Documentary Shedding Light on Why Women Love Shoes

A while ago I watched a documentary titled "God Save My Shoes" and I loved it so much I watched it again the night after. I don't know why it's taken me this long to write about it, it's a great documentary and very informational. 

Photo Credit: http://www.cinematoria.com

“God Save My Shoes,” a documentary by Julie Benasra, illustrates the connections between women and high heels. It explores and reveals the intimate and passionate relationship women can form with their high heels and why they feel that way. According to Fran Lidz, the documentary “takes a soft look at the psychological, soci-cultural and erotic power of vertiginous footwear” (Lidz). The documentary sheds light on the main question, “Why are shoes the most addictive item in a women’s closet? Why are women so intrigued?” For me, I love high heels I think they are a quick and easy way to transform any outfit into something glamorous and wonderful. They can boost my confidence and make me feel amazing and more confident than just trotting around in flats. Don’t get me wrong, I love flats (I love shoes in general), I just love all of my heels and more. Like some women in the documentary, I love to look at my shoes, put them on display in a way. I may not wear some more than once or a few times a year, but nevertheless I own them and I like showing them off to people.  In Lidz’s article it’s written that, ““High heels have a high transformational quotient,” Valerie Steele, curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, said by phone. “Try on a bathing suit in a boutique, and the unforgiving dressing room mirror reflects your same old self, exposing all your flaws. But try on a shoe, and your foot slips into a whole new identity”” (Lidz). I completely agree with this, many times I try on clothing in a store and it can completely ruin my mood if I have a bad fit experience, or something I envisioned goes awry and my ideal outfit can’t happen. However, when I try on heels, the possibilities are endless, the ideas flow and I have hope for potential outfits that would work or wear I could wear them. Personally, I am not always a huge fan of trying on things, but when I walk past the shoe section, something always catches my eye. In the words of Carrie from “Sex and the City,” “I like my money right where I can see it…hanging in my closet.” Someday I hope to create a pair of heels or a dress, or something that can make a woman somewhere feel absolutely amazing and confident and beautiful. That’s why I want to be a designer, that’s what this documentary made me feel, I want to make women feel beautiful and know that they can look fabulous and gorgeous and it’s not hard and doesn’t take any fussing and barely any effort. Beauty from within, and for me, shoes kind of help me feel that way. When I know I’m wearing the right shoes for the day, I feel like I can conquer the world. I highly recommend this documentary for anyone interested in learning some fun facts, listening to interviews with designers (even Christian Louboutin) and seeing different inputs from a wide variety of people about why women love high heels.

Works Cited 

Lidz, Fran. "Funny, You Don’t Look Fetish ‘God Save My Shoes,’ a Documentary About High Heels." The New

York Times: Movies. N.p., 23 Mar 2012. Web. 6 Jun 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/movies/god-save-my-shoes-a-documentary-about-high-heels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

Just An Update

I just wanted to write a short post on some future posts. For starters I will be posting interviews, such as from other students in apparel design from my year. Also, I have been talking to one of my friends about collaborating with her and having a few "How-To" segments for hairstyles, eye makeup tutorials, or really cool nail design demos. She is brilliant and I hope to hear from her soon. Also, if anyone receives the Rachel Zoe emails daily, I want to do something sort of similar, only maybe post once a week on one item I feel is absolutely amazing, whether it be shoes, earrings, a dress, etc. 

Me on the morning of the Purdue spring fashion show (April 6th, 2013).

Stay tuned, I am hoping to be able to post a lot more than I have been doing and I have some great ideas to keep things interesting and fresh.

Simple and Sweet or Daring Diva: You Create Your Dream Shoes

At some point every girl imagines a wonderful pair of shoes they would love to own. Whether they're a tomboy thinking of the perfect pair of sneakers, an athlete wanting an amazing set of cleats, or an avid vintage girl wanting to rock the perfect pair of oxfords. Shoes can have an effect on people, they can change your mood and how you feel about yourself. I know whenever I'm really stressed or stuck and need inspiration I'll go on the web and search for crazy and unique Louboutins. It's just what I do.



