hunter of Stories (Nation Books, 2017)
IN MEMORIAM
EDUARDO GALEANO [1940 - 2015]
IN MEMORIAM
EDUARDO GALEANO [1940 - 2015]
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The Shifters
Shattered (Radio Records, 2000)
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Friday, November 17, 2017
THE DIGNITY OF SHOES | FEAT. DON DELILLO
“He studied the shoe on the foot of someone seated near him. It was an Earth shoe, one of those functional, sensible, unsexy, shallow-heeled and vaguely Scandinavian items of fad footwear, the shy, androgynous and countercultural shoe, unthreatening to the environment or the species, and he wondered why it looked so sinister.”
Don DeLillo
Underworld (Scribner, 1996)
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Earth Shoe
Source: PJ Media
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“She said, “I think you look forward to the job interviews. Shave the face, shine the shoes.”
“I’m down to one decent pair of shoes. This is not rank neglect but a kind of day-to-day carelessness.”
“Do you feel a certain affection for these decent shoes?”
“Shoes are like people. They adjust to situations.”
Don DeLillo
Zero K (Scribner, 2016)
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| Sam Phillips Martinis & Bikinis (Omnivore Recordings, LLC - 1994) Produced by T-Bone Burnett |
“His father’s shoes were also there, scuffed and monumental, located between the cigarette lighter and the newspaper. It was hard to believe that creatures with feet large enough to be suitable for these containers actually walked the earth and that one of these creatures was his own pop, his flesh and blood, Babe of the subway tunnels. Are we really of the same race of people? Did I really come from him and her or is it all some kind of story they tell to kids?”
Don Delillo
Ratner's Star (1976)
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| Venegoni & Co. Sarabanda (Cramps, 1979) |
“In the last car again, somewhere beneath the ruck of Red Hook, we saw a boy and two girls steal a sleeping derelict’s shoes. The man stirred, then curled more tightly into the bouncing seat. Opening the door between cars, the three children headed for the heart of the train.
“Too young to understand the dignity of shoes,” Hanes said.”
Don Delillo
Great Jones Street (1973)
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| N/N Pasivos Muertos 7” EP (Lengua Armada Discos, 2010) |
CLARKS' WALLABEES
REMEMBERS THE PEDOSCOPE
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X-Ray Fitting
Source: National Museums Scotland
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Tuesday, November 14, 2017
THE MARK OF EFFETE PREPPIES | FEAT. NEIL STEPHENSON
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Nothing Bad Ever Happens in Tiffany’s by Marian Keyes
Cover detail
Photogrph: Getty Images
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“The bellhops seem particularly delighted by his makeover. Or perhaps it is just that he is wearing leather shoes for once: topsiders, which he’s always thought of as the mark of effete preppies, but which are actually a reasonable thing for him to wear today. ”
Neal StephensonCryptonomicon (Avon, 1999)
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| Sperry Topsiders |
“Ask a Soviet engineer to design a pair of shoes and he’ll come up with something that looks like the boxes that the shoes came in; ask him to make something that will massacre Germans, and he turns into Thomas Fucking Edison.”
Neal StephensonCryptonomicon (Avon, 1999)
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| Adidas Kobe II |