Selfridge's Shoe Gallery

Shoes are big business so off I went to Selfridges to see their new Shoe Gallery. This was my second visit. I went to have a look last weekend and it was heaving. Way too many people to enjoy what is I guess meant to be a pleasurable shopping experience – even though I am not in the market for women’s shoes. So second time lucky I thought. Maybe if I went earlier in the morning it would be less busy. But sadly it wasn't, there were still throngs of people.

The idea of a gallery, in my mind anyway, is somewhere where things are shown off and displayed to their best potential. Things in galleries are prized, special and to some considered artworks. So the Selfridges Shoe Gallery is not quite a gallery in the traditional sense; not really a gallery at all. More a space where designers and luxury brands either have concessions; Christian Louboutin, Chanel, Gucci, Fendi, Repetto etc or shelf space; LK Bennett, Paul Smith, Kurt Geiger etc. But reading the Selfridges blurb about the Shoe Gallery one would imagine being transported to another dimension where Jamie Fobert has not only created shoe galleries but 'apartments' as well. What happened to plain old English. It's a shoe department in a shop! I shouldn’t be too harsh because I do like Selfridges. But I hate the pretence.

Now onto the shoes. I took a look at two ‘iconic brands’ Louboutin and Lanvin. There is no doubt that they are beautifully designed shoes. But, and there is always a but with me, they are not so beautifully made. For the prices they charge I would expect close to perfectly made shoes. Turn over a Louboutin and what is striking is the lack of symmetry of the soles.

The Lanvin ballet pumps fare no better.

Firstly they are not made in their country of origin, France, a must I believe for luxury brand manufacture unless the expertise is to be found elsewhere. But there is no expertise exhibited in the manufacture of the Lanvin shoes, well none that I could see. The stitching is all over the place. They look like they have been put together by people in a hurry. And this brings me back to this whole notion of the luxury brand. I still question the use of the word luxury to describe any of these products unless the luxury is being able to afford £300.00 + for a pair of shoes.

But price is not ultimately what luxury is about.