Manolo in the Fortune Magazine
Manolo says, speaking of the Crocs, the Manolo has been cited in the most recent issue of the Fortune Magazine.
As I obsessed about the sudden proliferation of Crocs, I realized that they are not so much a new category as the latest in a pantheon of ugly shoes that became a fashion phenomenon despite – or maybe because of – their bad looks.
Think Jellies, Earth shoes, Birkenstocks, and most recently Uggs, to name a few. (Remember the Ugg-boot with miniskirt look that swept through New York and L.A. and then everywhere else a few years back? No? Lucky you.)
“There’s a long tradition of the underground alternative ugly shoe thing that is a backlash to $600 Manolo Blahniks,” says David Wolfe, creative director for the Doneger Group, which analyzes fashion trends.
That tradition is a conundrum to those of us who think of shoes as exquisitely crafted, expensive torture devices. At a recent conference in Toronto, I was teetering along in a pair of beautiful three-inch Christian Louboutins, a heavy computer bag over my shoulder, and I have to admit I was eyeing the Crocs in front of me longingly.
But comfort be damned.
I’m with Manolo, of Manolo’s shoe blog (which has no official relationship to Manolo Blahnik), who has consigned both the Ugg and the Croc to his Gallery of Horrors, which he calls a “permanent exhibition of the worst of the shoes.”
Yes, at the moment the Crocs appear to have won the battle, but do not worry, the forces of good shall ultimately prevail!
P.S. Many thanks to the Nancy for alerting the Manolo to this.
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Comments
la petite chou chou 18 years ago
Fantastic article.
Zarba 18 years ago
I’m sure The Manolo is exulting in the shout-out in the famous magazine, but the author should really get with the program…
It’s THE Manolo, and THE Gallery of THE Horrors.
Do these journo-school dropouts not know the correct usage of the English?
The Zarba, he shakes his head in disgust…
CyndiF 18 years ago
As a resident of the Crocs homeland, I thought that I had seen the worst already. That is, until we came across these in Hawaii:
http://shop.crocs.com/pc-18-4-islander.aspx?reqid=18&reqProdTypeId=41p&subsectionname=footwear§ion=products
Crocs morphed with deck shoes: from what diseased brain did these spring? The mind boggles.
mikel 18 years ago
So true! I always see them in the store and always wonder who wears them. Fortunately, I still reside in a quaint, yet progressive, college town which still seems to have a sense of class. I have yet to actually see anyone wearing these abominations.
I was just reading another blog that had a similar sentiment about the now so popular skinny jeans.
http://rainonmytirade.blogspot.com/2006/09/and-fifth-horseman-unleashed-skinny.html
I still consider myself young at 21! but I have to admit that the skinny jeans do make the girls look like they have clown feet.
leiarenee 18 years ago
We have both the Crocs and the mini-skirt-Uggs combos still milling around in the Midwest. Also we have the cheap flip-flops in the totally inappropriate weather, like thunderstorms and snowfalls. It seems poor fashion choices come here to die, and take their sweet time about it.