Heels on Exhibition

You might not know that tomorrow Castello Sforzesco in Vigevano opens the exhibition "The Stiletto heel: charm and seduction". Even for those who aren't maniac like us, it could be an opportunity to visit the Castle, the Pinacoteca and the permanent exhibition of the International Museum of Footwear "P. Bertolini", the only Italian public institution dedicated to the history of most famous Made in Italy object.
The exhibition has already been widely echoed in the press and blogosphere, here, here, here, here, here, and also here, but there are many other links, in fact the topic has become a cult at all levels.
Nobody, it seems, has mentioned the exhibition web site, with some nice pictures, such as Sofia Loren with Ferragamo, and some models like this here by Louboutin.
The exhibition remains open until May 25th, maybe I'll pay a visit.

Deathly Hallows

Just passing by home between one trip and another. This feeling of unstableness, and the reading of last Harry Potter (how do you translate Deathly Hallows?) leads to some strange thoughts and memories.
Imaginary and unuseful objects, magical or cursed objects, objects that bring good or bad luck, objects that establish a link with the past, the future or with another world.
I designed this stiletto phone a few years ago for a Russian footwear firm, that was looking for something special as a present for their customers. I don't know if they're still on business, their web site is down. They didn't pay for the drawings anyway.
I knew that the idea itself wasn't completely new, nevertheless I was surprised to find this picture of Imelda Marcos, the world's best-known shoe collector, handling a similar high heel phone.
Leaving again tomorrow to the seaside, have a nice holiday everybody.

High Tide Heels

Are the Ladies ready to go on holidays? Are they already done with their luggage? In case a pair of fins is missing, I suggest this evening model, perfect for a Hollywood swimming-pool party or to dive at midnight from a thirty meter long yacht.
This stiletto fins picture has already spread around the world, just Google "High Tide Heels" (or also "High Heel Fins", "Stiletto Flippers" or anything like that), and find dozens of forums and blogs that reposted this topic in the last few weeks.
Since somebody says I post too seldom, I will join the chorus, trying to update the state of the art, inasmuch as it costs nothing.
Let's say first that the picture's origin is still uncertain, apart from the fact that the plate reflected in the display window is Belgian (it's said to be a shop in Liège, maybe an art gallery) and in fact, as long as I know, the first to post it was a Belgian blog in March.
More recently the photo was reposted by British, American, German, Swiss, Greek and Italian blogs, just to name a few, and was sacred by Manolo's Shoe Blog, that also made clear this not being a completely new idea, but already seen on the catwalks by Australian designer Lisa Carney and by more famous Jean Paul Gaultier.
These are the certain facts, then we only have speculations, for example it's not clear whether or not these stiletto flippers, seen also in coral red, are on sale somewhere or if somebody even tried or bought them, in order to sport them on some very stylish beach.

Incredible Platforms

Most famous designers are proposing impossibly high platform shoes and sandals for this Spring-Summer. As an example, these Emilio Pucci 5 1/2" sculpture platforms with transparent vynil upper are on sale at Zappos Couture for little less than $700.
Since it's always fun to play the Fashion vs Fetish game, here is a little YouTube video showing a fetish model wearing some different but still remarkable (and maybe cheaper) skyscraper high platforms. By the way, don't see why this video is flagged as inappropriate.

Dita Update

Everybody knows this already, so we can't pretend to ignore that burlesque queen Dita Von Teese and goth rocker Marilyn Manson are divorcing. Von Teese, whose real name is Heather Sweet, filed papers last December 29 in Los Angeles Superior Court, citing "irreconcilable differences". Other news about the split report fights over custody of the couple's two cats, Lily and Aleister.
The marriage lasted little more than one year, since Dita and Manson (real name: Brian Warner) were wed November 28, 2005, according to the court documents. The goth-style ceremony was held in an ancient castle in Tipperary, Ireland, officiated by cult film director and writer Alejandro Jodorowsky, that of The Holy Mountain.

