Outrageous footwear goes back a lot further than Carrie’s closet in “Sex and the City.” Royals in ancient Egypt, for example, wore sandals of pure gold. But in the past two decades, there’s been an “explosion of creativity in footwear design,” writes Clare Anthony, editor of “Shoegasm” (RacePoint Publishing) a coffee-table book out Tuesday that chronicles the wackiest of the bunch.
Whatever you call them — wearable art or eyesores — they’re still testing the limits of what our soles and stomachs can take.
Anthony highlights some of the oddest of the bunch, the ones that only a true footwear fetishist could love:
The Material Shoe
This gold, pointy-toed platform, created by Israeli shoemaker Kobi Levi, was inspired by the Queen of Pop. The pointed toes are a copy of Madonna’s infamous conical corset that she wore during her 1990 Blond Ambition tour. The heel’s synthetic platinum blond ponytail perfectly matches the Material Girl’s braided tresses. The look — which takes Levi about a month to complete and costs $3,080 — is finished off with a tiny microphone.
Play time
The centerpiece of Parisian designer Naäm Ben’s 2010 “Come Play with Me” collection is the platform shoe called “Toys on Soles.” The platform, encrusted with figurines all purchased from flea markets and garage sales, was inspired by the work of whimsical architect Greg Lynn — and at over $1,000 for the pair, they’re enough to make an adult cry.
The Peacock
This lace-up bootie could poke your eye out! Japanese designer Masaya Kushino iridescent “Peacock” boots are named after a dramatic three-foot long spray of feathers that shoots out the back of an intricately designed golden heel. Kushino’s footwear animals (he’s also made rams and lions) uses real materials from fur and horsehair to bone and antlers. These are not for the faint of heart — or for subways. His shoe works of art run as high as $10,000.
Shoeless shoe
Dutch designer Marloes ten Bhömer has taken “less is more” to ridiculous new heights. The avant-garde designer used four pieces of carbon fiber to make her barely there booties. The vertical heel doesn’t support weight evenly, so “anyone courageous enough to wear a pair has to pay close attention to the way she sets one foot in front of the other,” the book says. Though no price is listed for these shoes, other styles are listed for $2,900 on her website.
Enter the dragon
This award-winning look, originally created in 1979, takes 100 pattern pieces to make. Designer Thea Cadabra stopped making shoes in the mid-1980s and only recently returned to her footwear designs, re-releasing many
of her early favorites like this intricate “Chinese Dragon” pump. “My aim is to create aesthetically pleasing, fun, wearable, pretty shoes with a timeless quality,” she says in the book. Cadabra’s made-to-order shoes run more than $400.