Death of a Shoe - A Shoeulogy

 

 

The Brief: To illustrate the decline of the British shoe industry with the visualisation of an autopsy of a pair of shoes.

I struggled with this concept. The idea of butchering a perfectly good pair of shoes. I have quite an attachment to my shoes. I was never really a 'shoe person.' That changed. I now have a shoe collection to rival Imelda Marcos. And I find it very hard to part with them, even if I know I'll never wear them again. It's like we've been on a journey and they're old friends. 

There's nothing quite like the feeling of a new pair of shoes. The smell. The feel. The gleaming, shiny newness. One of the best sensations in the world is the feel of a brand new, blinding-white, springy pair of Nike Air Max B-Dubs. Aaaargh! Amazing! For those that would never, and will never, wear a pair of Nike Air Max Big Windows, you will never know... But believe me, they feel good. Surpassed only by the feeling of a brand new fleecy pair of Uggs. Foot Sex. No word of a lie. There is a reason why people overlook the less than sexy appearance of Ugg boots, when you have tried on a pair of those babies, you understand.

You can see, I can happily wax lyrical about footwear. You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes. The sexiest man in the world can instantly become unsexy by wearing the wrong shoes. Or a person who may appear, at first, to be unassuming can be elevated to a position of intrigue and interest by their deliberate or intentional nonchalant choice of 'sploitage.' I don't like to think I am a judgmental person, but yes, I will judge you on your footwear. Shallow maybe. But I can't help it. I hold footwear in high esteem. And it doesn't have to be designer footwear. I'm not a snob. Just horses for courses. Not to say that I wouldn't have a pair of Laboutins should the opportunity to own a pair ever present itself!! Shoes are the embodiment of the person and a comment on their personality. They can tell you what a person does, where they go, how fashion conscious they are, how practical, how sensible. how rich, how flamboyant, how stylish.
I know I am lucky to have a pair of shoes, let alone many pairs. In some impoverished countries people strap bits of rubber tyre to their feet to protect against the stony ground. In some countries they don't even have that. 

So, to me, shoes have a personality and are very important. That makes cutting them up quite difficult. I had never even worn the shoes that I was to surgically disect. No-one had. They were an impulse buy from Primark and cost a fiver. They only way I could justify destroying them was by telling myself that I wouldn't have even got a quid for them had I sold them on ebay. But it's kind of sad to me that that pair of shoes will never fulfil their destiny.  

The results of part one and two of the brief [to disect the shoes, photograph them, choose six images and manipulate image adjustments using Photoshop] can be seen in the pictures above.

RIP Purple Leopard Print Pumps...