This 'n' That...from Here 'n' There

 

ey, it's a new season! Spring is officially here as of Tuesday. (Well, in the northern hemisphere, at any rate.) And that means it might be time to freshen up your footwear choices with some of the current crop of clog and wooden sandal options. Awww, who am I kidding? Anytime is a good time to buy more clogs. And the change of season just provides cover for us as we indulge in our passions. The press releases and seasonal sales certainly provide additional inspiration. See anything you like? I nabbed a pair of wooden wedge sandals the other day thanks to a Topshop flyer that arrived when my resistance was low. Let's see how long you can hold out against the goodies offered below!

 

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Calleen Cordero Spring/Summer 2012

It seems unfair to refer to the items that Calleen Cordero makes as shoes. That puts them in the same category as the mundane pedestrian footwear we all have tucked away to run to the convenience store or take the garbage out. The sandals, boots, and other styles this California designer sends out into the world are like missives from heaven. Reminders that the world is a indeed a place of joy and wonder. And that we can indeed experience it for ourselves. You can't turn out "shoes" like these on an assembly line. As her press kit notes,

Working with local artisans and using only natural materials and dyes, any given piece in Calleen's line may pass through as many as twenty sets of hands, making each item truly one-of-a-kind work of art. Calleen personally oversees the domestic production of each collection and takes great pride in the fact that she is able to tailor-make items for the over 200 independent boutiques that sell her work worldwide, creating a unique presence in each store.

I move that we call them "art". Which certainly seems valid if we agree with the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel:

The principal aim of art is not, therefore, to imitate nature, to decorate our surroundings, to prompt us to engage in moral or political action, or to shock us out of our complacency. It is to allow us to contemplate and enjoy created images of our own spiritual freedom—images that are beautiful precisely because they give expression to our freedom.

Yeah. What he said.

 

 

 

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Karen Kell Collection website

 

 

We gasped with delight over the shoes this Irish woman learned to craft by hand during her self-imposed exile in Mexico. (She was featured previously on ECHID here.) And then one of our own showed off a pair she picked up from the Karen Kell Collection earlier this year.

 

Gorgeous, no?

Slowly but surely, Karen Kell's beautiful footwear creations (including purses, belts, cuffs, jewelry, clothing, and more) are getting noticed. For example, Free People offers a variety of her cuffs in their corner of the web. And although Ms. K is relying on Etsy for her online footwear purchases at the moment, she has bigger plans in the offing. For the time being, she's rightly proud of karenkellcollection.com. Surf on over and generate a little traffic for her!

 

 

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Sanita clogs on sale at ClogOutlet.com

 

 

And what could be better than a gorgeous pair of wood-soled shoes? A gorgeous pair of wood-soled shoes on sale, of course!

 

I'm always a sucker when I see words strung together such as "new low prices" or "$10 off". And maybe you feel the same. You can reach the Clog Outlet's sale pages for Sanita Clogs and factory seconds here.

 

 

Oh, dear. Temptation rears its head yet again.

 

 

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[On my feet as I blog:  as much as I enjoy unleashing my inner rock star, tonight I thought I'd be lugging the bass amp around at my prog rock rehearsal. So I wore something much more suited to manual labor rather than posing, my Irregular Choice Japanese tabi style boots. Not much to offer in the way of wood sole material, I know. But a clog loving friend is coming to town for a couple days, and I certainly plan to make up for it!]

 

 

Comments

[Pips]

OMG! Those black studded Karen Kell's are amazing! Had to bookmark her site.

Despite your urging, I still haven't done a photo shoot with my furry Lita's in this warm weather, but I promise to post a pic when I do.

[Lindsey Cochran]

Pips: I'm singing the praises of Karen's work. She's just started spreading her wings in the marketplace, and I think she'll go far with a little exposure. Glad you enjoyed what you saw!

[Natealine]

Thanks for the update on Karen Kell's collection. I love her shoe designs and her prices are far more reasonable than CC's. I think I'm going shopping...

[Lindsey Cochran]

Natealine: Please do! She'll be keeping an eye on how much traffic my blog generates!

[Natealine]

@Lindsey. Just got off the phone with Karen, I told her the referral came from your ECHID blog. She mentioned you two spoke last night. The sizes she has listed are for sample US size 8 only for now until she gets investors. You can imagine the tears in my eyes due to disappointment. She's going to keep my contact info.

[Lindsey Cochran]

Natealine: Oh, no! I didn't realize that! Her styles would be so perfect for you! I'm actually scouring my old shoes to see if I have any clog bases I could send her to work her magic on for me. There must be something I could take apart and repurpose with her gorgeous leatherwork!

Keep me posted. I want to hear about what you order.

[cynthia eloise]

oh yes, i do like the karen kell collection. great colors too.