Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers
At last a work that deals not only with the history of footwear, but also with its cultural significance. This volume helps transform the shoe from a mundane object of everyday use into something of great social and psychological power. MANOLO BLAHNIK Anyone who has ever spent the rent on a pair of impossibly high stilettos, has bought shoes that don't fit, or owns shoes they have never worn, will want to get their hands on this beautiful coffee-table tome. The Times Magazine All of them [the contributors] are engagingly passionate about their particular footwear niche. ... Erotic Connections are everywhere in this book. ... Hardly a stone is left unturned - or unillustrated - in this department. The Times 'Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers' is footwear for thought. This lavishly illustrated collection of essays presents a global history of the humble (and not so humble) shoe as a symbol of style, status, sexuality and desire, from ancient times to the present day. The Remix - supplement to the New York Times An exceptionally beautiful and wide-ranging history of footwear. The Observer [Shoes] is lavishly ... illustrated, and the pages of text are colour-coordinated with the pics, as good accessories should be. The Evening Standard Charting their history, 'Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers, takes a peak at some of the best. Stilettos, wellies, sneakers and boots - they're all included and put in their cultural, historical, political and social contexts, each foot fashion is explained in detail alongside beautifully executed illustrations and photographs. Dazed and Confused With hundreds of stunning photographs, Shoes: A History from Sandals to Sneakers traces the importance of just about every kind of footwear to reveal how fashion has changed over the years. Zoom Fashion Portal [The work] exemplifies the capacity to integrate historical enquiry, empirical investigation, hermeneutical theorizing, and a sense of delight in scholarship Cultural Sociology If you have ever wondered why women are forever in search of, consumed by, in love with, transformed by 'The Perfect Shoe': wonder no longer. Simply read this history of shoes. Then go out and buy some more. STUART WEITZMAN ... moves the shoe definitively from the margins of 'accessory' to the centre of fashion. Long gone are the days of 'having the shoes to match the bag'; this coherent survey of the shoe in all its aspects - historical, cultural and global - reveals footwear as a key to the vicissitudes of fashion and iconic in itself. ELIZABETH WILSON The book tells not only of the history of the shoe industry, but also its cultural significance. 210 colour illustrations and expert authors make this a "coffee table book" of the highest calibre. BuchMarkt