Tango Shoe Divas

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a baby Tango Shoe Diva. I’ve danced on and off again for about 4 years but about a year ago I reentered the tango scene with a vengeance and have been working really hard at it ever since. That being said, I  decided about 5 months ago that I was going to graduate from my salsa shoes and finally buy some “pretty shoes”.

Since then, I’ve done much research on many of the styles and brands that are popular these days (many thanks to America, Bastet, and all the other contributors for such great advice), seriously depleted my college student bank account in making purchases, and consequently developed a reputation among my classmates and close friends as a “shoe crazy person” (their words, not mine).  I don’t even have that many shoes! Whatever, if you are reading or contributing to this blog, you know exactly what it’s like to be “shoe crazy”.

I first started with this used pair of Neotangos from a very nice lady on eBay (I LOVE eBay, by the way):

Behold, my first foray into tango shoe shopping! They are beaten up and old (I don’t think NeoTango even makes this style anymore), the insole is red and stains everything, but they were my first and they will always hold a special place in my heart.

I subsequently lost out on another pair of shoes to some powerseller on eBay:

As you can see, they are fabulous and I was very sad I lost the auction at the last second. Incidentally, I recently ran into the exact same pair at a milonga in DC- and they happened to be on the feet of my very MALE DJ friend who was practicing his following! Apparently they were the only pair left in his gigantic size.  And you only can imagine how these looked on a grown man (and of course, I was green with envy and incensed at the cruel irony of it all).

Next, I bought my first pair of Comme il Fauts while living in Atlanta. Katherine of Diva Boutique was in town and brought her enormous shoe trailer (yes, friends, an entire trailer full of CiFs). On the advice of a few people, I bought a simple pair of nude pink leather slingbacks that match everything:

They’re not nearly as white in the picture- more of a very very light pink. I also should probably get the straps cut down but haven’t yet because I am lazy and I don’t know any good cobblers yet up here in DC.

Then my birthday rolled around and I decided that I had a been a good girl and bought THESE off eBay from a fabulous Diva in Seattle for entirely too much money:

They are my FAVORITE- and I am perfectly willing (more…)

I think every little girl at some point in her life dreams of being Dorothy. I can’t believe that I made it this far in my tango career with no red shoes. I have a pair of zebra and red and a pair of burgundy and black, but nothing just red. I recently bought 2 great black dresses with red accents and they just scream for a pair of red shoes. One would think that it would be easy to find a pair of shoes in one of the iconic colors of tango… but when you are a diva… nothing is easy.

		I used to covet this shoe from Tara, back when they were the be all and end all of tango shoes. But one of my shoe advisors said that she thought the platform looks unbalanced with the open back. Plus they are only 3.5 inches!/td>
I can’t remember the last time I bought a shoe that didn’t have a stiletto heel!
I can’t decide what to think of this shoe… It is definitely unique, the heel is 4 inches, it has a platform, and I love the color. But it looks like it is not very flexible. I have one other platform that is patent wrapped and it is impossibly stiff (though it is not a Tara). And the knots are a little bit much.

Of course there is always Comme il Faut
(more…)

I haven’t shared a shoe story in some time and so here goes. A shoe story of my favorite shoes- Neotango. No, they don’t have all the cool styles that Comme Il Faut has, but they do deign to make shoes at a heel height lower than 3″, and offer a tad more padding than some of the brands out there which makes me pretty happy.

I had been going to try some Delie shoes out, after hearing they had decent foot padding, and couldn’t get a reasonable match in sizing…so gave up. Then I saw these pretty shoes….

I had seen some on the Diva boutique website, but with heels too high and so I ignored them, then I found these through Felina shoes. They are suede (my favorite), style #113 with a sparkly lame’ woven heel cage and a very comfy and stable 6.5cm heel (though you can get them higher) that is slender and sexy but not a stiletto. I swear, it’s like wearing flats after torturing my feet for so long in heels over 3″ high! The front end is rounded, which is nice becasue you don’t get your toes squished together that way, but they are still a peep toe so your toes have some protection.

