Wednesday 24 August 2011

Musica per i vostri piedi, madame

There are some things in life your Shoeblogger can neither understand nor explain, but just accepts because they seem to work. Jet-propelled aviation, for example. Molecular cooking. Bruno Mars. A Russian shoe company called Paolo Conte.


Now, some of you may be thinking, "Paolo Conte? Isn't he that septuagenarian Genoese balladeer with the comedy mustache and killer horn section who regularly sells out venues like the Royal Albert Hall and jazz festivals in Rotterdam?" Well, that's certainly what I thought. Though as Signor Conte is a qualified lawyer as well as musician, who knows – perhaps he also moonlights as a designer of trendy ladies' footwear.  


Be that as it may, Paolo Conte the Russian shoe company makes some really rather groovy обуви (bad Russian pun.) How about these beautiful mules? They nod vaguely in the direction of Nicholas Ghesquiere's fall collection for Balenciaga last year (Balenciagas below, as seen on obsessedwithshoes)...


...but the PCs definitely soften the look (baby pink soles!) Sticking with our Euro-cultural references and speculation on creative origins, note the perfectly square blue plastic heels: very De Stijl. The kind of 5-inch heel Gerrit Rietveld might have come up with in an idle moment between chairs and UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 


The other standout feature of the PC mule is the lovely, tactile grey felt upper – an upper I like to imagine originating in the doodles of German artist/shaman/pedagogue/felt-lover Joseph Beuys. 


Creation myths aside, these mules make me smile. As the original Paolo Conte would say, "Happy feet, oh, oh I love it..." 

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