HIDDEN Narrative The
I
Footwear
was just 5 years old when I fell in love with my first pair of shoes. They were a pair of baby blue, wedge espadrille sandals with embroidery. I don’t think I could have articulated it at the time, but what I was thinking was that if I got to wear those shoes, I would somehow be different, transformed, that life would be suddenly bigger, more perfect, or exciting in some way. It was a very visceral feeling and although a very small moment, turned out to be a very defining one launching me into my career as a footwear expert. What I have found along my footwear journey, and what fascinates me most about footwear are not only the architectural details, the shape of a toe box or the build of a last, exotic materials and detailing, or the physics that go into the height of a heel—although all of those things DO fascinate me—what fascinates me most is the story behind the shoe. Shoes are the only item we put on our bodies that have an actual physiological impact on us—they affect the way we walk, the way we carry ourselves, the way we stand. And so shoes tell us stories about who we are, what we do, what mood we are in, our place in society, maybe even where we live or very literally what life experiences we may have walked through. It’s the particulars of shoe stories that fascinate me the most. One of my favorite footwear narratives, that intrigued me to know the character and story behind the shoe, was that of Catherine de Medici. In 1530, she was a precocious 13-year-old bride trying to make an impression at the French court where she was being married, and she asked a Florentine artisan to make her some special shoes for that occasion. With that first pair of what many say were actually stilettos, she undulated her way across the French court and caused quite a furor. Not only that, she cemented her position and superiority in her new country, just by starting out with this particular pair of shoes—going on to be a very long living and powerful queen. That kind of driving force in shaping characters and creating narratives is the special sauce that only footwear has, and one that we see reflected time and again in modern film and TV. Nowhere has that power of the shoe been so apparent as in Sex and the City, brilliantly designed by Patricia Field. The groundbreaking HBO series was not only pivotal in bringing the shoe into the forefront of pop culture, but also in highlighting the stories
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The Costume Designer Fall 2011
that go along with our footwear. There is an episode of Sex and the City where Carrie Bradshaw goes to a baby shower and upon arrival, is asked to remove her Manolo Blahnik silver D’orsay pumps in the foyer. As the party winds down, she returns to the foyer for her shoes as she says her goodbyes. It turns out someone has done the unthinkable and nicked her stilettos at the baby shower! Her hostess (or in actuality, her Costume Designer, Ms Field) gives her grungy Converse Chuck Taylors to get home. A few moments later, we see a forlorn Carrie walking home in the black, worn out Chucks, her spirit diminished, shoulders slumped, a light gone out. Her narrative while wearing her sparkly stilettos is quite different than in her replacement pair of flat and spongy Chucks. And while it might seem very minor, it is actually this episode that drives the narrative of who she is, the choices she had made and how she chooses to live—or even BE in the world. Fashion Designer Christian Siriano firmly believes that a character’s personality “shows in their shoe taste.” Speaking as a man who now has both his own shoe line and one for Payless, Siriano pays his respects to costume designers and their challenges when it comes to footwear. “In a period film you know the costume design is good when the shoes are right, you can’t fake it—certain shoes you just cannot fake.”
Sex and the City/HBO
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Sex and the City Title illustration of Catherine de Medici by Mary Pressel Cline