Dita Always Higher

Web statistics are an amusing and instructive game. I often stop and watch the tables full of figures saying how many people come to my web site and which pages they visit, and the bulleted maps showing from which part of the world visitors arrive. Sometimes I find strange and unexpected things, for example a particular visit concentration from South Korea, from Turkey or Mexico.
One of the most interesting is the search statistics page offered by Google Sitemaps, showing which keywords visitors use to reach the website from the search engine. Many arrive on the web site simply searching “stylettos” and that's normal, but, apart from this, the most loved and most clicked is always her, Dita. Few months ago I published a blog about Dita Von Teese, and since then the fans of the famous pin-up, wife of rockstar Marilyn Manson, come everyday numerous.
Then I say: Do you want Dita? I'll give you Dita! Here's the YouTube video of a long television interview on French channel Antenne 2, where the Queen of the Burlesque appears in all her splendor, shot from several angles, absolutely elegant and well heeled.

Yay for Pointy Shoes!

Roger and Sarah Adams from RoSa Shoes are two good friends of mine. In spite of rounded toes ongoing trend, they set up a new brand name to design, make and sell pointy shoes, or better, the pointiest shoes and boots on earth.
Actually they're not new to this sort of things. In the 80's they ran a gothic fashion shop in Brighton UK, retailing old stock shoes from the early 60s and post-punk styles produced by small London factories. Then they begun to design their own range of classic pointed stilettos, and their shoes were worn by Milla Jovovich and Madonna, and stocked by designer Katharine Hamnett, while their higher heel production ended up supplying most fetish shops in London, plus others in Europe and the USA. After that, they were out of the shoe business for fifteen years, while they came back to more conservative activities, bought a house not far from the beach and enjoyed a quite family life.
In one word, the characters are quite original and their story amazing indeed. He's told to be a gifted guitar player and skillful shoe designer, while she's a kind of high heel mummy, now in her ...ties, but still as hot as she was twenty years ago.
Their new RoSa Shoes range, produced in Italy in Civitanova Marche, takes inspiration from those early days, but with the quality of Italian-made leather shoes, that makes these unique pieces suitable for the original and confident woman who enjoys teetering nonchalantly in high slender heels and elegant pointy toes, making other women desperately demand: "Where did you get THOSE SHOES?!".

The Devil wears Prada and dates Vatican real estate guy

They are the couple of the day, beautiful, rich and famous. She, Anne Hathaway, 24 years next November 12th, already a teen age idol in Princess Diaries, became a celebrity after Brokeback Mountain and then a real star acting with Meryl Streep in the last movie about fashion world. He, Raffaello Follieri, 28, was born in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy (the famous Holy Padre Pio home town) and is the head with his father Pasquale of a real estate group based in Park Avenue New York City, in charge of reselling buildings owned by the Catholic Church in America, thanks to solid connections with Vatican top officials and famous yet sometimes embarassing friendships.
There is enough to feed intercontinental paparazzi for a while, it sounds like the story of Stefano Ricucci and Anna Falchi, let's hope that, thanks God, this is not ending so badly... In the picture, the two are taking part in a charity funded by the Follieri Group in Nicaragua.
Anyway she's delicious and in The Devil Wears Prada, inspired by the character of US Vogue chief editor Anne Wintour, is perfect as the boss assistant, a ugly duckling who becomes swan and then flies away. The story is a little unoriginal but funny, and if not else there are a lot of beautiful shoes.

Vivienne Westwood Shoes 1973-2006 on exhibit in Vigevano

On September 16th, “Vivienne Westwood Shoes 1973-2006” was opened in Vigevano Sforzesco Castle. This retrospective, edited by Luca Beatrice and Matteo Guarnaccia, celebrates the genius of the British designer, an anarchical interpreter of the creation of symbol objects: the shoes. The exhibition travels over again her exceptional career main stages, going back to the punk origins in 1973 with the launch of the Sex Pistols, and introducing the models that dictated along the years the rules of a new style. The exhibition plays on the parallelism between the charismatic Duchess Beatrice d'Este, historical figure of the Lombardic town, and the Westwood, one of the most applauded and controversial designers of these days. A link that starts from the "Pianella" flat shoe displayed in the local Footwear Museum, belonging to the first one, in order to arrive to breathtaking and by now most famous model Super Elevated Gillie by the second one, in charge of Naomi Campbell's memorable fall during a catwalk show. The exhibition will remain opened until November 19th 2006.

