The Most Awesome Shoes in the Universe

RWA is arriving soon, and with it, a great deal of attention to shoes. Alas, I have learned of The Most Awesome Shoes in the Universe, and there is only one pair. Please meet Rudi, a graduate student studying romance novels, who sent me an email with the subject line, “I made something cool and I wanted to share.”

I've spent the past couple of weeks working on a visual art piece that celebrates my love of romance novels. My work is pair of high heels that have been decoupaged with romance novel covers (both old skool and recent releases). They are entirely functional and I have plans to wear them … pretty much everywhere .

Essentially, they were for an assignment and will be in a small exhibition/showing that was organised by my tutorial tomorrow night (part of the assignment criteria included distributing the work) but I'd actually rather share them with romance readers because I know they'd have a deeper appreciation for them.

And did I mention the title of the work? I've called them “The Sole of a Romantic”. I live for puns, especially in regards to assignments.

They were technically for a writing class but the brief was deliberately vague and open ended because really, what is writing? Well, in my case writing is decoupaging a pair of high heels in romance novel covers.

Here is Rudi's Artistic Statement:

“The Sole of a Romantic” is a mixed media work that explores the tie between the image and text for romance novels, while celebrating my love of the romance genre as a reader.

Often when people find out that I read romance novels they tell me I “don’t seem the type” by which they mean I seem too smart/cynical/young/anti-cats to be a romance reader. Apparently reading choice is just as much a performance as any other aspect of identity, so with that in mind I decided I needed to perform my romance reading much more overtly. (Emphasis Sarah's) It was no longer enough to simply read, discuss and enjoy romance novels. I needed a way to wear my heart on my sleeve.

As a community we are often judged by the cover of our books, as though these images of windswept, provocatively posed men and women represent the text within the novel. However, cover snark and conversely the celebration of well executed covers has become an integral part of discussions surrounding romance novels within communities like The Bitchery for exactly the reason that the images so rarely reflect the text.

By taking an object that holds a tradition of femininity and sexuality, and covering it in images from romance covers I created a work that allowed me to perform and celebrate my love of romance novels anywhere I went in an act of decorative subversion.

Artist: Rudi Bremer
Photography by Phil Verness

Hold on to your hair, because your head might explode. Not even kidding. When I saw these pictures, my jaw dropped to my clavicle.

Ready? 

A platform heel with decoupage miniature romance covers glued all over it.

 

Another angle the surface of the shoe is all romance novels with hot pink glitter stripes on the sole and heel

 

Another angle of the shoes from the side

 

A close up of the toe of one shoe showing bertrice small, tessa dare, and other novels on the surface of the shoe

 

Another close up with more covers including Flowers from the Storm Fabio's rogue and Johanna Lindsey

 

Rudi modeling her shoes - they are so fabulous

 

The shoes from the other side modeled by Rudi

 

OH MY GOSH DARN HECK ARE THOSE NOT THE MOST FABULOUS THINGS?! 

 

animated gif of an opera house standing ovation as seen from the stage

 

Congrats on a fabulous achievement, Rudi. I hope you got a big ol' sparkly A+ on your assignment! 

ETA: Rudi's shoes, which are going to be turned for her assignment today, have also made their fabulous way to NPR's Monkey See blog! I'd say she more than met her exhibition requirement, yeah?

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Fun And Games

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  1. Nancy says:

    Oh, yes…I need those! I hope someone picks up the idea, pays her gobs of money, and slaps them on the shelf. Yes, mass-produced isn’t always the way. But for shoes like these, how ELSE am I going to snag a pair?! (Especially as I’m sure she wants to keep those!)

  2. I can do it because I do it in miniature for my doll’s houses. I have a desk half done. But it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time, so these are totally wonderful and worth every penny, if they were for sale.

  3. Alexa says:

    Seriously… where can we get some of these? You could be set for life if you started selling them!

  4. Ella Quinn says:

    Fabulous shoes. I can’t wait to see you in them!!

  5. Those are breathtaking – I would put them on the mantel, where they would be not quiet. I would presumably need one of those beautiful Lucite stands that they use for displays in Nordstrom’s and Macy’s. It is truly art – and I’m assuming she printed all those covers onto thin paper? That must have taken some serious resizing and formatting. And a lot of color ink cartridge changes. Wow. 

    “course33” – the best project from the 33 in the course, by far!

  6. Mantitty with heels – I LOVE IT.

  7. Vanades says:

    I’d seen something similar before but with images from comics (link to the tutorial: http://ironspy.tumblr.com/post/25731650044) and always wanted to make myself one, just haven’t yet found the right pair of shoes.

    The idea to use book-covers is awesome though. Hmm, maybe with fantasy-books?

    I wonder if the the basic concept wouldn’t also work for flats.

  8. Rudi_bee says:

    Hi everyone,

    I’m so glad that you all love my shoes as much as I do. Especially because I did have to part with them to get them marked yesterday, and as supportive as my tutor is about my work I’m not sure he really understands just how connected shoe lust and romance novels are.

  9. Sylvie Fox says:

    Rudi, please, please donate these to the Brenda Novak auction next year! (Should you choose not to keep this awsomeness to yourself).

  10. Jacqueline says:

    Okay. That’s it; this is officially the most awesomely awesomest bad-ass epic-cool thing in existence today. Someone needs to beg Rudi to post a tutorial about how to make these! I’m a crafty person, so I’m willing to bet Modge Podge Matte was utilized to all of its awesome abilities, but the book covers? Printed from the internet? On photo paper? Copy paper? PAPER OF THE GODS?! What-what? Please, I simply must know because ERMAHGERD SO COOL BEANS!

  11. Iola says:

    Like Jacqueline said.

    I want some. I do cardmaking and scrapbooking, so I’m sure I can make them. Instructions, please?

  12. Look up decoupage. you print off the covers on high definition in thin paper, as thin as you can get. make sure the colour of the shoes won’t show through, or dye them a base colour.
    cut out all the little bits of paper. Don’t sneeze. arrange them on the shoes and glue into place (my default glue is pva, but it would probably be better thinned down).
    Then use a thin layer of shellac, or watered down pva (shellac would probably be better, since they are shoes and not something like a box which is decorative) to paint a layer over everything. When it’s dry, do it again. and again. Add around 5 layers or so, sanding down very carefully after each coat. then add a final layer. The shoes should be completely smooth, with no ridges, bumps or ripples.
    Knowing how it’s done makes them even more awesome, if anything. I’m three coats in to decoupaging a miniature specimen desk. I used museum quality waterslide decals, which are pigs to use, but awesome in effect. You can see a Carlton House desk that I did on my website. Took ages. the Chinoiserie style cabinet took even longer. 5 coats of red paint, all sanded down, then the decals, then another 5 coats of varnish. Horribilis.
    http://www.lynneconnolly.com/miniatures.html
    Sorry about the quality of the pics. I don’t do good photos.

  13. Catherine says:

    Wow!  These are *incredible*.

    Makes me want to learn how to walk in high heels even though it hurts just so that shoes like this could one day be a possibility…

  14. Adele Downs says:

    Fabulous! Congratulations on your project, Rudi. Your shoes look great. I’d love to have a pair in comfy flats. “)

    Best—Adele

  15. Tura Lura says:

    I’m not much of a shoe person these days, but DAMN! Those are bloody incredible! I want a pair. I hate/can’t balance in heels, so I’d have to have flats.

    Hmm, actually, we have the perfect shoes at work: white canvas slip-on flats. For, like, $5 something. And they’re summer shoes so they’ll likely be replaced soon and will be on clearance. Cool.

    <3,
    TL

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