Most of the weird shoe fashions, like flipper shoes or heel-less boots, never see the light of day, especially on-campus and in the lives of busy students. In fact, most students are seen in flip flops and sneakers. However, there are a few students that manage to keep up with the latest odd shoe trends.
Rachel Jensen, a business senior, says that the latest heel-less boot that Victoria Beckham wears has caught her eye.
“I would like to try the boots on to see how you would walk in them, and to see how hard it is to get used to not having that heel,” Jensen says.
The heel-less, thigh-high, black boots designed by Antonio Berardi put the pressure of walking on the front of the foot only.
This leaves the foot heel raised in the air and covered by the skintight fabric, with no actual heel support. Foot and back problems are almost guaranteed with this fashion.
“Victoria seems to be able to do anything with fashion and is able to pull it off, but I want to know how comfortable she is in all of that crazy fashion,” Jensen says.
However, comfort may not be the highlight in most odd shoe fashions or high-style shoes in general.
Two shoes designed by Annejet Kosters, a German shoe designer, have no front, according to www.trendhunter.com. That’s right. No protection for the front of the foot. And high heels to go with it. If anyone decides to wear this shoe, they may need to go to the doctor after a few hours of wearing it as well.
All of Kosters’ peculiar shoe designs are experimental and they can be found on the Web site www.annejetkosters.com.
Flipper shoes, known officially as high tide heels, are another unusual shoe fashion that probably has no real use. The high-heeled shoes have a flipper for the front. They are ultimately a glorified flipper, probably made for sexy scuba divers and Victoria Beckham.
The high heel flipper shoes were made by Australian designer Lisa Carney and can be found on www.lisacarneydesign.com. Another version of the high-heeled flippers made an appearance on the runway by designer Jean Paul Gaultier.
Not all odd shoes are useless, and some can be extremely helpful, especially during stormy weather.
Shuella, the shoe umbrella, is a shoe designed by Rebecca Miller to cover ordinary shoes, such as ruined-by-rain suede heels, in the hopes of keeping the rain and other weather out. Thus, Shuella keeps an ordinary pair of shoes nice and clean instead of muddy and wet.
Shoes covered with spikes, or spike shoes, may also be useful for self defense. These shoes are featured on Lipstick Life, a fashion blog.
Although the shoe name was not mentioned on the blog, Victoria Beckham has been seen sporting a similar, but not so extreme, type of shoe.
Beckham’s Rodarte spiky heels were designed by Christian Louboutin and can be found on the Web site www.christiablouboutin.com for a high price.
Other strange shoe fashions include the gladiator style sandals. Erin Browner, a journalism freshman and president of the fashion journalism club, says she loves the style but “the intense ‘everyday gladiator’ sandals are a little bit too masculine for my taste.”
Traditional gladiator sandals include flats with straps and buckles, either up to the ankle or knee-high. However, the more girly gladiator sandals can be found in heels and with different colors and patterns.
Crocs, a familiar and admittedly unsightly shoe brand, are known for their comfort. However, Crocs’ Cyprus shoe is the newest cozy high heel. Say hello to the new ugly in fashion or pray this stays indoors.
Reach the reporter at reweaver@asu.edu.
