October 22, 2008

Mark Steyn is "beginning to enjoy the kinky frisson of" Sarah Palin's shoes.

He says so here. Photo essay of shoes here. To me, the shoes don't look expensive enough.

Meanwhile, here's a good view of the worn-out soles of Barack Obama's shoes. He's been walking all over America, trying to win our votes. (From a very nice set of photos by Callie Shell. I especially like this one ... despite the unobtrusiveness of the shoes.)

30 comments:

1775OGG said...

R Ur bunions brothering U today, eh? Try walking in his shoes when walking on water!

The answer to the first comment is "Yes!"

Ron said...

Her shoes, fine, fine...but the apotheosis of kink would be Biden workin' the garter belt!

Ron said...

Just think -- she's just one upskirt photo from the Presidency!

Unknown said...

For those hard working real Americans who donated a few hundred bucks to the McCain campaign only to see it spent on a $150,000 shopping spree for Sarah and her family (and Levi?), you might want to see how the Obama family does it:

The Obamas Discuss Dressing On A Budget (VIDEO)

Jennifer said...

What the heck happened to my comment? And what's up with the sneaky comment box that makes you pick a profile and then disappears?

Grr. Too many links to recreate.

Short version: Yes, her shoes are unsatisfyingly cheapy looking a little too often. But, I still love that she clearly has an interest in shoes.

She may have worn cheapy $100 Naughty Monkey shoes to accept the nomination but it looks like her sweet, red VP debate shoes were likely Kate Spade and that is definitely in decent territory.

Anonymous said...

To me, the shoes don't look expensive enough.

She'll take heat for them either way.

Too expensive = hypocrite/not a Jane Six Packer/elitist

Not expensive enough = Wasilla trailer trash/Red State Wall Marter/unsophisticated Hockey momma

rhhardin said...

Vicki, being a Doberman, is more sensible about new things, like this unposed photo of an Amazon box that came today that I just put a pad into; and soon that's where she wanted to be.

Joan said...

Criminy, Blogger's messing with comment functionality again -- whoopee! (Or maybe that will be "whoops!") Hey, where's the Preview function? How am I supposed to find typos now?

Beautiful photo set. The photos of Palin's shoes are lame.

The photo Ann highlighted as a favorite reminded me of a story I heard during the primary from a friend who works at the convention center in Pittsburg. At the end of the day, he said, Hillary was upbeat, gracious and thanked the staff behind the scenes at the freight elevator they were using for security purposes. Obama, on the other hand, looked completely exhausted, ignored the staff, and stood slump-shouldered in the elevator as if he couldn't wait to get out of there. The photo in the stairwell evoked a sense of "I just wish this was over," but probably only because I heard that story.

Bissage said...

(1) Forbidden . . . You don't have permission to access /issue0810/images/callie/19.jpg on this server.

(2) All the same . . . I’d walk a mile for Ann Hathaway.

(3) WFT?!?!?!?

(4) Go Phils!

Simon said...

I don't think it's the shoes that Mark likes, per se...

Donn said...

(1) Go Rays!!!!

Susan said...

Shoes haven't created such a stir in a presidential campaign since these.

mesquito said...

Am I now permitted to post here?

Chip Ahoy said...

Chip Ahoy's Worn Shoe Decal kit with rasp. Perfect for photo ops. Set of 4 shoe decals with rasp.

Chip Ahoy said...

"It was reported Wednesday ..." There's that "some people say" crap again.

Crap. I once had a boss who hated that word. She thought it was the worst of the worst and forbade it.

I always thought that show What Not to Wear was cheap. Why would people give up their whole wardrobes just for $5,000? That does not compute. Once they gave $10,000 and a trip to France and I thought that was a little more like it, but to really really change somebody's whole life you have to go higher than that. Dontchya think?

TJ said...

You can't link to the individual photos of Obama. You gotta click on Althouse's linked phrase "a very nice set."

Unknown said...

The Obama shoes are reminiscent, for those of your readers of a certain age, of the famous shoes of Adlai Stevenson, another son of Illinois who ran for President. My attempt at an html link

Freeman Hunt said...

I have that red diaper bag she's carrying in the photo where she's getting off the plane wearing a red jacket. Great bag. Also an entirely insignificant piece of the $150,000 pie. She probably already owned it.

