Everyone needs Red Shoes

I love shoes. Maybe it comes from my childhood fascination with Cinderella and her glass slipper. My grandmother had glamorous silver threaded shoes that reminded me of the enchanted slipper – silver thread can look like glass when you are six. Plus they had heels.

Kind of like these

Shoes symbolize the decisions we make because they cover our feet, and with our feet we go places. Hopefully we decide on the roads, as Robert Frost put it, more grassy and wanting of wear. And sometimes our decisions displease friends and family. They can make taking the unpopular path more difficult.

The Story of the Red Shoes.

In Hans Christian Andersen’s story, the red shoes tempt young Karen in a way she can not resist. She sees them in a shoemaker's shop window when buying new shoes for her confirmation. The red Morocco leather shoes were made for a princess, but did not fit. Karen’s elderly caregiver did not object to the shoes, but she had poor eyesight so could not see that they were red. As a sensible God-fearing woman, ostentatious red shoes would signify a beginning downward spiral into immorality, leading the vanity-stricken victim on to a path of wantonness.

Karen is captivated by her new red shoes and wears them amidst great scandal to her confirmation. A mysterious soldier sees her in these shoes and says what fine dancing shoes they are. She starts to dance a few steps and soon surrenders to their spell. Unnerved, she puts the shoes back up into the cupboard. From there they beckon relentlessly. As hard as she tries, she cannot stop herself from wearing them again to church the following Sunday.

Once again the same soldier mentions her fine dancing shoes, and she succumbs to their control. Everywhere she tries to dance, the shoes take her in an opposite direction. She cannot stop, and the wicked red shoes dance her right off into the dark woods. She meets an angel who shuns her for allowing herself to be carried away by the overwhelming power of these red shoes.

(I personally take this fairy tale as a warning against vanity - as in, look what happens when the lure of materialism gets the best of you? This would never happen with practical shoes. No, it wouldn't. Everyone wears practical shoes. They’re safe, they’re comfortable. That’s if you want to conform to society and blend in. Don't call attention to yourself. Look what can happen when you do?)

In the end, Karen must have an executioner chop her feet off because there’s no other way to remove her shoes; the shoes go dancing off into the darkness with her feet still inside. After this sacrifice she spends the rest of her life mending her vain ways by going to church and reading the bible. Such was virtue in Andersen’s day almost 150 years ago. This story has some heavy Christian themes, so no wonder it’s not well known.

I understand being bewitched and utterly captivated by shoes. When I put on exceptionally beautiful shoes, I feel dangerous, elegant, and possessed by their beauty. I have no plans of dancing down the path of amoral digression. But they do symbolize forging ahead on one’s own path.

My red shoes are some pink velvet Emma Hope beauties I bought in London years ago. They are so fab – appropriately adorned with silver thread embroidery.

regalia for feet - that's her slogan!

When I wear them I feel like I’m following a more uncharted path into the future on my own two feet. I consider that to be a good thing. And I won’t beg someone with a chainsaw to chop off my legs as a way to force my subservience to social expectations – such remediation is far too extreme for me. I'm talking about staying true to what I am meant to be doing in my life.

My illustration for this post was inspired by imaginary demons who would try to discourage success and independence. Sometimes it feels like every step we take is wrought with pain and stings from the naysayers. These naysayers are represented by the little goblins and thorns who try but cannot stop us in our journeys.

My good friend Jennifer's daughter, a ballerina, graciously offered to model on pointe (a term from dancing that means the dancer is on her tip toes) so I would get the dancer's stance right. The goblins were inspired by the horribly terrifying little creatures in "Don't be Afraid of the Dark." (The original 1970s TV movie was much more frightening - then again, I was just a child when I saw it.)

fairy shoes!

I leave you with some serious red shoes - my ultimate Chie Mihara night-on-the-town sandals. Now these shoes were made for walkin'!

Where will your shoes take you?

special thanks to Marina Vergara, danseuse extraordinaire

all illustrations in this post ©Johanna Westerman, 2016