This Week's Obsession: Shoellery
...jewellery on shoes; SHOELLERY. Just so you know this is not a new thing, it has been around for thousands of years!
The oldest and most expensive shoes once belonged to Sikandar Jah, the 18th century Nizam of Hyderabad. The delicate design is extremely complex and anything unlike you’ve seen before. The whole shoe is embroidered using gold thread and features numerous rubies, emeralds, diamonds, and other expensive gemstones. The shoes, valued at $160,000, were the property of a Toronto-based museum, but were stolen. Thankfully, they were recovered but had sustained some damage in the process.
Shoe designers have not limited themselves to a token little sparkle, they have bathed shoes in liquid gold, had their pick from all the gemstones. The ruby slippers have actually come to life. Good news, they have made some amazing shoellery for men too! Thank you @TomFord #Tom Ford
Here are some shoes that have been on the list of the most expensive shoes in the world:
Stuart Weitzman Tanzanite Heels – $2 Million
Stuart Weitzman’s Tanzanite Heels feature 185 carats of luxurious blue-purple tanzanites and 28 carats of diamonds. They were designed in 2006 along with jewellery designer Eddie LeVian. These silver-leather shoes with platinum heels are valued at $2 million. A 16-carat pear-shaped tanzanite dangles from the diamond-encrusted ankle strap, which also boasts pear- and oval-shape tanzanites. The Tanzanite Heels were available for the public to see for the first time in January 2007 at the New York Public Library.
Tom Ford Custom by Jason Arasheben – $2 Million
Nick Cannon from Wild n Out and America’s Got Talent commissioned jewellery designer Jason Arasheben to customize a pair of Tom Ford loafers. Arasheben studded the loafers with 340 carats of round cut diamonds set on white gold and they are now valued at a massive $2 million.
Stuart Weitzman Cinderella Slippers – $2 Million
Country singer Alison Krause wore these slippers to the 2004 Oscars. These sparkly shoes were made from the highest quality Italian leather. The ankle and toe straps are perfectly crafted into an intricate lace-like design which was created from 565 Kwiat diamonds in platinum settings. The right slipper plays host to a magnificent, rare 5 carat amaretto diamond providing the only glint of colour in the shoes.
Debbie Wingham High Heels – $ 15.1 Million
British designer Debbie Wingham was commissioned by an unnamed family to design these unique Stilletos. The 24 carat gold leather shoes are made from very rare pink, blue and white diamonds and sewn with pure gold thread. Costing of $15 million, they were the world’s most expensive pair of shoes until the creation of the passion diamond shoes. The daily mail reported that Debbie Wingham is well known for her over-the-top commissioned creations that tend to come with price tags of an eye-watering sort.
The Passion Diamond Shoes – $17 Million
The world’s “most expensive” pair of shoes are worth USD 17 million were launched in October 2018 in UAE. The luxurious Passion Diamond Shoes which are made from diamonds and gold, took over nine months to design and create. According to Business Today the Passion Diamond Shoes, feature several hundreds of diamonds, with two flawless diamonds of 15 carats each. The stunning stilettos are on display in the Burj Al Arab seven star hotel in Dubai.
10,000 years - the oldest surviving shoes
42,000 years ago is what archaeological evidence suggests that East Asians may have worn shoe
2,000 years since the Japanese created the Geta and it is still going strong
93 separate items or fragments of footwear, including elaborately decorated flip-flops with marquetry veneer where found when Howard Carter opened the tomb of King Tut (1341–1323 BCE).
14.5 billion to 19 billion pairs of shoes per year are bought world wide- roughly equal to two pairs per person on the planet
SOURCES
SHOE ENVY
Did you know that men were the first ones to wear heels? I almost fell off my Louboutins when I learned this! For centuries, heels signified a high social standing rather than gender. It was also crucial for men riding horses to have a heel on their boot in order to stay in their stirrups.
SHOELLERY BY THE NUMBERS