For a while I've been using a website to design my own shoes, and using the creations as inspiration for outfits I then sketch, or the other way where my sketches fuel my ideas behind the shoes. The website is called "Shoes of Prey" and they have a wide variety of options to pick from to create your dream shoes. You can make flats, sandals, ankle boots, wedge heels, flat oxfords, and various options for heels in general.
The process is simple. First, you pick what type of shoe you want to make, for example I can choose high heel and then it takes you to what I call the "Creation Station" where you can alter the heels in many ways. You can change the toe (some options include small peep-toe, covered peep-toe, and brogue toe), the back of the heel (brogue, sling, cut-away), the type of heel (stiletto, square, wedge or even two-toned wedge), ad lastly you can add decorations to your shoes (bows or flowers to either the back or the toe, Mary Jane, trim). Then you get a side bar to pick the fabrics you want for your design (they boost having over 170 options). The fabric options are amazing, you can pick from dozens of different shades and kinds, they even have vegan. Within the different types (cotton, soft leather, suede, snake skin, etc.) they have a variety of colors, which is amazing. On top of all of these, once you choose one fabric they provide you with recommendations that either matches, contrasts, or are neutrals that go with the choice you selected.



Overall, I love this site, and you can pin your creations to Pinterest or upload them to other websites, etc. It's a great way to put your ideas on paper in a way. The shoes have free shipping and can be returned within 365 days, they'll either remake them for you or offer a full refund. I have yet to actually pay for one of my designs to be created, not just because of the price, but because I honestly don't know which ones I would want to be created. 

Here are two pictures, the one on the left is the physical shoe made and the one on the right is what it looks like on the website (like the others above).

All of these pictures are designed by me, they aren't all of my creations but just a handful. Hope you enjoy them and are inspired to go and design some yourself!!

Inspirational People #3

After some thought, I decide my inspirational person most recently has been Lana Del Rey, the singer. This past semester at college I listened to her music almost every day. Her voice is soothing but powerful. I also love her music videos, they've inspired multiple pages in my sketch book and I would often listen to her songs during art class when working on projects.

Now for a little more information about the sultry American singer: First off, she was born Elizabeth Woolridge Grant on June 21st, 1986. Besides going by Lana Del Rey, she is also known by her other stage names such as Lana Del Rey Mar, Lizzy Grant, May Jailer, and Sparkle Jump Rope Queen. She’s a New York native that brings references from pop culture, other singers, a few being Elvis, Janis Joplin, and Eminem, as well as looking to poetry and film noir for inspiration. On top of theses her songs and music videos bring a sense of the 1950s and 1960s Americana feel. While her music career had a bumpy start and she often changed her stage names with each new attempt, she found a different road to go down before her first major CD. At age 20 she had moved to a trailer outside of NYC, and after her record was shelved, she turned her focus around and started focusing on community outreach and helping others. In 2012 Lana Del Ray told Vogue, “Homeless outreach, drug, and alcohol rehabilitation—that's been my life for the past five years” (Sowray). Later, in October 2011, she changed her name again to Lana Del Rey and signed a joint record deal with Interscope Records and Polydor (Sowray). However it wasn’t until January 2012 that her debut album, “Born To Die,” was released and it charted at number one on the UK Album Chart (Sowray). Since then she’s released another album, several music videos, and managed to win quite a number of awards beating out other top musical artists in the process. She’s even on the track for the movie “The Great Gatsby.”

Lana Del Rey. http://www.lanadelrey.com/gallery

One reason I look to Lana Del Rey for inspiration is her looks, which are unusual but in a great way. She looks classic but futuristic and when paired with her voice everything just flows together and makes the whole package even better. On choosing her name she explained to Vogue, “I wanted a name I could shape the music toward. I was going to Miami quite a lot at the time, speaking a lot of Spanish with my friends from Cuba- Lana Del Rey reminded us of the glamour of the seaside. It sounded gorgeous coming off the tip of the tongue" (Sowray).

