Shoes scale new heights
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A DESIGNER known as Romania's "shoe architect" has come out with a new pair of sandals that increase a woman's height by 31 centimeters.
The new shoes are being compared to skyscrapers because of their towering heels. But the price also may have something to do with it. In a nation, where the average monthly salary is 450 euros (US$575), the hand-crafted sandals are selling for up to 1,200 eruos.
"Heels have an advantage because (many women) don't have long legs," said Mihai Albu, who's had a 20-year love affair making stilettos. "They reposition the waist," he said in his Bucharest studio. High heels have become fashionable, but Albu's are at least twice the height of ones that international designers have been using.
Albu, a former architect, blends math, architecture and art in his creations, which are more foot sculpture than regular footwear.
He uses French leather and encrusts it with jewels, feathers, mirrors, and taps into Romanian women's perennial love affair with high heels.
Despite the price, Albu says he has received dozens of orders for his new sandals from Romania's well-heeled.
"I am creating a constructed chaos," he said, describing his extravagant sandals in architectural terms. In addition to their height, his footwear features special effects and its appearance varies, depending on the angle. There is the sandal with an emerald heel topped by a skull mask and peacock feathers.
His latest creation, the 31cm heel sandal, is a construction of three black wedge sandals. It blends high-tech architecture with design and only comes in small sizes. "If a woman is 175 centimeters (tall), she'd be towering above everyone if she wore these," he said.
The new shoes are being compared to skyscrapers because of their towering heels. But the price also may have something to do with it. In a nation, where the average monthly salary is 450 euros (US$575), the hand-crafted sandals are selling for up to 1,200 eruos.
"Heels have an advantage because (many women) don't have long legs," said Mihai Albu, who's had a 20-year love affair making stilettos. "They reposition the waist," he said in his Bucharest studio. High heels have become fashionable, but Albu's are at least twice the height of ones that international designers have been using.
Albu, a former architect, blends math, architecture and art in his creations, which are more foot sculpture than regular footwear.
He uses French leather and encrusts it with jewels, feathers, mirrors, and taps into Romanian women's perennial love affair with high heels.
Despite the price, Albu says he has received dozens of orders for his new sandals from Romania's well-heeled.
"I am creating a constructed chaos," he said, describing his extravagant sandals in architectural terms. In addition to their height, his footwear features special effects and its appearance varies, depending on the angle. There is the sandal with an emerald heel topped by a skull mask and peacock feathers.
His latest creation, the 31cm heel sandal, is a construction of three black wedge sandals. It blends high-tech architecture with design and only comes in small sizes. "If a woman is 175 centimeters (tall), she'd be towering above everyone if she wore these," he said.
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