$500,000 of 9/11 victims fund money spent on designer shoes

One of the widows of the September 11th 2001 attack to the World Trade Center, Kathy Trant, whose husband Dan was a trader for Cantor Fitzgerald on the 104th floor of North Tower, went public last year, saying she spent nearly all the $5 million she received from the U.S. government compensation fund in an attempt to allay her grief. "It's disgusting, I'm ashamed of it" she said, hoping that telling her story could help others with the same problem of compulsive shopping.
She traveled to Italy, Jamaica and Asia, obsessively gave gifts to friends and strangers, and spent $1.5 million on luxurious additions to her Long Island home, including a full basketball court and a floor-to-ceiling shoe rack, filled with half a million dollars' worth of shoes signed Prada, Marc Jacobs, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Emilio Pucci and Vera Wang.
She became a celebrity after her partecipation in Oprah Winfrey TV show, where she candidly admitted she was down to her last $500,000. She was recently hosted by british Channel Four for Ground Zero fifth anniversary cover-up.

Italy Four Times World Champion!

Yes we made it! The Italian team won its fourth final out of six played so far. Only Brazil now has a better score. Somebody would say that France played better, and maybe it's true, but we deserved the Cup for the way we played the previous games, especially against Germany. The semifinal between France and Portugal was a boring game, won by a small penalty against a poor team. Which image will stay as a symbol of the italian victory? Maybe that of Fabio Grosso, the humble defender coming from a minor league and now become a worldwide famous football star, or that of the unsurpassable Cannavaro raising the Cup. But I chose that one of the Zidane headbutt, maybe better representing this dramatic and bitter match, ended with penalties. Whatever Materazzi said, that was the worst way for Zizou to end a great career.

Dita Superstar

Lovely Dita Von Teese is getting more and more famous even in Italy. Fetish and burlesque icon, but formerly known only among few affectionate fans, she recently published the book "The Art of the Teese", and she's more and more often seen on "respectable" magazines or on TV, modeling on fashion catwalks (Moschino Cheap & Chic) or just attending to the shows with her husband, the cult pop-star Marilyn Manson. But she now seems to be getting more attention than he is. Or am I wrong?

Italian Elections II: Three Bridges

Easter, Liberation Day, First of May, three part-time weeks with infraweekly celebrations. Berlusconi wants to recount the cards one by one. In the meanwhile D'Alema and Bertinotti litigate for a seat. We are a little suspended on the greenish water in a foggy day, like on the Three Bridges of Comacchio, trying to find a way out. Good Vacations for those who can.

Italian Elections: Prodi Wins Kicking Penalties

I understand that it can seem strange to find a political comment on a niche footwear blog like this, but there it is. After all STYLETTOS Italy is an Italian web site, so you can't be silent when all, really all, are saying theirs. Blogosphere rumors give a measure of the mess where Italy is lying. After the violent tricky electoral campaign orchestrated by the Right, last night we reached the paroxysm, and at 3am we still had to stand made up figures, victory claims, threats and proposals of compromise. Then today, after forty years, also the supergodfather Bernardo Provenzano dulled out from the cylinder hat.
But in the end Prodi made it. It's not exactly the luminous dawn that everybody expected, today the sky is gray no more and no less than yesterday. Left should reflect first of all about its inadequacy: if you want to rule the country, you must have the courage to transform a kind of mercenary army in a serious and unitarian political proposal. Start from this victory after penalties to defuse Berlusconi's soft dictatorship and relaunch Italy. But before I would still place the matter of restoring a fair, simple and effective electoral system, instead of this kind of Russian Roulette, invented by the usual tricky christian-democrats, and accepted with tightened teeth by all the opportunists among Right and Left.
Personally I never digested the result of the majority system referendum in 1999, won by 90%, but invalidated for a fist of ballots. No French double turn or German proportional system, but majority sistem with single card and proportional correction. The small parties' nomenklatura would say that it is a step behind, but in my opinion it is from here that the Democratic Party will have to commence.

Last Winter Bargains

Winter is coming to an end, but in the YOOX Fall-Winter catalog, with 70% off, there is some good bargain to grab. Take a look at these DIESEL boots for € 90 only. With their nonconformist design they can be good for these last colds but also for next year. Many other designer shoes and boots for less than € 100: Giorgio Armani, Gianni Barbato, Liz Carine, Celine, Costume National, Le Silla, Vicini, Vera Wang, Giuseppe Zanotti Design and more.

