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Stepping back in time. With your best foot forward

ALL

ABOUT

EVE

DO YOU REALLY

NEED ANOTHER

PAIR OF SHOES?

Hair. Check.

Blazer. Check.

Bag. Check.

But I am not done.

I walk to the front door and carefully lift from the rack the most pivotal

component to my ensemble. I encase the first on my left foot and the second on my

right. I glide to the full length mirror in the hall and look myself over. A smile stares

back at me. I look...perfect.

I grab my key and pick up my pace in heading to the car waiting for me outside.

I must not be late, for today is my first day. I must stride through those double

wrought Iron gates; confident yet charming, fearless yet friendly, assertive yet

approachable.

I am five years old and the gold key I posses in my youthful clutch is the key to

the sole of my shiny Clarks ‘Magic Step’ Shoe. I sit in the car and glance with pride

at my double buckled grey size 11s, feeling 6ft tall and ready to take on my own

Goliath - school.

An eon later the car eventually comes to a stand -still and now I realise it is time

to face those giant gates. With key in hand I boldly advance onwards and through

the archway. I am now deeply entrenched in no man’s land. Before Fear seizes the

opportunity to be my first friend on that vast playground, something glistening

gold catches my eye in the early September sunlight. I follow its trail all the way to

the hands of another girl. Steadfastly, I put my best foot forward and take my shoes

across the cement until they are met squarely with white counterparts. As if by

Magic, an unbreakable bond is formed. Two girls, one understanding - without the

utterance of a single word.

Fast forward 19 years and Samantha and I are still friends, our love of shoes

intact. OK so neither of us can be found parading about the place in this season’s

newest collection at Clarks anymore, but the strength of character found at five in

those sandals, I still seek in a shoe to this day. What comes with age is greater choice

and understanding of their use.

The language of shoes is universal. We all wear them. But if each shoe speaks

differently to the spectator, how do we know when to converse with a particular

pair? And what can one set of shoes say that another cannot?

I have become known throughout the years to possess a rather vast selection of

foot garments and justify this sometimes perceived obscenity upon my appreciation

that each pair provides the observer with a different dimension to me. I select the

shoe that best conveys how I wish to be seen at that specific moment in time. From

my ‘don’t mess with me’ black gladiator tripled buckled shoe boots to my Miranda

Kerr leg lengthening bone coloured platforms, each speak a side of me where

verbal dialogue may mistranslate. Knowing when to use a particular pair is the

golden key I now hold tightly to; understanding that they possess the ability to

unite, identify or individualise the wearer in society. One can make their mark in a

moccasin, strut their stuff in a stiletto, be bold in boots or feel all ease in espadrilles.

The right shoe on the right occasion is much like being Goldilocks and feeling - just

right.

One often talks of ‘power dressing’ relating specifically to the suit itself, but if

that immaculately groomed lady in her 2 piece DAKS suit whom you see every day

on the commute to work didn’t change from her top of the range Nike trainers into

those black court Celine’s you see peeping out of her bag, would she really look

quite so powerful in her board meeting later that morning? The price of the shoe is

arguably somewhat irrelevant for neither come cheap; it is more what the court says

that the trainer does not. The shoe therefore is by no means a mere fashion

statement, nor a simple question of practicality; rather it supplies the very

foundations on which to build an entire persona.

It might be for this reason therefore that magazines regularly include feature

pages dedicated to nothing but shoes, why Oxford Street’s Selfridges are set to

launch the world’s largest shoe collection or even why Stephen Mear recently chose

to direct a dance revue pertinently, yet simply entitled ‘Shoes,’ exploring the gamut

of footwear available today.

Shoes have defined both decades and people and in an upsurge of Vintage

fashion, there are more shoes than ever available to cater for your foot fancies. From

the first introduction of the much coveted ballet shoe in the 50’s, to the disco

dancing platforms of the 70’s and their re-introduction in the 1990s (thanks by and

large to The Spice Girls), to Dorothy’s iconic red glitter heels or Carrie Bradshaw’s

influential staple choice of Manolo’s, your feet have never known such choice. You

have the power to be whoever you want to be, starting from the feet up.

So Dorothy’s ruby red’s got her home; Cinderella’s dainty delicates, her Prince

Charming. When you next step out of your front door, have a pause and think, what

is it you want yours to get for you today?