:: SHOWstudio - Shelf Appeal ::

David Elkouby understands the burning, irrational desire red shoes inspire. For it was he who in 2000 paid a staggering $666,000 for a pair of fourth-hand, sixty-one-year-old red court shoes. The fact they had no particular fashion distinction and that he had no intention of wearing them did nothing to dampen his ardour; these were no ordinary shoes. These were The Ruby Slippers.

Red shoes occupy an emotive place in cinematic history, from the protective force ensuring Dorothy's safe passage home to Kansas to the runaway shoes that danced Moira Shearer to death in Powell & Pressburger's version of the Hans Christian Andersen fable. To the contemporary fashion audience, red shoes are no less evocative; loaded with sexual allusion - Sandy Bunz's porn classic 'Red Shoes' notwithstanding. They constitute a footwear category all of their own and present a specific sartorial dilemma to those women who prefer walking home free from salacious business propositions. At a stretch, red shoes can look cute, but only when every attempt is made by the wearer to work 'against' their sexuality, dressing them down with prissy tweed or workaday denim to clean up their bad reputation.

All the more reason, then, that Viktor & Rolf's succession of vermilion heels parading down their Spring/Summer '04 catwalk was such an achievement. Neither tarty nor kooky, these red shoes combined elegance with a Judy Garlandesque sweetness that counter-balanced the collection's slightly masculine tailoring. In a week of Paris shows awash with neon fur and tawdry bondage referencing, Viktor & Rolf's red shoes -worn with every outfit from pink shorts and Resistance macs to dramatic trouser dresses- gave the girls that increasingly rare but often-sought appearance: they looked ladylike.

The real stars were the glitter-encrusted 'shimmer stilletos', on which every detail is just so. With a vertiginous, almost 's'-shaped heel that snakes up the back of the ankle to compliment the calf and the platform sole that curves and disappears under the ball of the foot to exaggerate the wearer's wiggle when they walk, they a joy to behold. Where the molten red, toffee-apple glitter threatens to cross over into Christmas party territory, the softest matte leather knot restores the necessary balance to put these shoes on every sophisticate's wish list this season. If you are lucky enough to lay hands on a pair, take Glinda's advice to Dorothy very, very seriously: 'keep tight inside them, their magic must b e very powerful, or else she wouldn't want them so badly'.

Text by Penny Martin

Shelf Appeal archive
15.12.04: Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf
20.10.04: Blouse Bag by Ann-Sofie Back
30.09.04: Contact Lenses by Christian Dior
07.09.04: BMX by Y-3
25.08.04: Helmet by Stephen Jones for GIBO by Julie Verhoeven
05.08.04: Suitcase by Bottega Veneta
21.07.04: Sequinned Knickers by Alexander McQueen
08.07.04: Tennis Court Pump by Chanel
18.06.04: Parasol by Eley Kishimoto
14.05.04: Toolkit by Prada
07.05.04: Feather Headband by Miu Miu
26.04.04: Measuring Tape Belt by Tatty Devine
08.04.04: Easter Bunny Biscuits by Fortnum & Mason
31.03.04: Teapot by Vivienne Westwood for Coalport
24.03.04: Hair Brush by BLESS
12.03.04: Canderel Dispenser by Lagerfeld Gallery
04.03.04: Volleyball by Y-3
26.02.04: Bracelet by YSL
16.02.04: Lace Mask by Lanvin
04.02.04: Necklace by Marni
26.01.04: Straw Hat by Yohji Yamamoto
16.01.04: Edo Bells by Martin Margiela
19.12.03: Shimmering Stilettos by Viktor & Rolf

With thanks to Jane Audas