Upcycle your memories
By Chris Kriel
“Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world.”
Marilyn Monroe
E
ver wondered what to do
with those old shoes apart
from throwing them away
or passing them on to the
next person?
Footwear are not just shoes, boots,
high heels, spikes, wellingtons, slipslops or crocs, they are memories of
specific times in your own or your
family’s lives. They took you to
memorable and sometimes not so
memorable occasions, helped you
achieve in sport, went on long volunteer hikes together, protected
your feet, some abused you, some
comforted you, some are designed
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to walk in the muck, some for
church and some for entertainment.
Ballet shoes are for the finer arts,
while some are designed for work,
some for fun and some for school.
Some are cheap, some not so
cheap, some are robust, some delicate, some are big and some are
small, some smell awful and some
not.
Whatever the case may be, at some
stage they housed feet; -feet that
belonged to someone and, yes, they
meant something. To quote Isabel
Wolff (A Vintage Affair)
“What I really love about them... is
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the fact that they contain
someone's personal history...I find
myself wondering about their lives.
I can never look at a garment...
without thinking about the woman
who owned it. How old was she?
Did she work? Was she married?
Was she happy?... I look at these
exquisite shoes, and I imagine the
woman who owned them rising out
of them or kissing someone... When
you buy a piece of vintage clothing
you're not just buying the fabric
and thread - you're buying a piece
of someone's past.”
Matter of the fact is, - you can’t just
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