So, for many reasons Lana Del Rey is a wonderful inspirational person, and I picked her because her music and the videos she creates for them make people feel and experience the words of her songs. I urge you to listen to her music or look up even more information about her if she intrigues you.

Works Cited

Sowray, Bibby. "Who's Who Lana Del Rey." Vogue. 10 February 2012. Web. <http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/lana-del-rey>.

Dresses for Days and Days

With this lovely weather all I seem to want to wear is dresses. And, surprisingly, I own a lot of dresses. They are all different and have their own personalities  allowing me to pick one that fits my mood for the day I want to wear one of them. However, not all of my dresses work for this warm weather, some have darker and heavier fabrics that would only make me sweat and weigh me down. I want to wear lovely flowly short dresses that let me move and stay cool in the coming summer heat.

A lot of my dresses have patterns, I only have a few that are solid colors. I have a nice bright red dress for fancy occasions and a magenta/purple peplum dress from H&M that is also for nicer occasions than just running errands or working. Another solid color dress I have is actually 2 colors; the skirt is solid black with relaxed pleats and a creamy white sleeveless top. Besides these dresses the rest of mine are full of patterns and colors!
My favorites include a cream colored sleeveless shift dress with red poppies and blue flowers and some detail in the front with ribbon. Another is cheetah print, spaghetti straps, rouched bodice and a visible zipper down the back. I have a pink and orange with a few other colors, random pattern dress. It's short, spaghetti straps, but then sort of a one shoulder panel going from the bottom of the bodice to the shoulder (It's hard to explain). On top of that, I own a strapless cheetah print, tinted with blues and greens, with a few other designs mixed in. I also own a strapless black bubble skirt dress with a little cross over detail in the front. Every girl should own a little black dress, I actually just found a really cool Calvin Klein black dress. It's loose, sleeveless, V-neck with detail, and has pockets. Calvin Klein, to me, always seems to have really comfortable dresses, they just lay wonderfully on my body and feel great. I have another dress from Calvin Klein, it's blue, sleeveless, with big ruffles at the bottom and the last ruffle is a different shade of blue, almost turquoise. Also, I have my elephant dress I made for the spring fashion show. I've worn it to 2 different interviews and have gotten many compliments. Lastly, a few dresses I've had for a few years and don't wear as often include a cute 50s red with cream colored polka dots and a tie collar, a deep purple dress with big lavender flowers my mom bought me in Hawaii, and a brightly colored floral dress with spaghetti straps.

I know I don't need any new dresses, especially since I just bought one, so I will be working these dresses in different ways to make them all new and unique from the previous ways I have worn them.
I will be posting a piece or two on various dresses and the different ways I wear them, so stay tuned!

Spring Snafus

I was reading some articles about what to wear and what to avoid this Spring and I came across one article that pretty much would destroy my wardrobe.
According to the article you should avoid:

• Drop-waist dresses 
• High-waisted, tapered trousers
• Bermuda shorts 
• Lucite heels
• Overdone florals

However, i say if it works for your body and you like it, then wear it. The points above do not work for everyone, however, in my opinion, they do look lovely on some people and in the right fabric and paired with the right accessories all 5 of these options could be pulled off wonderfully. Fit is the key factor here, if it doesn't fit then don't wear it.

Let me expand on the points from above. With the movie, The Great Gatsby, out I am sure a lot of women will be looking for a great drop-waist dress. Also, to me, high-waisted, tapered trousers are very feminine and since they are fitted, can look very pleasing to the eye. Next, Bermuda shorts. Sure they aren't high fashion, but they are comfortable and practical for a lot of women. As for Lucite heels, they can either be really classy or the exact opposite of classy. Lastly, overdone florals, I do slightly agree that florals can be overdone. However, if you find a balance with your floral prints, I think that they wouldn't be overwhelming and could work.

To me, it really just comes down to what makes you happy and if it fits. Also, none of these above are really mind blowing for the spring season. These are used year after year, some for multiple seasons throughout the year. I think everyone should take one of these points from the list of "Trends to Avoid" and make them work not only for you individually, but make them different from what people are used to expecting when they think of Spring. You can do it!