I have to admit, I am hopelessly unhip, especially regarding clothes. I’d never heard of John Fluevog shoes before. Apparently they were a big deal back in the hippie days of the 1960s, with a store practically at the corner of Haight and Ashbury. (Even though the shoes were fabulously expensive back then, not exactly the thing you’d associate with impoverished hippies. They still ain’t cheap.)The shoes were the subject of an exhibit in Vancouver a couple of years ago, and are still fondly regarded by many (Thank Og for the internet, without which I’d know none of this)
Nevertheless, the Fluevog Swordfish looks to me like Elegant Orc Wear. They’re SHoes to Watch Game of Thrones In. That ornate triangle tip is (or at least used to be) steel-tipped.
Am I terminally out of it? I just can’t see someone saying “I’d like those shoes!”, or imagine some Brooks Brothers-garbed yuppie type emerging from his Mercedes shod with these. These look like shoes to be LARPing in at the yearly SF convention.
Bearing in mind that I’m totally fashion-impaired, I have to say that those are some of the stupidest shoes I’ve ever seen.
They’re the shoes with the built-in butt plug.
I should mention that I didn’t go seeking these out. A full-page ad for these, takemn up by a picture of the things, takes up the back cover of the Boston Weekly Dig this week. It was hard to miss.
“Elegant Orc Wear” – the name even sounds like an Orc — Grishnak…Gothmog … Fluevog.
He’ll probably be in the upcoming Hobbit movie, kicking the dwarves with his steel-tipped boots.
OK, that one is odd to say the least, but most of their shoes look pretty normal to me - from a quick perusal of the first page or so of the men’s and women’s selections.
I first came upon the brand by passing by a store window in Chicago, and some of the funkier styling and colors are what caught my eye. I suspect the purpose of that particular model of shoe is to make you do a double-take, then check out the other offerings. (And I’m sure they’ll sell some of those. Someone who works where I do and is obviously fashion-obsessed had been wearing, for a while, elongated shoes with toes that slightly turned up at the end.)
I have a couple pairs of Fluevogs.
He caters to different audiences. They are big with rock-a-billy types, quirky European women riffing off Amelie, stage musicians and others looking for something a little different.
Some of his styles are completely out there and hideous, but you can also find pretty standard shoe types- for women he has pumps, mary janes, booties, dress boots, sandles, etc. He is a true craftsman, and they are very good shoes that are hand built using top quality materials and techniques and are designed to be repairable and last for years. Operetta Malabrans were the first pair of heels I could ever walk in. Now I’ve been wearing my pair almost daily for three years and they still look and feel great- and I am a VERY heavy walker.
Fluevogs are fairly easy to find used, as there are a lot of collectors who periodically clean out their closets.
Those shoes would look awful silly in Mexico. Not for having big toes but for having small ones.
Holy smokes, those are hideous. I’ll stick with my Weejuns, thanks.
They’d be awesome stage wear. I’d rock the shit out of them.
I would have a terrible and perhaps irresistible urge to literally kick people in the ass if I were wearing those.
Definitely unique and odd looking … but meticulously designed for comfort and made to last for years. I have two pair: an odd-looking thick-soled green/blue Fluevog pair that have become my Wisconsin lawnmowing shoes, and also a nice plain comfortable black slip-on.
As a LARPer, I object to the implication that our taste in shoes is that bad.
If I paid that much for brothel-creepers, I wouldn’t have enough left to be there in the first place.
They look like wicked witch of the west shoes.
Oh, I love these! However I made my One Big Girly purchase already this year when I got my Kate Spade bag. The shoes in the OP I don’t really like, though. There’s not much you can do to jazz up men’s shoes.
You kidding?
I could totally picture some hipster, with overly dramatic hair, in a trendy coffee shop, sporting a pair of these.
And, no, I’ve never seen or heard of them before.
Man those are fugly.
Unfortunately, even the discounted price is more than my yearly clothes budget…
I…kinda like 'em.
The Mexican jester boots though…they’re kidding, right? Right?
I’m enjoying these quite a bit.
There sort of practical in shape, and yet pink all at the same time.