Swimming Shoes

 Recently we were lucky enough to visit the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.  Their current
  exhibit is wonderfully titled "The Roaring Twenties: Heels, Hemlines and High Spirits"

It featured beautiful flapper dresses, bejeweled heels and interesting stories from that era.
One interesting style of shoe that really stood out was this "Swimming Shoe"

Swimming shoes, made by Philips
English, late 1920s 
The 1920s saw increasing numbers of women participating and excelling at sports. The sporting accomplishments of women, such as Suzanne Lenglen’s stunning tennis game and Gertrude Ederle’s record breaking swim across the English Channel were celebrated and inspired many women to take up a sport. Each sport required its own specialized footwear including swimming. This pair of red rubber, “silver wing” bathing shoes would have been worn by a swimmer in pursuit of both fashion and fun at the end of the 20s. 
Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum
Photo credit: 2011 Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada.

Our own photo

What a stylish way to go swimming.... they even have wings!  This style would not look out of place in current times as a street shoe, wings and all.

The Roaring twenties exhibit is on until June 2012, I'll post more pictures soon.
http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/exhibitions/roaring20s/index.shtml

Vintage Peter Fox Shoes

These fanciful shoes are circa 1995 and were inspired by stained glass windows.  They are made of Italian silk and feature a 1940's style heel.

Bela Borsodi

I've talked about Bela Borsodi before on The Vine but I recently was reminded of his work and decided to check out his site.

As usual his work in the area of Advertising is peppered with humour. His recent ads for Selfridges are so clever; I'm constantly intrigued by his work.

Using humour in advertising is quite common and I think it lends itself well to this type of product given the usual product shots are static. Women like to know their shoes and handbags form part of their life and personality and these shots start that conversation.

What also fascinates me is Borsodi's comments on society and in particular this image 'Fashion Victim'.

Such an interesting concept of contemporary photography, it's really fascinating. Check out more of his work here.

All images courtesy of http://www.belaborsodi.com/