Designer Shoes

Posts Tagged ‘socks’

Although there are many strange and wonderful shoes out there, some really challenge the notion of what it is to be a shoe. My recent posts about crazy designer shoes have, as many crazy things will do, made me challenge my very concept of shoes – here are my musings.

Most definitions of the word ‘shoe’ involve the words “covering” or “protecting”; “a protective covering for the foot, originally designed for comfort and durability, but more recently also for decoration” was along the lines of my own definition. However, many hyper-fashionable trends and individual pairs of shoes are now challenging that very definition; many shoes are now uncomfortable, don’t cover the foot at all and are actually more dangerous than not wearing any shoes at all! The question is, are these still ‘shoes’? If so, then our previous definition must be wrong and need altering – but to what? If these new objects are not shoes, then what are they?

Although many people would consider the first pair of shoes in Return of the Crazy Designer Shoes to be ridiculous, I think most would agree that they are, nevertheless, shoes of some kind. Yet all they are is a kind of metal cage around the foot, so this raises interesting questions; just how little material can still constitute a shoe? Which parts of an object must remain intact in order for the object to still be a shoe? Also, at what point does an object become a sock?

To illustrate my point and get you thinking, I ask you to consider this picture. Is this object a shoe? If so, what is it about the object that makes it a shoe? If not, what is it failing to do that a shoe would do and what changes would have to be made in order for it to be a shoe?

When is a shoe not a shoe?