I want to dance along the fine line between need and desire.

I want the part of me that touches the earth to lift me closer to the sky.

I want heels to add height and romantic family history to add stature.

Oh, and there has to be a story.  A raison d’etre for me to learn the craft of handmade footwear and to release my inner shoe diva.

my grandmother, my baby aunt and my mom in Shanghai

in the 1920′s

And there is.

So many women in my family’s history had bound feet.  Tightly curled, pointed and perched in delicate silk platformed shoes, their tiny feet peeked out from under their long skirts and fitted jackets.  A sign of a privileged class of women that did not need to walk or work or do anything that could be done by their servants.

Had the world not changed, my grandfather might have been married to one or several such aristocratic women.  Luckily for me, he did not.  He met a beautiful young medical student in Tokyo who became the love of his life and a doctor as well.  She was not typical of her times, choosing to pursue a medical career and wearing western clothes.

No bound feet for her.

I suppose it is this image of her that inspires me to define by design what had for centuries defined women of a certain class.  What precious few photos I have of her depict a poised, confident and stylish young woman on the arm of my grandfather as they watched the world they knew disappear forever.

How could I not be swept off my feet knowing this to be part of me?  How strangely wonderful to be a daughter of this complex family and to choose how I want to move through this world.  The sketches I have made are all of shoes that my grandmother could have worn walking down the streets  and boulevards of Shanghai and Tokyo in the 20′s.

You can see a description of my shoe workshop here.  More to come!

Get your shoes on!

If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:

Getting to Wow! to feel good, do good and look good

Nonprofit Knitwear for all things knit and nonprofit

Style Notes from me, your handmade shoe designer

Hoong Yee