These are classy and dressy. I really love them but would also love to see Neotango release some more colorful styles in the 6.5cm height. The only current 6.5cm styles are red and black, with one purple metallic sandal in the style I don’t like becasue your toes fall out the side….and that’s my only beef with Neotango…otherwise…I actually prefer them to Comme Il Faut. The soles are very flexible, I can get a lower heel that isn’t ugly and is very stable, and they’ll last a good long time.

I got these NEotango’s last year and they felt GREAT on carpet…not so great once I got them on a real floor (funny how that 4″ heel feels better on carpet- innit?). Finally, my toes were hurting too much so I found a friend who knew a cobbler who could cut them down because they were just sitting around. So, after an extra $15 having them cut they are now about 3/16″ lower (YAY!). The only bad thing is they had rock solod balance before, now the heel is only “fair” balance. They certainly aren’t any worse in balance than some of my other dance shoes, but I sure do miss the stability they had.

Lesson learned: Don’t buy a pair of really expensive shoes if the heel is too high and then have it cut down (unless the balance is already off). I’d never do it to another pair of Neo’s or especially CiF since their heels are made to be balanced just the way they are.

I’ve been on the search for the “perfect tango shoe” for a couple of years now. Even as a ballroom dancer I searched for the “perfect shoe” and I’ll be the first to admit I have spent WAAAY too much moeny on shoes. But, Tango woldn’t be the same without the cool shoes and since I get asked lots of questions about shoes in general (since I know so much from having SPENT so much!), I wanted to get something solid down. Maybe if someone reads this they’ll make better shoe decisions than I did and get better shoes the first time instead of 2 years down the road.

 Here’s my little collection so far:

and

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Comme Il Faut ROCKS! And when I found out I could get a 3″ heel, I was so exctied. I’d only ever seen the 3.5 and 4″ ones and I can’t wear them. Plus the ones I tried on at a show were very stiff and it felt like wearing a board on my feet….Now…when I went to look at the burgunday suede pair I have, my feet have never known such comfort! (well- not outside of a Earth Shoe sandal that is). They were light, flexible and the suede has just the right amount of give in it so my toes don’t hurt. This euphoria induced a spate of quick shoe selling of pairs that I was only slightly to moderately happy with (problem feet) and so led to my second pair with the pony print velvet. So far I am finding suede is the softest and stretchiest, then velvet, then leather. I don’t find the satins very stretchy.

 Next up- Neotango. I have 2 pair. One was too high in the heel and I had it cut down (shoe near-disater story coming soon) and the other is a little too narrow in the toe so I will probably sell them. They are very comfortable otherwise, both of them, with good flexibility. Maybe they changed their cut on the toe or sole area recentely becasue I was expecting them to fit the same….too bad…I guess I need a replacement.

Tango-wear. The purple shoes came from Tango-wear and were on sale and I can’t pass up metallic purple. I’d love to have the so called “metatarsal padding” ripped out and have real padding put in, but am not sure I care to spend anything else on them. They fit pretty well, flexibility is good in the sole, heel is not as stable as CiF for a stiletto. The straps were too long and instead of doing the right thing and NOT wearing them to the milonga, I cut them myself and botched the leather. Now I am too embarrassed to take them and try to get it fixed so I put a bow on it. I rather just save my money for another pair of CiF.

Traspie- I love the pretty brown and flower pair of TRaspie shoes I have. Got them on eBaybee. Fit is a little big for size and the blue pair I bought I didn’t like very well so I sold them. I found it weird that the sizing ran so big on the brown pair but almost ended up too small on the blue pair, despite them being the same size…so…it seems to be a pot shot. I’d ask for inside shoe lengths before making a size selection with them- they do answer questions.

Tara- these black and silver shoes are my biggest disappointment. The amount spent and the hype about their comfort gave me HUGE expectations, which have not been fulfilled and I can’t return them now. I can only hope that dratted stiff platform will eventually become more flexible. But the fact that the are cut more narrow than the narrowest of my shoes when I thought the shoes were supposed to be “modeled off a real woman’s foot” can’t be ignored. Most likely my one and only purchase from Tara, though she was a nice person on the phone.

Other shoes: Darcos- I’ve had 3 pair of Darcos. All sold due to various issues (foot measurement wrong not once but TWICE and the third time the measurements were right but they were too stiff and Darcos seems to have gotten rid of their nice padding they used to do).