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.