Footwear fashion just went topsy-turvy with taxidermy. The intrinsic art of stuffing and mounting animal skins has found its way to wearable revelry. And come fall ’13, the mainstream will fall head over “heels,” with Divya Anantharaman’s 500 carats of raw smoky quartz and Swarovski topaz toting haute heel. “I have always been fascinated by nature’s mythology and oddities and their relationships to the ones we create,” says she. With lavishly scented insoles, the luxe heels have a lifelike birdie perched atop, proving that even shoes in the rarest of posh crocodile leather with the blingiest of diamond detailing and gold buckles (phew!) are oh-so-passé, basically.
The self-confessed ‘dead animal addict’ has broken animal-skin boundaries by accomplishing the incorporation of whole creatures in her creativity. “My work made a transition from wearable and found object sculpture to taxidermy,” says the former footwear freelancer who has made a return to wearable albeit without having to leave behind taxidermy.
Expected to be tagged around $3,000, these aren’t shoes that’d support a sweet traipse down fifth avenue. Not that any lesser amount would have had you striding the streets on the towering silver-scaled 6-inch heels. More sculptural art that stilettos, “it’s something you could wear to the Met Gala,” after you manage to get past the lifelike animal’s lifeless appeal. And if you do make it to the Met, watch out for those animal rights activists; else, that real bird will probably have to take its last faux flight of fantasy. In case you’d some more exotic-chic, try out the Roger Vivier heels or Mr. Peacock if you score that shoe and just want some good old taxidermy.
[Via – D-I-V-Y-A and Bedford-and-Bowery]
