I’ve just come back from a jaunt through Turkey, where merhaba means hello and (more importantly for us here) ayakkabılar means shoes.

Did I buy shoes while I was there?

Well… no.

Surprise, right?

But I can point out the shoes that I was most tempted to buy.

No, it wasn’t the beaded “harem slippers” that were on sale to tourists EVERYWHERE.

(photo from e-turkey.net)

 

It wasn’t the standard designer knock-offs that seemed to be in every other booth at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

It was the Suzani boots.

Suzani textiles are traditionally from Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan) and I’ve more often seen them woven into carpets and rugs.  There were certainly plenty of those all over Turkey.  And as rugs, they seem a bit much to me.

But the boots?  The boots sucked me in.

They’re not my usual style at all.  But they did remind me a bit of the Tatar boots seen way back here at the MFA in Boston for their Walk This Way exhibition.

And up close some of them are really gorgeous.  Here are a few examples (each helpfully linked to its for-sale page if you find yourself inclined in a purchasing direction).  All of them are for sale right now for about $145.

 

That last pair is probably my fave.  There’s a huge variety of these shoes for sale all throughout Turkey, and all right, so they’re not exactly a neutral basic, but just imagine how amazing they’d look with a basic black turtleneck/skirt outfit.

Maybe all the Turkish delights have gone to my brain.  Am I nuts, dear readers?  Are these the height of fug?  Or a quirky, fun statement-piece shoe?