Over the years, we have come across many outrageous shoe designs - Israeli designer Kobe Levi's banana peel shoes, the late Alexander McQueen's Armadillo shoes and even Lady Gaga's notorious meat shoes, but nothing comes even close to this latest creation, by South African artist Leanie van der Vyver and Dutch shoe designer Rene van den Berg.
Aptly named 'Scary Beautiful', the one-off pair is an odd mix of both. Scary, because not only does it sport massive heels, but also, because the heels are placed in the front of the shoe instead of behind. Therefore in order to walk in them, the wearer has to point her feet straight down the back and maintain balance by leaning her shin against the heel that sits in the front - Not the most comfortable situation to be in. But convoluted as they are, the design is also quite intriguing and in a strange way, beautiful.
These were exactly the two emotions Leanie was trying to evoke with this unique design, which was the center piece of her graduation project. Having worked in the fashion industry for seven years, the artist is well-versed with the amount of discomfort models, especially women, undergo to look 'perfect'. The shoe was meant to be her critique of her disdain about what is going on. To prove her point she even filmed a video of a young girl actually daring to get into them and fashionably, hobble around in pain.
Ironically, her desire to express her discomfort with the 'perfection' being sought out by the fashion industry has ended up making her quite famous, especially since 'Scary Beautiful', were nominated earlier this year for a design prize at her University - The Gerrit Rietveld Acadamie in Amsterdam. The judges were not only impressed by its unique design, beautiful craftsmanship and gorgeous leather, but also, applauded the way the esthetics, ergonomics and prosthesis merged so that the wearer had to develop a new rather painful way of walking! We guess fashion is all just about looking well . . . . . . Different?
Resources: shine.yahoo.com, nydailynews.com
