[I'm still sort of bewildered by the fact that I turned an internship at a newspaper run by a then-anti-fashion Editor-in-Chief into a job where I get to write about fashion every day. Nice move, me. The only thing that could be better than that would be to work for a newspaper that only covered shoes. So for this week, I'm going to count down the four most significant shoes I blogged about in 2011. Not necessarily the best mind you (that's a different list), but the ones that served as indicators for important events and changes on Portland's shoe landscape. As a bonus, I'll add a new favorite to each related category for us to consider moving into the new year.]
Undoubtedly, the biggest influence on shoes in Portland over the past year has been Solestruck. They opened a flashy new spaceship-looking shop in the Blackbox building and began taking the city by storm, throwing and showing at events, and getting everyone super excited about really tall, really flashy shoes. That's great! Portland has long needed a source for more experimental shoe designs. I always bemoaned the fact that (well, when Saks was still around) Saks always bought conservatively for the Portland market. I felt like we were being underestimated and stereotyped by shoe providers, and Solestruck has kinda proven me right—girls around town have taken like ducks to water for Solestruck's extreme shapes.
My big hope for Solestruck in 2012, though, is that they'll shake out some new lines that aren't made in goddamn China. They are, however, shaping up an excellent vintage selection, and they do carry Rachel Comey's shoes, whose vetted production in her native Peru passes muster with my scolding attitudes. This pair, by Finsk, which they tweeted and I posted on June 24, is impressively radical even for them:
My new favorite is after the cut.