I think it is safe to say that I have always had a passion for shoes. I recently learned that my great grandfather David Martin Arnold owned a shoe store in Grinnell, Iowa - which folded during the depression. And my great Uncle David Palmer Arnold also had a shoe store in Grinnell, Iowa.
Apparently Uncle David's first wife, Margaret Arnold eventually owned the store, so we assume she got it as part of the divorce settlement, pity. I have since decided that my love of shoes is due to my DNA and I'm subconsciously trying to amass my own shoe store to replace those lost my by distant relatives. Maybe shoes are an obsession for me - but I say one woman's obsession is another woman's passion.
In high school my mother called me "Imelda"; in reference to the infamous Imelda Marcos whose vast shoe collection (estimates of 3000 up to 7500) was sadly left behind after she and her dictator husband were driven to US exile by the 1986 'people power' revolt. I don't believe in dictators living extravagantly while their people suffer extreme poverty, but any woman can appreciate the need for the perfect shoe to go with every outfit. It's a shame from a historical and fashion sense, that many of her shoes, purses, and hand made gowns have been destroyed while in storage due to monsoon storm damage, termites, mold, and general neglect. 150 boxes of the Marcos' possessions were moved to storage in Manila's National Museum in 2010, but padlocked and unidentified. A flood in 2012 further damaged the already fragile boxes, at which point museum workers were shocked to realize that they contained precious mementoes from major official events during that part of Philippine history.
Roughly 765 pairs of shoes including famous brands like Gucci, Prada, Chanel, and Christian Dior, remain preserved in like-new condition because they were loaned to Marikina's Shoe Museum. They are preserved in airtight glass cabinets, and tourists almost always leave the display in awe, according to the museum manager. To think that was probably less than half of her collection!
So I don't feel quite as bad about finding 3 pairs of shoes yesterday, tucked in the back of my cedar closet, that I had completely forgotten about. In fact, I don't even remember buying one pair other than to say, it was sometime this year. Is it possible to do "blackout shoe shopping" like alcoholics can have drinking related amnesia? A good friend once told my husband (when he said that I didn't need any more shoes) that he should let me buy shoes, it's cheaper than therapy. We have come to an agreement that for every pair of shoes I buy, I must get rid of 2 old pair. This is because I have a tendency to hang on to things, even if I'm not currently wearing them. I have many super high heels from my 20s and 30s, which I do not wear now because they hurt my knee and my back. So when I get a new pair of comfortable heels from Clarks, I donate 2 old pair of sky high heels. The Jubilee Shop has never had such fabulous shoes to sell, but somebody with a size 7.5 will be very happy to find them there.. cheap. Someday I may actually need therapy if blackout shoe buying becomes an identifiable disease. In the mean time, I'll keep enjoying my own shoe collection which is somewhere near 86 after giving away 8 last week. OK, I don't always toss 2 pair for each new one, that would be crazy.
In high school my mother called me "Imelda"; in reference to the infamous Imelda Marcos whose vast shoe collection (estimates of 3000 up to 7500) was sadly left behind after she and her dictator husband were driven to US exile by the 1986 'people power' revolt. I don't believe in dictators living extravagantly while their people suffer extreme poverty, but any woman can appreciate the need for the perfect shoe to go with every outfit. It's a shame from a historical and fashion sense, that many of her shoes, purses, and hand made gowns have been destroyed while in storage due to monsoon storm damage, termites, mold, and general neglect. 150 boxes of the Marcos' possessions were moved to storage in Manila's National Museum in 2010, but padlocked and unidentified. A flood in 2012 further damaged the already fragile boxes, at which point museum workers were shocked to realize that they contained precious mementoes from major official events during that part of Philippine history.
So I don't feel quite as bad about finding 3 pairs of shoes yesterday, tucked in the back of my cedar closet, that I had completely forgotten about. In fact, I don't even remember buying one pair other than to say, it was sometime this year. Is it possible to do "blackout shoe shopping" like alcoholics can have drinking related amnesia? A good friend once told my husband (when he said that I didn't need any more shoes) that he should let me buy shoes, it's cheaper than therapy. We have come to an agreement that for every pair of shoes I buy, I must get rid of 2 old pair. This is because I have a tendency to hang on to things, even if I'm not currently wearing them. I have many super high heels from my 20s and 30s, which I do not wear now because they hurt my knee and my back. So when I get a new pair of comfortable heels from Clarks, I donate 2 old pair of sky high heels. The Jubilee Shop has never had such fabulous shoes to sell, but somebody with a size 7.5 will be very happy to find them there.. cheap. Someday I may actually need therapy if blackout shoe buying becomes an identifiable disease. In the mean time, I'll keep enjoying my own shoe collection which is somewhere near 86 after giving away 8 last week. OK, I don't always toss 2 pair for each new one, that would be crazy.
No comments:
Post a Comment