There is a pair of shoes that I had. And a fan once said, “if I could walk a mile in your shoes, I would.” And so I mailed him my shoes. I literally pulled my shoes off my feet and put them in a box and sent them to him. Then he started a project of photographing my shoes in different locations and from there my shoes went around the world three or four times.
Read MoreFor me, each pair of shoes I own has a story behind it and it kind of helps me remember different phases and special moments I lived in my life. I remember the white sneakers I had to buy when I went to my first Dior show, the grey one that my mom helped me choose with all her love when she came visit me and the stylish leopard print one that reminds me so much of my sister, when I wear it I feel she is closer to me.
Read MoreI have some beautiful shoes from the 80’s and 90’s, some very fashionable and fancy English and French shoes. I was going to draw one of those pairs for this project. But then I thought about my New Balances, and how comfortable they are, and that I wear them every day.
Read MoreIf you dig around, I have a somewhat out of date travel web site*, and I have this lovely crappy photo of a pair of Timberland boots that I wore around the world, and down to the nails (sitting atop a kilim I bought in Morocco and shipped home on a donkey, but that’s another story), and I suppose it says a lot about how I think of shoes. For one, I prefer to buy the best made shoes I can more or less afford, and wear them and repair them until they utterly give out …
Read MoreIt was 1986. I was living in Germany at the time. Sent there by the company I worked for. I had no friends or relatives nearby, and could barely speak the language. I was very lonely. Being an anonymous human being in that situation was strangely exhilarating, but also terrifying. I felt the world was full possibility, and yet I was quite invisible in it. I was an outsider. That first year, the winter was brutal. Sometime around Christmas, I was sent to Italy to visit some customer or another. The drive was long and difficult (and scary). I was feeling particularly depressed …
Read MoreThrough these sandals, I’ve gotten lost, saved by a village, learned a new language, learned to surf, climbed mountains, dived to shipwrecks, danced atop a treehouse, and experienced a way of life that is simple and present. My favorite part has been the new friendships we have made, sharing in the lives of families we meet, cherishing one another more through our challenges, but best of all reconnecting with ourselves.
Read MoreIn 2010, I fell off a horse named “Ron the Wonder Horse” and fractured my tailbone. The only approved activities for the months it needed to heal were walking and swimming. I got cabin fever and a jelly belly. When it healed, my goal was to get as fit as possible, as fast as possible.
Read MoreThey’ve been through rehearsals, auditions, and armpit-drenched meetings where I first shared my opinions on the direction of the look and feel for the company while wishing I had a second shirt. They met spray-mount filled socks that ripped up their lining after helping wallpaper a set in a new theater at The Second City Training Center. They’ve partied in Boystown. They’ve comfortably hugged my ankles for nerve-racking first dates.
Read MoreIt's crazy because New York made me think that I needed to have things like that — clothes, or jeans, or fashion — or these shoes. I thought, “I’m in the big city, I gotta do this now!” But today, after eight or nine months, I don’t care at all about how these shoes look or that my pants are worn down. A switch has flipped. I don't have to impress anybody. I’m honestly just genuinely cool living in this geography. It flipped from New York as a social status to New York as a geography … it's just a space.
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