Just writing this column is taking much longer than it should have. Why? Because of excuses. In college I learned the phrase, “Excuses are the tools of the incompetent upon which monuments of nothingness are built.BUCHAREST, Romania – A designer known as Romania’s “shoe architect” has come out with a new pair of sandals that increase a woman’s height by 12 inches.
The new shoes are being compared to skyscrapers because of their towering heels. But the price also may have something to do with it. In a nation, where the average salary is about $575 a month, the hand-crafted sandals are selling for up to $1,525.
“Heels have an advantage because (many women) don’t have long legs,” said Mihai Albu, who’s had a 20-year love affair making stilettos. High heels have become fashionable, but Albu’s are at least twice the height of ones that international designers have been flirting with for years.
“This is unusual, but I think we can expect many other fashion houses to be doing this,” said Marcellous Jones, editor-in-chief of the Fashion Insider.com magazine. He said the late British designer Alexander McQueen, who died in February, used shoes with 12-inch heels in his last collection.
“They are impractical, but there are women who are brave enough to wear them. They get attention for the wearer and the designer,” Jones said.
Albu, a former architect, blends math, architecture and art in his creations, which are more foot sculpture than regular footwear.
He uses French leather and encrusts it with jewels, feathers, mirrors, and taps into Romanian women’s love affair with high heels.
Despite the price, Albu says he has received dozens of orders for his new sandals.
“I am creating a constructed chaos,” he said, describing his extravagant sandals. In addition to their breathtaking height, his footwear features special effects and its appearance varies, depending on the angle.
Another shoe features three heels, two of which are decorative.
There are boots that resemble a glass and unicorn-like boots with a heel in front.
His latest creation, the 12.2-inch heel sandal, is a construction of three black wedge sandals that only come in small sizes.
“If a woman is 5-foot-9, she’d be towering above everyone if she wore these,” he said.