Jennifer said...

I could not agree more, Chip. That's always bugged me about the show. You could easily eat through a full twenty percent of that budget on three pairs of shoes! Add one nice suit and a decent coat and you're almost halfway there. Your whole wardrobe for that!? Of course, they are giving up hideously crappy wardrobes for that paltry budget but still.

blake said...

Why would people give up their whole wardrobes just for $5,000?

Obviously, I'm not the target demo. Hell, I only watch the show to catch a glimpse of Lee Lee's Valise in Brooklyn.

But I could easily replace my wardrobe for $5,000.

Jake said...

After the election her clothes will be auctioned off for charity. The money received will be more than the money spent.

Freeman Hunt said...

But I could easily replace my wardrobe for $5,000.

Ha ha. So could I. I didn't know I was so cheap!

Freeman Hunt said...

There should be a YouTube ad for Lee Lee's Valise that shows skinny women scarfing down high calorie food in a frenzied effort to make themselves eligible for the fine fashions available there.

Wince said...

I licked Betty Ford's boots (it's true)
She wore ‘em all over China


One of more interesting Boston bands of the late 1970s - early 1980s was Human Sexual Response.

There's an interesting backstory related to foot fetishism and politics in the the lyrics of What Does Sex Mean to Me (@ 0:45):

I put my finger to my tongue
And I taste vagina
I licked Betty Ford's boots (it's true)
She wore ‘em all over China
People say that Chinese people don't
Ball as much as we do
‘Cause their Cultural Revolution has shown
There are more important things to see to
So I ask what does sex mean to me
And what does sex mean to society.


Backstory: One of the band members of HSR worked in the mail order room of a women's fashion store. One day he packed a set of boots addressed to then first lady Betty Ford at the White House. Before he packed them for shiping, he took the boots to his mouth and he licked them all over, toe to cuff.

Some time later, while watching TV, he saw the first lady during a state visit to China -- wearing the boots! Hence, the lyric.

Rose said...

A Palin win will be a giant boost for the fashion industry. Long overdue!

Sir Archy said...

To Professor Althouse.

Dear Madam,

As the Ghost of a Gentleman, dead these 260 Years and more, you may imagine the Changes in Fashion and Taste to which I have been witness.

Every Age views the Cloathes & Garniture of another with Bemusement and Contempt.  As the modern World regards the Fashions of my Day, so I count it as one of the Tortures of this Ghostly Purgatorio in which I find myself, that I must look upon the Female Body so abus'd by modern Garments. I shall not dwell upon the Horrours of seeing every Hair & Pimple expos'd, whilst the graceful Lines of the femine Form remain marr'd by the Deshabille of this Age.  Nay, Madam, a Madwoman in Bedlam would have been asham'd in my Day to have been drest thus.

For all the Reform so necessary for other modern Cloathes, 'twould appear but a trifling Waste of Time to divert oneself admiring Shoes; yet there are very many amongst the Fair Sex who consider the Choice of a Shoe with perhaps greater Care than they would a Candidate on Election Day.  I cannot forbear to say, however, that modern Shoes are perhaps the least disfigur'd Item of Dress a Woman of this Age has with which to indulge herself.

You may recall, Madam, that I had written previously upon this Topick; I thus beg your Leave to do so again, feeling all the Impropriety of my Lack of Originality.  I excuse myself by saying that there may be new Members of your Audience, unaccustom'd to my ghostly Thoughts & Notions; and perhaps Others who would not mind seeing an old Idea, recover'd like a lost Buckle from the Bottom of a Drawer.

Many Ladies will perhaps find the Example of Mrs. Palin's Cloathes either useful or repellant, whether as Electors they would vote for her or not. There are also Persons of both Sexes amongst the Audience at this your Theatre of Topicks (as I call it), who cannot avert their Eyes from the many Pictures of Mrs. Palin's Feet & Legs everywhere to be seen in News-Papers and upon the Internet. Without the Readers suspending their higher Judgements, 'twould appear that Mrs. Palin's Shoes have become a more diverting Topick than either of the Wretches who would be your President.