The Red Stiletto

Things you find surfing the web. This Red Stiletto car was created by David Crow using a 1972 Honda CB 350 motor and running gear. The car took him four years to complete, and features an alloy tube frame with fiberglass shell and hand rubbed paint. The Red Stiletto was shown at the ArtCar Fest in San Jose, California, and reported by many web sites and blogs: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and maybe more.

India Connection

Some time ago, I was in touch with a manufacture company from New Delhi, and we were planning to produce an embroidered boot more or less like this. Then I thought that it was too complicated to send the pieces to India for the embroidery and then have them back for further workings, so we made nothing. I also remember that the Indian mate doubted that "the market would accept this idea". Just have a look at these velvet boots from Sergio Rossi Fall-Winter 2005 collection, modeled by beautiful Adriana Lima, don't you think they look gorgeous? Just in case you are planning to buy them, consider that they are sold for $3,000 in the US, don't know how much in Italy.

Fashion vs Fetish

The first picture, where the model (probably the beautiful Daria Werbowy) is sporting laced booties with evident fetish inspiration, was taken from Roberto Cavalli FW 2005 catwalk. The second picture...

My Last Pick

These Gucci pony skin slip-ons are my last purchase from YOOX as present for my wife. They have a little platform, long satin ribbon ankle laces, and lizard print leather covered 5" heels. What is not clear from the picture is that they have a black fur application on the ribbon, that gives them a quite funny attitude. To say the truth my wife is a little perplexed, even if in my opinion with black matt pantyhose they look great.

Original 3D Models

As I said before, these wonderful shoes are not for sale. This is the text that is normally sent to people asking directions about ordering: "STYLETTOS Italy is still mostly a graphic design project. Only a few sample series were produced till now, but they are sold out at the moment. Further production is not planned in the short term. Thank you anyway for your interest and appreciation, always welcome, and stay tuned with this web site for new models and features." Eventual collaboration or development proposals are always carefully considered, but at the moment I'm more inclined to take advantage of this web site and three-dimensional software potentialities, rather than to face the problems implied in footwear production and commerce.

Before somebody asks, I'll give a few technical details about my digital models. They've been developed using only AutoCAD and a few custom made Visual Basic routines. Neither 3DS or Maya, nor any post-editing with Photo Shop or other similar programs, just rendered images taken from my models. I never published the software I invented, but some of the digital models are on sale through Viewpoint catalog, now Digimation catalog.

An important feature, allowing to fully appreciate models' tridimensional nature, is the Experience! section, that can be reached from the home page. It's about impressive interactive animations that can be activated installing Viewpoint Media Player plug-in. You will be able to zoom and rotate models ad libitum observing them in smallest details and even diving into them, try and see (a broadband connection works better).

A True Italian Story

Sorry for the Berlusconi-like title, nothing in common. After four years maybe it's time to make a little history and a summary of this meritorious activity. Around year 2001, using my skill and experience in CAD, I started designing the first pair of slip-on shoes. It was just for hobby, but in the end they looked cool to me, so I decided to publish them, and then this web site was set up since may 2002. Due to the remarkable success, I was convinced that there could be a market, and by the end of 2003 I prepared a collection of samples of boots and pumps, thanks to a firm from Parabiago (nearby Milan), which, after some insistence, sent me the goods "on one's word". You can see these gorgeous models on the cover from my home page. Unfortunately the first customer, this not Italian but Mexican, turned out to be a professional swindler and paid with a check that in the end proved to be false.

Although I keep receiving e-mails asking how to order these shoes, I could never sell a pair via Internet, nor find a shop or a distributor seriously interested in retailing them. I sold the remaining pairs to friends and relatives. The firm that produced the samples, by unanimous consent of excellent quality, was owned by Finpart financial group (holding brands like Cerruti, Frette, Moncler, Marina Yachting, Andrea Pfister and Colette). This holding went recently bankrupt, leaving a hundreds million gap, with accusations of rigging the market and fraudulent bankruptcy, and dragged in the storm also the Banca Popolare of Intra, that "generously" lavished its subscribers' money to knit the accounts. Probably those qualified craftsmen that made my shoes (which however I regularly paid for) are now unemployed. The usual "tricky guys of the neighbourhood" made other innocent victims. Another well known story, a true Italian story.