…and you thought YOUR shoes hurt!

As much as we all love Pastry Shoes, there’s no harm in looking at alternative footwear, especially the unusual ones.  You know, based on a basic shoe history, human beings created shoes to ease running when they were hunting for animals.  And you know what, this is the kind of shoe they wear during the Ice Age.

You all might think, “GEEZ!  Won’t you get frostbite wearing just that on ICE?”  Well they probably got frostbites. What’s certain is, archaeologists have had difficulties in determining when human beings stopped going barefoot.  But they think, human beings started protecting their feet between 40,000 and 26,000 years ago.  And you know, we actually have stronger and thicker small toes than the ancient human beings! -Yet look at all our efforts to protect (and jazz up) our feet! LOL.  That pair of shoes were discovered in the French Alps and were worn by a preserved “Ice Man”.

The next shoes  look kinda creepy but it’s really interesting.  See them now.  Would you wear ’em?

Yes, they probably look like a torturing device, but they really bring peace to the wearer!  They are called Kharam shoes and they used to be (or maybe still) worn by many saints, scholars and gurus in India.  They wear these because they’re said to be able to give peace of mind and control of the senses.  The wooden peg between the toes is believed to massage specific pressure points.  The wood is considered to be one of the pure elements of the earth which keeps impurities from entering through soles of the feet.  Whoa, that’s pretty deep stuff.  And you know what, on ancient Indian sculptures, you can see gods and demi-gods wearing the Kharams.  Why of course, because the Indians believe that whoever wears these Kharams, are generally on the right path of righteousness and purification.

Err… yeah, maybe one should really try and do one’s yoga more regularly first before trying out any Kharams.   Wonder if Angela Simmons would wear them.  Anyway, the next shoes are…

You might think: Okay… this is some serious platform shoes.  They’re towering up to the sky and don’t look very stable.  Turns out that these shoes came from ancient China. They’re called “Cloud-climbing” shoes, and are common within the Manchu imperial court ladies.  The high platforms of the shoes are deemed to be enough for climbing clouds and standing on clouds.  They’re usually 12 centimeters in height and the platforms are made from wood.  The inner soles are covered with  a layer of cowhide.  The upper parts features a royal cloud embroidery on expensive silks.  Back then, these kind of shoes were only worn by royalties!

And if you think that crazy thick platforms are weird, check out these shoes:

In a glance, they look like very trendy ankle booties.  But nooooo people, these shoes are the “Flower Pot” shoes. Also used to be worn by the ancient Manchu women, these shoes are the “it” thing to wear back then, with long robes.  The unique hoof-shaped soles will produce rhytmic sounds and it’s believed that snakes and insects will shun away when hearing the walking sounds.  History can say anything they wanna say, but from where I’m sitting, it might be kinda hard to go camping with those shoes.  But they’re beautiful nonetheless.

And last but not least, dubbed the PastryShoesCollection.com’s favorite unique shoes:

Very cute aren’t they?

The downside part is, you can’t wear them because they’re made from paper and actually an artwork, created by an English artist: Jennifer Collier.  In this exhibit in Rochester, England, she featured non-functional dresses and shoes made from unconventional materials.  She even scours markets, charity shops, fruit and vegetable stalls and pound shops to find the materials to create her fabulous art.  It’s a way of reduce, reuse and recycle!

So from all the shoes above: which ones would you wear, Pastryheads?