I don't know how many of you have noticed, but 2011 definitely started off as the year that bold colored shoes have become significantly more prominent in the shoe industry. For me this breakthrough is amazing, but the only downfall is that I feel that many of the shoe companies attempting to introduce more color into their shoe lines, skipped all subtlety and went straight for gaudy. Let's take Prada (pictured above), for example, who has been making all of the headway with their new tri-colored shoe with a sharp edge-cut sole trim and a one inch (2.5 cm) hemp braided sole with storm welt. Seriously??? That shit is ugly! I mean, I can appreciate the colors, but to then add all of this unnecessary stuff is just a little bit much. It's like the industry went from repressed black shoe producing to using 47 colors coupled with a space-aged sole on their shoes?? What happened to that middle step?
Obviously, 'designers' will be 'designers' but still, let's not carried away. Using colors outside of the normal spectrum for shoes should be carried out in an elegant way, or those who may have always been color-adverse, will be even more so when they see these monstrosities. Baby steps Mr. and Mrs. Designers of the world! Or else there will always be this divide between those who wear only black shoes and those who wear this crap here. It makes me wonder who they try and reach with this product. I guess that they are not looking to gain new clientele but instead only keep the one's they have happy. How do they grow, in terms of a business model? Maybe just by upping the prices? Because seeing these shoes, certainly would not make me want to go buy D&G or Prada products, it actually makes me want to avoid the store all together.
What saddens me is that even Paul Smith, a company that I actually like, came out with some of this crap (pictured below). I mean, I don't think shoes made with reflector type looking pleather will ever be cool. And those pointy toes that could kill an ant in the corner of your room, just have to go. I know that these British companies make those, thinking that they are 'Italian style' but in reality, no Italian wears that pointy shit. They usually wear an elongated round toe, plain and simple. And who would ever think that Christmas colors would look good in a shoe (as Prada apparently did)? I could understand if they added white in there, to make the colors of the Italian flag but, they didn't, they added brown, of all the 'third' colors they could have added. It's just strange to me, it's almost like they were thinking, 'hey, let's take the three ugliest colors combined and put them into a shoe.' And viola, they achieved just that!! Now I hate to be a pessimist, but it is just strange that very few companies get it right, as the Japanese company, Saion, did in the post below. It really is not that difficult to create something different, but still have it be elegant and appealing. But hey, who am I to judge.........?
Some Pictures Courtesy Of: The Shoe Buff
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