Sunday, September 12, 2010

Vintage Fashion - How Best to Display Shoes

This post was originally going to be about vintage shoes, but when I searched for vintage shoes, well, some of the photographs on Etsy stood out as bad. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, or be mean, so I won't show pictures of some of the offenders. And please keep in mind, this is just my opinion, from a buyer's point of view. I don't sell vintage shoes, and am by no means an expert.

I was searching for vintage boots, and clicked on a tall pair. Let's just say the close-up wasn't good. The person is wearing them, and I do want to say it may not be a good idea to show vintage shoes being worn. Vintage items are great, well-made, but if you do show them being worn on another persons foot, sometimes the mind does wander over to the "foot odor" area.

Also, if I can tell you're not wearing socks, that grosses me out a bit. Again, I might be picky, but if they're mis-laced and a person's bare feet are wearing an item I want to buy that doesn't conjour up any pleasant thoughts. When I go shopping for new shoes, I know people may have tried them on before I do, but I don't have pictures of them doing so. Also, some legs aren't meant for shoe close-ups. If you're really pale, and the shoes are black, your legs look really bright and hurt my eyes. I don't have good legs, that's why I don't have any leg close-ups.

Below is a picture done by BirdsChasingBugs on Etsy. Nice picture, classy, I even like the background. No one is wearing them, foot odor doesn't even occur to me. These would be a pair I would buy, the photograph sets a pleasant mood, which is important when buying on-line. Set the scene based on the shoe, and the photo will sell the item.



5 comments:

Tawny said...

If I were to buy vintage shoes, I wouldn't want a picture of someone wearing them. My legs are going to look different in them anyway and I don't want to think about stinky feet while I'm shopping - bleh. The photo above is perfect as you say. YOu can see the shoe, and don't think about odor :)

Sarah B. said...

Those are some good, common sense points! I've always shied away from buying my shoes online (either new or vintage) because my feet are SO picky in what they're comfortable in!

Estylo Jewelry said...

I agree about the socks thing. It doesn't look good at all if they wear them without socks.

fabriquefantastique said...

Mod...what can I say...pithy blog...lol

cabin + cub said...

oh so true! nothing more off putting than unknown un-socked feet modeling vintage shoes!