Tango Shoe Divas

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
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Browsing the Tara site after a long day of entirely too much talking (Yes, when I am brain dead I look at pictures of shoes to relax.)  I looked at some of the new, light colors that she is offering for summer.  I need some light color shoes, but I don’t know if I can deal with white/linen color.  I think I would cringe at every foot drag, sandwich, etc that a leader did.  But then I looked at her Coming Soon and there was “Calesita”


I have mixed feelings about this shoe. On the one hand I have been looking for a fun springy shoe and this would look great with a denim mini. And she says that this is a new flexible platform, which I find very interesting. But I am not in love with the buckles. I have a shoe with buckles across the toes and I get blisters under the buckles. I am afraid that these would be the same way…

I am sorely tempted though. Do the shoe divas have any opinions?

The new “Bellissima” from Tara Tango Shoes is very aptly named. What a color! What a shape! I am sorely tempted, though I have tried to put myself on a restricted shoe diet (I need a new laptop unfortunately). I have TOO many pairs of stilletoes and I still find myself reaching for my Tara and Tango Shop more often. In fact I wore my Taras Saturday night for the loooong milonga (9-3) and I danced the best I have in ages! I don’t know if it was the shoes, or just the night. Anyway, these new shoes have a platform AND memory foam. My feet are tingling in anticipation… Now if I can justify them – maybe a Christmas present to myself? I don’t own a single pair of plain red shoes? Hmmm. The rationalization isn’t working.

I swore after that last pair of Comme Il Faut, I was taking a break from shoes. And then this pair of Tara’s appeared on eBay in the style I had been looking at and in my size, I lost my resolve (but have since regained it). I will say I got  avery good deal. I was tempted by the head shoe divas commentary on platform shoes, but was unwilling to spring full price again after my last fiasco.

 I have only worn these around the house, but they are MUCH more comfortable so far than the black pair of Cubana’s I bought. The vamp is cut wider (YAY!) so my toes aren’t squished and as I said, slingback shoes are very forgiving of size miscalculations. And this is my one bit of weirdness with these. My heel hangs over the back a bit. I would have expected a size 6.5 to be longer in the insole than 23.6cm…but oh well..they *JUST* fit. If my foot were any longer, they would be too short…and I don’t usually buy a 6.5, generally I buy a 6 but these are nearly close toe, so I figured that would be a safe bet….Anyway, these have nice metarsal padding (the kind I WISHED had been in the CUbana’s), and I will trust that the HSD (Head Shoe Diva) really means it when she says the platform will break in…

And here they are right after I got them. A beautiful shoe…Diosa in Bronze, 3.5″ heel with 3/8″ platform.

*********Update***********….PLatform beginning to break in after 3 wearings now.

 Pic on my feet…can you see that my heel is a tad too long for these?

Tara Tango Shoes just released some new models! All appear to have a memory sole lining. She writes the blurb like it is a platform height (“This 3.5″ heel feels like 3″ with it’s memory foam insole and full leather linings.”) but she doesn’t mention a platform. I’ve been really wanting to try a pair that have memory foam linings, but I keep getting seduced by flashy Comme il Faut instead. I did try on a pair of her Clio shoes at a festival (and my housemate bought a pair) and they fit really well. They weren’t instant heaven on my feet, but my platform shoes weren’t either. I would really have to wear a pair for a few weeks to get a good impression of them.

The new model “Alma Nueva” is gorgeous with black suede trimmed in red patent leather, a slightly slimmer heel and a less obvious platform (responding to the market pressure of Comme il Faut perhaps?). I own a pair of the old “Alma” in black and white (now discontinued) and I love them. My only complaint is that the footbed lining on the old Alma style peeled up and bunched under my toes. I glued it down, but I have never been able to get it quite right, which is a little annoying (it irritates my toes and it is the only thing preventing these shoes from being divinely comfortable). Tara and I chatted a little bit about this at a recent festival and I really hope that this problem has been corrected with the new models.

I am not as sure what I think of the Nueva Luna Style. I’ve been wanting a pair of polka dotted shoes, but these are VERY dotty. I think I would definitely have to see these in person (or at least a MUCH better picture) and probably on my foot, to see how I liked the textures, etc. I normally don’t shy away from flashy shoes, but for some reason the dots just don’t do it for me at the moment. I am capricious though. Next week I could feel completely differently. This is the silver color, this model is also available in black with copper dots.

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).