I Love the 70's (and late 60's): Shoe Edition

I love looking at vintage clothing not only because vintage is just, like, way cuter and more interesting to look at than modern stuff, but because (as corny as it sounds), vintage clothing tells a story. Because clothing and everything else wasn't just mass-produced in some far-off factory in those days, and trends didn't change with lightning speed, and everything was made with far more care and far better materials, vintage clothing reflects not only a high quality of workmanship but a window into a time and place, whether it was a pair of sky-high platforms made for doing the hustle at Studio 54 or much-mended feedsack dress altered to fit changing styles during the Depression. (That's right, people used to mend things. And unlike that acrylic sweater sack you just bought at H&M, they weren't supposed to sprout holes upon first wearing.)

So here are some vintage shoes!Okay, these shoes I am thinking about buying because I was convinced they were an exact copy of the shoes David Bowie is wearing in this post (the only Rip It To Shreds post, by the way, with the coveted "drunken ramblings" tag), but, on closer inspection, they really are not all that similar. I mean, they are similar, but there's nothing eerie about the resemblance. But no matter. These 70's thigh high boots, which are a size 4 so they would fit me but no one else, are still the epitome of all that is glam rock and what I wanted to wear at a tender young age when I thought I dressed glam rock all the time even though really I was just wearing lots of rhinestone bracelets and Steve Madden platforms. If I had had shoes like these, I could have stomped to school like a little, authentic glitter drag queen. Except we all know glam rockers don't stomp, they do fey little leaps.


Sadly, these 70's suede platforms are not my size. If they were I would buy them. Once, in this blog, I associated the 70's with the words "clunky psychedelic earthiness", and all those words definitely reflect in these babies. They remind me quite a bit of one of my favorite 70's artists (ALSO mentioned in this blog before), Peter Max, who kind of epitomized that art nouveau meets psychedelia thing that was so prevalent in the 60's and 70's, and later went on to make a lot of fugly 80's art, characterized by overly large canvases and bright colors. Anyway, the best image I could find was this one, which is not so amazing but i guess had something to do with Woodstock? Hey, what didn't in the 60's? Am I right?


Also, in the late 60's Peter Max had a line of sneakers that Marc Jacobs did some chintzy rip-offs when he was more inspired. Check out these original Peter Max sneakers, though- so cool! As previously mentioned again, his star print sheets (I also have a scarf) are some of my prized possessions.



And these are just insane:

Bizarre 70's bandanna print platforms. Kind of disco, kind of picnic in the park, 100% meant to be worn with hot pants.