Well read
TITLE Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers
EDITORS Giorgio Riello and Peter McNeil
PUBLISHER Berg and distributed by Footprint Books
This comprehensive 440 page book, jam-packed with colour photographs and illustrations explores practically ever aspect of shoes from the Ancient Greece period right through to today's contemporary shoe trends. From the sneaker to the stiletto, it demonstrates how shoes have historically played a role well beyond mere functional accessories, and looks at how shoes have played a role as signifiers of social status, sexual status, power, group membership, personality and politics.
Through a series of essays, you'll read about shoes in Medieval Italy, military footwear in the Age of the Empire, traditional Japanese footwear and their impact on Japanese religion and everyday life and the "splendid slippers" of China. From a more modern perspective, the book canvases the power structures and dynamics of the high heel, odd shoes, sex and sin, focusing on the "magic of red shoes" and style and design often overlooked by consumers.
On the lighter side of things, readers are exposed to the way shoes have been deWhether you design shoes, sell shoes or (like the authors) share their shoe fetish, this beautiful book will enlighten you, inspire you and at times, entertain as well.
TITLE Vivienne Westwood Shoes
EDITORS Luca Beatrice and Matteo Guarnaccia
PUBLISHER Damiani
Respected English avante garde fashion designer Vivienne Westwood is known for her idiosyncratic designs which have been widely influential particularly with the development of the punk aesthetic and New Romantics Movement.
Many of her extravagant shoe designs have likened to works of art and displayed at museums.
This large book displays her most significant shoe designs in all their glory which large colour plates that reveal the intricate details of her designs. With their extreme heel and concealed platform, her stiletto heeled pumps are reminiscent of fetish footwear. The juxtaposition of the traditional with the taboo is characteristic of Westwood's subversive designs. Each shoe is immaculate in its detail and many of her shoes have strong elements of fantasy and theatre.
Height is also a predominant characteristic of her wild creations, and its is said that she designed her shoes so high that apparently, the model, Naomi Campbell, fell down the runway during her show.
This large hard cover book, with a detailed introduction, showcases some of her best shoe designs from 1973 through to 2006, with large colour photographs that leave out no detail to these wearable quirky works of art.