My name is Imelda - the Despotic Queen of Shoes. I’m more commonly known as the former First Lady of the Philippines who drained the Treasury of it’s third world economy to support my addiction to shoes. I’m a myth, a riddle and a conundrum and thanks to the kind people at TheVine (who have agreed to fund the building of the Imelda Marcos Finishing school for Third World Despots) I’ll be dropping in once a week for a tête-à-tête on all things footwear.
Trawling through my personal experiences, I’ll discuss a broad range of subjects from ‘Is it possible to suppress democracy in flats?’ to ‘What shoes to wear when you’re hauled before a United Nations Commission’. A quick answer on both - ‘no despot worth her blood diamonds wears flats’ and ‘nothing is too flashy’.
Before we can get to those hot topics and more I need to address something of major importance. Over the past few weeks I’ve seen an alarming and diabolical footwear trend trot down the catwalks of Milan and Paris. The girly man-shoe.
What is the ‘girly man-shoe’ I hear you squeal in horror? Rather than explain here’s a visual introduction to what you shouldn’t let your fella near next summer:
THE MENDGE – Isn’t a stacked Cuban heel emasculating enough? The twisted heads at Fendi don’t seem to think so, they have bought us the ‘man wedge’! The Mendge!
THE MANIATOR –Riccardo Tisci turned the idiocy up a notch over at Givenchy with the male version of what will be summer's hottest trend for WOMEN…the Gladiator sandal. To be fair, he wasn’t the only designer to latch onto this super trend, but he’s singled out because of this gruesome hybrid.
THE MANDAL – Alexander McQueen’s man sandal could pass for a ‘maniator’ had it not been finished in a hologram fabric.
I’m filing this shoe under ‘fucked up’. A platform/sneaker/clog from John Galliano. It’s at this point I’m lost for words, and that never happens!
As a slightly loopy former 3rd world despot with an addiction to shoes I have a lot of ranting and raving to get through and if you can’t wait until next week then you can find more at
Imelda's home each week.