Shoes blurt things about you, and they talk to me.
People watching is something I spent hours doing. I always tried to guess people’s lives by the way they look. Here is What Shoes Can Say, a series I curated where I’d snap shoes pictures and create back stories about them.
@whatshoescansay
@whatshoescansay
“You are the ones”, she thought aloud this AM, choosing these combat boots in some sort of what sounded like a pep talk. She’s trying to recover - thanks to the precious help of her therapist, from the end of her 15-year marriage. Only one of dozens of lost battles - she moans - that has been having her ruminate on whether today at the court will end up differently. Is the jury ever gonna grant her custody of Sushi, her grey old Siamese? You can tell by her shoes.
When the winter’s biting winds swoop in and whisper in her ears: “Put on your Uggs. Just do it”, she just won’t ever defy the orders. Why would she? Why would she choose not to bring herself much pleasure and bliss dragging herself her way through the world? Her worn-out brown suede Ugg boots exude all the confidence she has effortlessly built during the past 2 years in New York City where anyone would not ever dream of judging one’s personal footwear choices.
She now lives in Milan. Where she’s blatantly kept the confident mindset of the Big Apple.
She now lives in Milan. Where she’s blatantly kept the confident mindset of the Big Apple.
Someone once told her “when you really want something, you must go get it”. The same someone was positive enough she would not take it literally. However, she did. She did start stealing. She collected such an infinite list of stolen items that one must wonder how is that even possible on Earth she’s never been caught? Is she gifted with invisibility power, some wonder? The key has to be found in those velvet green slippers that not only facilitate her dynamic stride and make her go unnoticed through the supermarket departments, but also help her silently sneak out of the rooms of her secret lovers. Hearts… just another item she’s been uneffortlessly stealing.
CDOs, VaR, delta hedging. Another day manipulating invisible forces and dealing with abstractions had brought him closer to a profound disconnection from the tangible world. Luckily, on the very day he was about to become a number himself, someone on the train mentioned the concept of “grounding” — an ancient practice believed to restore balance by absorbing the Earth’s natural energy. Since then, he’s started carrying himself around in Vibram FiveFingers — the only pair of shoes that could offer him the one real feeling of the day: the sensation of his feet, barefoot, in contact with concrete.
She was bullied as a child. It must have been because of her vampire-ish fangs that her classmates have started spreading false myths about her drinking human blood, shape-shifting into a bat, and not being able to see herself in the mirror. Still because of her vampire-ish fangs, people would start being afraid of her, and feeling kind of in danger when she was around. Psychological violence, you know. So one day, after she woke up - because, yes, she sleeps - she decided she wanted to make people feel in danger. Once and for all. Since then, not a day has gone by that she hasn’t worn neon green, well known for being associated with warning and danger. Good move, Bella.
Five. The number of moves she had to manage over the last 2 years, and it’s all because of her feline attitude. She can’t help flirting with any men living next door, until the same old story repeats: one more not-so-subliminal message and she will get a formal complaint. Here she is once again, preparing her next move, in the hope that in her new neighborhood she will be spared from the weight of her nickname since high school: Marty McFlirt. What’s the red flag you should notice? When she steps on your welcoming mat, look down. She’ll be wearing leopard-printed shoes.