Happy almost New Year, shoe lovers. I look forward to seeing what footwear everyone chooses posted over on the forums. There’s no better excuse all year for glitzy fun party shoes.In the meanwhile, I bring you my review of the Boston MFA’s exhibition of shoes, Walk This Way. We’ve mentioned this one in passing before, but I managed to go and see it with my own eyes last week. The show is still up until March 23, 2008, and I’d highly recommend catching it before it disappears. It’s made up of 28 pairs of shoes, mostly from the MFA’s collection.The genius of this show is that it’s not all up in one place. The shoes are scattered throughout the entire museum and all placed in context with the art around them. So, for example, these jeweled pointe shoes are installed next to Edgar Degas’ Little Fourteen-Year-Old Dancer.

I think this is a great way to set up the show. Most of the shoes fit in perfectly with their chosen sites, and they certainly added a new level of interest to the various museum pieces paired with them. On top of that, the shoes really are scattered through the entire museum, so you get a chance to see a bit of everything in in the MFA collections if you hunt down all the shoes on the map provided.It’s like a little treasure hunt around the galleries, with shoes and art as a fun joint prize to be found.I was limited to camera phone pics, and not all of them came out well, but a selection from my visit is below the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

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Since we are on the verge of a new year, I thought it would be fitting for this week’s edition of ‘This Week in Shoes’ to be a time for 2007 reflection and have us look forward to what type of shoes will be offered in 2008.

Over at Red Carpet Fashion Awards, the stylishly and prolific Fashion Critic has been summarizing some of the best and worse looks for 2007. Her picks for Shoe of the Year and Shoe Designer of the Year were on the money and we were honored to have the opportunity to share our thoughts on her site.

Here’s are some shoes to look forward to in 2008:

• Shoetube.tv launches in February of 2008. The site has been enticing me with the following description “Get ready for the most exciting thing to happen to shoes since Carrie found those coveted Manolo Blahniks in the closet at Vogue. Shoetube.tv will be the destination on the web where women will gather to share their passion for shoes.” I can’t wait to see what content-rich shoe multimedia will be shown!

• The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Dr James Stoxen and Converse are working on a naked shoe that gives your feet room to flex.

• Move over Stella! The talented Natalie Portman is releasing her own line of vegan shoes at TeCasan.  The Natalie Portman Collection will be available for preorder starting January 15th and will have a release date of February 2008.

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…and now we return to our regularly scheduled broadcast of the Friday Shoe History Corner.

With the flurry of the holidays upon us, there were a few weeks where we neglected writing a shoe history post. To make up for it, we found these interesting 1960’s plastic shoes, both of which are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s shoes in the Costume Institute.

Car shoe (literally)

Date: 1965

Designed by: Katharina Denzinger (dates unknown) for Herbert Levine, Inc.

Description: The increasingly common use of plastics for footwear in the 1960s allowed the designer free rein for whimsical interpretation. This shoe, made of clear, colored and mirrored vinyl shapes, and trimmed with molded plastic “headlights,” is designed to look like a race car, complete with numeric designation and “windshield” upper. The bright colors of the shoe fit the Pop Art and Space Age aesthetic of the 1960s, also apparent in garments designed by Rudi Gernreich (1922–1985) and André Courrèges (born 1923).

Pierre Cardin Boot - This reminds me of a record attached to the loafer.

Date: Autumn/winter 1967
Designed by: Pierre Cardin (French, born 1922)

Description: In the 1960s, shoe designers began to experiment with new materials, especially synthetics and plastics. This shift was due in part to a steep rise in the price of leather, and also to changing notions of what constituted the “modern” look. Designers embraced the new synthetic materials, which seemed ideally suited to clothing and footwear in the era of Space Age technology. Cardin’s boots combine geometric shapes with another feature not commonly seen in footwear prior to the 1960s, the zipper closure.

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Now that all our Christmas and after-Christmas shopping is complete and life is slowly returning to normal, why not extend the holiday spirit of giving a bit longer?

I’m a little late in reporting this, but you can still donate your gently used shoes to Soles4Souls, which is an organization that aids those in need. For every donation,  Piperlime will even  give you a $15 off $75 coupon off your future purchase, you’ll receive a tax deductible receipt, and Piperlime will donate $1 to Soles4Souls. To qualify, the donation must be postmarked by Dec 31, 2007.

This is a great way to ring in the New Year.  Mark the passing of 2007 by throwing away the old (but lightly worn) shoes to make room for more NEW shoes in 2008.

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Happy Holidays to all of our readers and their loved ones. We hope that your holidays will be merry, relaxing, safe, and shoeful.

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