Armadillo shoe facts for kids
The armadillo shoe (alternately armadillo heel or armadillo boot) is a high fashion platform shoe created by British fashion designer Alexander McQueen for his final collection, Plato's Atlantis (Spring/Summer 2010). Only 24 pairs exist: 21 were made during the initial production in 2009, and three were made in 2015 for a charity auction. The shoes are named for their unusual convex curved shape, said to resemble an armadillo. Each pair is approximately 12 inches (30 cm) from top to floor, with a 9-inch (23 cm) stiletto heel; this extreme height caused some models to refuse to walk in the Plato's Atlantis show. American singer Lady Gaga famously wore the shoes in several public appearances, including the music video for her 2009 single "Bad Romance".
Critical response to the armadillo heels was extensive, both immediately following the show and in retrospect. They are considered iconic in the context of the Plato's Atlantis show, McQueen's body of work, and in fashion history in general. Critics have referred to them as both grotesque and beautiful, sometimes in the same review. Much of the negative criticism focused on the height of the heel, which has been viewed as impractical, even unsafe. Other writers have explored the shoes as artistic statements. Pairs of armadillo heels have been featured in museum exhibitions, most prominently in the McQueen retrospective Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, first shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 2011.
Background
British designer Alexander McQueen was known in the fashion industry for dramatic, theatrical fashion shows featuring imaginative, sometimes controversial designs. He had designed extreme footwear for previous collections, including high platform shoes inspired by the Japanese geta and Venetian chopine for his Spring/Summer 2008 collection, La Dame Bleue, and houndstooth platforms for Autumn/Winter 2009, The Horn of Plenty.
For his Spring/Summer 2010 collection, Plato's Atlantis, McQueen took inspiration from climate change and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, envisioning a world where humans evolved to survive underwater after global flooding. The collection was presented on the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week on 6 October 2009. The show began with designs that used earth tones and digitally printed animal skin patterns to invoke the appearance of land animals, and gradually transitioned into designs featuring abstract prints in aqua and blue, suggesting that the models were adapting to an increasingly submerged planet. The show's final outfit, entitled "Neptune's Daughter", was covered entirely in enormous blue-green opalescent sequins, representing the model's full transition to an underwater environment. It was worn by Polina Kasina, who had long been McQueen's fit model. Plato's Atlantis was McQueen's final fully realised collection.
Design
The armadillo shoes are almost 12 inches (30 cm) from top to floor, with a 9-inch (23 cm) spike heel. The vertical body of the shoe is shaped in a convex curve, which has been compared to the silhouette of an armadillo, lobster claw, or animal hoof. Their shape is generally regarded as unique in high fashion, although museum curator Helen Persson found a precedent in the shape of Persian riding boots of the 16th century.
The shoe hides the entire foot from ankle to toe, creating the illusion that the wearer is walking en pointe in the manner of a ballerina. In actuality the ball of the foot rests at an angle on a concealed platform, with a small bulge above the toe to facilitate lifting the heavy shoe to walk. In keeping with the animalistic theme of the collection, each pair is uniquely decorated in animal skin such as python skin or shagreen (rawhide from the cowtail stingray), or iridescent paillettes resembling scales.
History
Development and runway show
McQueen sketched the initial idea for the shoes in early 2009, taking inspiration from the work of British pop artist Allen Jones and Australian fashion designer Leigh Bowery. He commissioned shoe designer Georgina Goodman to realise the concept. Each pair was hand-carved from wood in Italy. The Daily Beast reported that the complex manufacturing process "spanned five days and involved 30 people, using material from three suppliers and passing through three factories". The inner lining and outer shell were shaped separately and fitted together; each section required two zippers for access. For the original collection, 21 pairs were made, 20 of which were worn during the Plato's Atlantis October 2009 fashion show.
Designed as showpieces, the shoes were never commercially produced, although many were sold to private buyers following the show. The Alexander McQueen Archive in London retains ownership of at least five pairs, including the pair covered with iridescent scales worn in the final outfit of the show. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City owns two pairs, one made from turquoise shagreen and another in black leather with metal accents.
The unusual shape made walking in the shoes notoriously difficult. The show's producer, Sam Gainsbury, tested them the night before the show and found walking impossible. When he complained of this to McQueen and suggested the models were at risk of falling, the designer responded, "If they fall, they fall." In the end, models Abbey Lee Kershaw, Natasha Poly and Sasha Pivovarova all declined to walk in Plato's Atlantis because of their concerns that the heels were too high to be safe. In the 2018 documentary McQueen model Magdalena Frąckowiak said that she found walking in them "really frightening". Despite these concerns, no models fell at the show, which was regarded as "miraculous" by the fashion press. Shortly after the Plato's Atlantis show, staffers from British Vogue tested the shoes and found them difficult to walk in. Months after the show McQueen confirmed in an interview with trade journal Women's Wear Daily that he had never tested the armadillos personally. He made it clear that he was far less concerned with practicality than with visual effect, saying elsewhere, "The world needs fantasy, not reality. We have enough reality today."
Celebrity wear
Celebrities have worn armadillo heels for red carpet appearances and photoshoots.
American singer Lady Gaga premiered her 2009 single "Bad Romance" at the Plato's Atlantis show. For the single's music video, released November 2009, Gaga wore the opalescent "Neptune's Daughter" outfit that closed the Plato's Atlantis show, including the matching armadillo shoes. Gaga wore a pair of armadillo heels in python skin when she arrived at the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2010; she described this look in 2018 as the top outfit of her career. Later that month, she wore the same pair with a dress made of hair for a performance at The Oak Room at New York's Plaza Hotel.
Three brand-new pairs were created in 2015 by McQueen's label in partnership with Christie's auction house, which sold them to raise money for the UNICEF 2015 Nepal earthquake relief fund. Initially expected to sell for US$10–15,000 all together, they eventually sold for a combined total of $295,000. All three pairs were sold to American actor Taylor Kinney, who gifted them to Lady Gaga, then his fiancée. In 2016 Gaga was the guest editor for the Spring preview issue of V magazine, which featured a photoshoot of herself and Guinness wearing armadillo heels.
In 2019 Kerry Taylor Auctions reported selling a pair of armadillo heels in turquoise shagreen for GB£60,000.
