Mrs Boswell, your shoes are ready
A local store (Mark’s Shoe Room in Edmond, if you’re interested) has been featuring this shoe in its newspaper ads this week, which prompted me to look it up.
This is Violet by Corso Como, an oxford with a three-inch wooden heel and a cutout for your presumably impeccably-varnished big toe. I’ve never quite understood the idea of an open-toed oxford: it’s just enough frivolity to upset the whole Very Serious style of the shoe. I admit, this could be my own personal history talking: I remember a seventh-grade teacher who was fond of oxfords, and I can’t for the life of me imagine her wanting something with a peep-toe. (Then again, the next year, there was another teacher whose preference ran to simple flats that she could step out of at a moment’s notice. I am nothing if not the child of my influences.)
“Violet,” you should know, is not available in violet: besides this mustard color, there are chocolate and black variants. And all of them, apparently, are green:
Ever open a shoebox and find a pamphlet outlining the company’s commitment to the environment and fair labor practices? Neither did we, until we got our Corso Como platforms. Hand-assembled in Brazil (by fairly paid workers in a safe, healthy workplace), the shoes are free of artificial coatings and use leathers that have been treated only with natural vegetable dyes. Boxes are made with recyclable paper — saving around 2,000 trees per year — and a portion of every sale goes to women’s and children’s charities.
This shoe runs about $175; Mark’s is presently having an Anniversary Sale, where everything is 20 to 50 percent off. If you’re not near Edmond, Piperlime has “Violet” for $119.99.
Kay Dennison »
30 November 2008 · 3:18 pm
LOL In your dreams, Chaz! I’d be 6’1″ in those! AND I couldn’t walk in them with out breaking or spraining my ankle. LOL Is medical insurance included in the price?
CGHill »
30 November 2008 · 3:41 pm
Whatever my dreams may be, they tend not to include yellow oxfords.
fillyjonk »
30 November 2008 · 3:49 pm
Yeah. I hope I never have a need or desire for mustard colored shoes. Especially ones like those.
Tatyana »
30 November 2008 · 5:59 pm
ts-ts-ts. people, there is nothing mustardy about this color! On the contrary, it’s obviously more of a yellow-orange rather than yellow-green (which is the mustard-Shrek-avocado-lime colorway).
Re: the shoe itself – I think I might have mentioned here, couple of times, my disapproval of peep-holes. So NOT sexy.
CGHill »
30 November 2008 · 6:04 pm
It wasn’t my idea to call it Mustard, I assure you. (See the Piperlime link.)
Tatyana »
30 November 2008 · 6:11 pm
you’re right! one more reason not to buy @that site.
About the footwear on one’s teachers: I had a history teacher, in 8th grade, that i hold as my personal model of style; 25 years later I saw in Lord&T English designer patent-leather black shoes that were almost (but almost, alas) the shoes she owned – naturally, I had to buy them! Despite the $170 price tag.
Lynn »
1 December 2008 · 9:14 am
It’s sort of interesting that shoes I wouldn’t pay fifty cents for usually cost well over $100.