Medievalists Wore Prada

Looking through my photos, I found an inordinate number of shots of men’s shoes! Odd, eh? Unless you’re a shoe salesman. However, when Mary and I landed at Heathrow for a long layover, our flight from L.A. being hours late in leaving, we had nothing better to do than walk around (with our heavy backpacks) and look at the shop windows.

Note: At least Heathrow has shops, lots of them. L.A.’s Bradley International terminal is the dullest place you’d ever want to be delayed for four hours – or, as happened to the boys from Scotland, nine hours! There’s nothing to see, nothing to buy, nothing to eat, nothing, period.

Prada’s windows looked elegant. I took pix and we went inside to see up close these wonders for the richly heeled. It wasn’t hard to notice an oddity – the toes seemed at least an inch or more too long for whatever foot would enter that shoe. But, oh, the leather was elegant, the soles thin as paper, the saleslady indulgent of us.

Later, as we sat watching the crowds and resting our packs on the floor, I was startled to see picture number two repeated many times! Look! The toes are so long they curl up, almost as extreme as in medieval paintings where the man’s shoe is so long that the toe has to be tied up to the knee with ribbons.

Honestly, we were astonished that men would wear such silly looking shoes. At Notre Dame the next day, we met several Italian boys, students, and asked them if it was the fashion in Italy. They laughed and denied it. They, of course, wore the European version of Nikes.

As we went around France, however, we saw that long toes were definitely in, especially for those who looked like businessmen or maybe lawyers.

Note the gladiator sandal. Then note the number of women’s shoes in the same style 2000 years later, both the heeled and flat versions.

The athletic shoes for men are much more stylish than our “pillow” shoes, though the thin soles must be harder on the feet, I reckon, if you’re walking miles over cobblestones. The term “Pillow shoe” comes from a book about a mass murderer in Florence, Italy. The author and his co-author friend sat at the outdoor café identifying as Americans everyone who sported a thick, soft-soled, puffy-top, huge pillowy shoe (L.A. Gear, Reebok, Nike, Sketchers, you name it).

Look at the variety of athletic shoes available in all colors! The young men wear them in vibrant pinks, reds, blues, greens, yellows. Lots more color than in the U.S. While we’re at it, I’m including a picture of men’s shirts – color here, too. And laces for dress shoes in neon-brights.

The women of Paris are being courted to buy ruffles – dresses, blouses all ruffled up, down, and around. Outside of Paris, not so much, and in Germany, not at all. So if you want ruffles, you can have them or not.

As fun as it was to look in the shop windows, the prices are horrible, especially with the weak dollar. Prices are nicely printed on cards below the display. As a Ross and Marshall's shopper, I have a low idea of what things should cost. Want to guess what European prices are like? Multiply by three or five or more, whatever your latest purchase was.

To recover, buy a hot chocolate or milk at the nearby cafe, sit at an outdoor table, and enjoy watching the crowds pass by for hours. No waiter will shoo you away.