Thursday, January 5, 2012

Gothic Plumes

I am rereading the first Gothic novel ever published, Horace Walpole's Castle of Otranto, which opens with an enormous black, plumed helmet (from a statue) being, shall we say, re-purposed.

The plumed helmet is never too far away from the novel's action, and the plumes often ruffle when they are annoyed with the characters' behaviour.

I thought of those plumes when I saw these curious loafers from Christian Louboutin, adorned with feathers. 


Just as Walpole attempted to marry nature (realism) with imagination (the supernatural)--these shoes merge a conservative shoe (the loafer) with a bohemian accent (the feather). 

If I were to wear these, I'd want the shoe to be either a little tougher or more elegant (a buttery-leather higher heel, perhaps), but the literary critic in me appreciates the overlap of genres.

5 comments:

Susan B said...

I'd be afraid the feathers would look like rubbish after a few wearings...

materfamilias said...

They're quite wonderful, aren't they? How would you style them, though? Would you humour their conservative side in an ensemble or their extravagance? I somehow see them with slim cropped black velvet pants. Or, quite otherwise, a full and flouncy black taffeta-ish skirt (no, no, no?). . . Clearly, they're a shoe for fantasy to match plumed helmets. . .

Miss Cavendish said...

I like both options, Mater! The first codes Ines de la Fressange to me, and the second immediately conjures up a wildly long and gathered skirt by Ivan Grundahl, with something form-fitting on top. And these probably would be indoor shoes, as Deja Pseu points out their delicate nature . . .

LPC said...

I love those! With jeans.

Susan Tiner said...

I agree with Pseu, they look way too delicate to be practical.