Heels: Had Hermes Met Omphale …

I’ve already covered ancient cross-dressing here: When Men Were Men ... And Wore Dresses

To the best of my knowledge Hermes never wore women’s clothes, but had he done so then these would have been the perfect heels for him: the Malika Sandals by Oscar Tiye.



As I noted in this post on Ancient Greek Sandals, it initially looks as if the wings are the wrong way around, but in fact they are represented this way in some Byzantine art. That’s why I was interested in the ‘designer blurb’ on the Luisa Via Roma web site:

Oscar Tiye is a high end Italian shoe brand, founded by Jordanian born Amina Muaddi and her business partner Irina Curutz. Dictated by purism, the label was built from a desire to create the perfect shoe, and was born out of the essence of the primary desire of every woman: to have on their feet a shoe capable of expressing the perfect balance of elegance and strength. Entirely Made in Italy, the collection features design details reminiscent of the delicate architecture of mosques and Byzantine patterns, resulting in a slick, sophisticated and uberchic aesthetic.

A nice reminder that many of the most beautiful early mosques were built Muslim rulers who hired local Byzantine artists in their newly conquered lands. The best examples of this are Damascus and Jerusalem.

For those who want to buy the shoes, they are available at The Box Boutique in London (every time I try to find a stockist for a new young designer these guys always seem to be already have spotted them, so it’s a shop I highly recommend) for £525 (sizes 37 and 41 left).

Luisa Via Roma has them only in a 38.5 (coincidentally my size) on sale at £396 (here). They also have the black and the gold flat version in the sale for £380 in a variety of sizes. I’d go for the black flats if… (I’m less keen on the new season shoe-boots).



And yes, Ancient Greek Sandals has some fab new designs as *cough* I might have noted passing through Harvey Nichols the other day …



For those who want to read up about Augustus' anti-Anthony propaganda, this passage:

Antony claimed descent from Hercules, and so the story of the demigod being duped by Omphale into wearing a dress and spinning wool, while she carried his club and wore his lion skin, was revived in literature and art.

comes from Adrian Goldsworthy's brilliant new biography of Augustus.

Augustus: From Revolutionary to Emperor - hardcover at Amazon UK
Augustus: From Revolutionary to Emperor - Kindle at Amazon UK
Yale hardcover at Amazon US - Augustus: First Emperor of Rome