The Audience may thus find it worthwhile to dwell a Moment upon this Sort of Vanity, little chang'd over the Centuries, viz., certain Ladies' Love of Shoes. Pray, do not take it amiss, then, if I should reprise, by way of Illustration, the little Tale which (as above) I had told here before:—

I recall Imelda, the young Wife of a Cavalry Officer and Neighbour to my late affianced Wife.  Imelda had been a true Friend and great Help to my poor Fiancée when her first Husband died of the Pox (and so became the young Widow whose Acquaintance I was fortunate to have made).  A more Kindly & Generous Soul you would never meet than Imelda; she was possess'd also of those Qualities of her Person that, whilst not Beauty of the first Rank, would still turn Heads upon Occasion.  Knowing that she was not, perhaps, a great natural Beauty, Imelda sought those little honest Improvements that Ladies may make by the proper Choice of Cloathes & Attention to their Hair, not forgetting some small Dose of Emollients to soften the Appearance & improve the Colour of the Skin, &c.  For all that, she had nothing about her of the paint'd Harlot, nor did she attempt the pert Gaiety of a Frenchwoman with colour'd Ribands, Flow'rs, &c.  Nay, she cultivated an Air of Tastefulness & Sobriety, rather above her actual Station in Life, giving every Impression of a well-to-do Gentlewoman.

To this End, there were no Lack of Dress-Makers, Milliners, Hair-Dressers and the like, to whom she was wont to pay Custom.  But there was one Establishment where she was habitually to be found, even when her Husband was expected on Leave, even when her Relations, come all the way from Wapping, were to appear at any Moment.  You may guess that it was the Cobbler's Shop.  Some People waste their Time & Fortune with Gamblers & Sharpers; others concerned with their Souls spend many an Hour with Priests; some seek Improvement with Musick-Masters, and still Others with Dancing or Fencing-Masters; so 'twas that Imelda spent every free Moment with Mr. Crispin, Shoe-Maker.

Crispin had made any Number of Lasts upon the Model of her Feet, and found greater Employment than with any other making Shoes & Slippers after the latest Fashions of Paris and our own London Taste for this Lady.  When her Husband return'd from the Wars on half-pay, he found Mr. Crispin's Bills exceeded his Income for the Year, and that he was forced to draw upon his modest Estate to pay them.  Imelda used to tell, by way of a Jest upon Herself, of the Occasion when she was Nine or Ten, that she ran barefoot into the Parlour where a very grave Bishop was paying the Family a Visit, and cried, "Are not my pretty little Feet fine, Sir?"  Her loving Husband finally chided her that, "Your pretty little Feet are bankrupting us, Madam!" and forbade any new Shoes until he had put their Estate in Order.

Here is proclaim'd the Folly of an irrational and unwholesome Attachment to one Part of the Female Body that seems to afflict both Sexes.  Certain Ladies love their Shoes too much; and, it must be said, certain Gentlemen love female Feet too much, as well.  The making & selling of a Superfluity of Ladies' Shoes seems to have continued unabat'd from my Day to this, proving (as I before averr'd) that such foolish Vanity was not the especial Possession of my Age.

For my Part, whilst in Life not immune to the Charms of each Feature of the feminine Form, and glad to have had them well-drest or display'd, as may have been Proper, I took Delight in the Effect of tout l'ensemble, and remember'd that Nature gave us the whole Woman; and that whether she wore a Sabot or a Silk Stocking, She was, and always will remain, more than the Sum of her Parts.

Praying that neither You nor Members of your Audience would see themselves in any of my Anecdotes, I am,

Madam,

Your most humble & obt. Servant,

Sir Archy

Sir Archy said...

N.B.—Pray, forgive my repeat'd Posts. The suppos'd Improvements to the Blogger Service make Corrections even more difficult than previously. I could have prepar'd the above for the Press in my Day, had it set, and had print'd 300 copies in the Time it hath taken to wring the Errors from my Copy in this Age of Mangl'd Wonders.

Bissage said...

An oldie but a goodie!

Sir Archy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sir Archy said...

M. Bissage is doubtless the best Author of short, comick Pieces amongst this numerous Audience. Any Praise from him for my paltry Efforts therefore carries considerable Weight; and, I cannot but thank him for such undeserv'd Sentiments.

I flatter myself that my Epistle above may lack Originality, but that it does not want it: Altho' it may be a Rule not to poach another's Writing, an Author may be said to have Rights to all the Game in his own Park.