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Leeking Ink #26 Table of Contents
Cover by renown artist Bobby Tran Dale |
Coming Out of the Closet...Yes it is true – I love shoes
As the story goes I was about 5-years-old and my mother and I were walking along the boardwalk in Atlantic City. I spied a pair of gold sandals in a store window and demanded to have them. They were oddly expensive for such a tacky pair of children’s footwear. I have vague memories of this event, perhaps from being reminded of it. It seems my idiosyncratic love of shoes began here. My mother lived in dread that this event was a harbinger of genetic bad taste. After all, 30 years previously on the very same beach, Blaze Starr walked past my mother and her mother and laughed out loud at the tacky shoes my mother’s mother was wearing.
As a wee child it was impossible to keep shoes on my feet. Even as I got older I held a bizarre pride in toughening my soles on Miami’s scorching asphalt. However, I was forced into shoes for school. I can’t remember clothes I wore as a child, but I can remember my shoes. I remember the clunking of my thick molded plastic sandals with the leather buckle and ankle endangering clogs, both of which were ubiquitous in the 70’s. I can recall my Kangaroos and the small Velcro pouch that attached through the laces of my other sneakers. In 7th grade Reebok was all the rage. In stores they were about $40-50 a pair, but if you knew where to look you could find seconds and irregulars for ten bucks. We were living in tents at one point, but I had five pairs of Reeboks. Even at thirteen I could appreciate the irony. Then during “Moonlighting’s” heyday (before I realized how completely annoying Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd were), Cybill Shepherd appeared at the Emmys in a formal black gown and day-glo orange Reeboks. I was entranced. My mother hunted high and low and found a pair for me for Christmas. They never looked anything except ridiculous on me, but for sentimental reasons I still have them boxed up in the attic. Actually, looking back, they probably looked ridiculous on her – thirteen allows for all sorts of manifestations of questionable judgment.
Then toward the end of high school my inner vegan made its appearance, relegating me to Payless for non-leather shoes. They were so blah and on ethical shaky ground because of their “Made in China” status. I resigned myself to living with shoes, but not loving them. Then a few years ago I found a few retailers that specialized in fine footwear that didn’t involve cow flesh or sweatshops and prison labor. The shoes were expensive, but I went ahead and bought a pair of Doc Marten Coppas and a pair of Vegetarian Shoes Derby Boots. The DM’s were the most comfortable pair of shoes I had ever owned. This was a bad thing for my credit card, but my inner shoe whore was happy again. Even now most of my clothes come from the thrift store, but I will overindulge when it comes to shoes.
These are some of my favorite shoes:
DM Coppas - Black
These shoes are still incredibly
comfortable and in good shape, despite nearly three years of heavy wear. I am
also fond of these shoes for sentimental reasons. I wore them for the first
time on one of the most euphoric days of my life. I was in northern England and
I had started falling in love the night before.
Vegetarian Shoes Derby Boots - Black
I should have taken a
picture of these when I started this article because Emilio decided to chew the
toe a little bit. The first time I wore them they took me all over the cliffs
at Dover, England and to France that night for a few hours. I put them on in
the morning and didn’t end up taking them off until the evening of the
following day.
Low Chuck Taylors - Maroon
The formerly All-American
Converse Chuck Taylors are a favorite of Patrick’s. At his urging I bought
myself a pair last summer. They are more like gloves than shoes. I have worn
these to a pulp.
DM Boots – Cherry
I had wanted a pair of these boots
for about three years. I even tried to order them once, but they were out of my
size. Then last October, on my last hellish day of work, Patrick waited until
we were on the train home and gave me a card and told me he was getting me a
pair as a present. It was one of the single nicest surprises I’d ever
received. I was buoyant for weeks. They are very comfortable and have traveled
all over with me.
Ruby Red Shoes
These are an exuberant red. We went to see
Patrick’s mother after her surgery one day last fall. We were out enjoying
a bit of medicinal shopping when I spied these. His mother got them for me (I
got Patrick glow in the dark skull pajamas). They are one of my only pairs of
“cute” shoes.
Big Bad Boots - Black
We went to Brighton, England –
home of Vegetarian Shoes – for my 30th birthday. I had looked at these
several times before. They are tall (upper mid calf on me) and just wicked
cool. Frivolous, but cool.
DM Boots - Magenta Velvet
A few days after the shoe shopping
in Brighton we found ourselves walking around the flea market at Camdentown. We
were all shopped out and winding our way back through the stalls when I spied
these maroon velvet boots sitting by themselves on the floor of one of the
shops. I though “Well, they are probably leather.” No, and they were
barely worn. “They couldn’t possibly be my size.” Yes, they
were. “They must be too expensive.” Nope, £15 (about $23).
Patrick bought them for me on the spot. They have one weird flaw – the
tongue migrates. I have to fold my sock over it to keep it in check.
Right now I have my eye on another pair Chuck Taylors, but in good conscience, I can’t buy another pair of shoes until I have regular employment. Oh, and there are still some American-made Converse floating around. Try 1-888-CHUCKS1 or www.lastpairs.com. For vegan shoes check out this list of retailers and manufacturers: www.vrg.org/nutshell/leather.htm.
