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Former First Lady’ Shoe Collection Merits Off-Broadway Musical

“Imelda: A New Musical,”  is an Off Broadway show about the controversial former first lady of the Philippines. According to The Wall Street Journal, it tells the story of Imelda Marcos partly through her footwear; her nearly 3,000 pairs of shoes made her a symbol of the excesses of the regime led by the late Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos. The show opens tomorrow at the Julia Miles Theatre in New York.

Marcos starts out in nude peep-toe heels, but soon her fortunes improve and her closet goes Hollywood. Ms. Marcos dons eight different pairs of shoes over the course of two acts. About 20 more pairs are used as props.

“She has blue beaded gaudy shoes, but there’s also a really glitzy sparkly silver number, and a gold strappy [pair],” says Ivy Chou, costume designer for the musical, which is produced by the Pan Asian Repertory Theatre. Shoes made up 40% of the $1,500-$2,000 costume budget for Marcos, she says.

Tisa Chang, artistic producing director of the Pan Asian Repertory, the show’s producer, donated some pairs from her own closet. “The lyrics mention sequined, snakeskin, Ferragamo — I had a few designers they mentioned,” she says. “If you buy a pair that matches a certain outfit you don’t want to throw it out. It becomes kind of an artifact.”

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GPS Shoes for Alzheimer’s Sufferers

According to LA Weekly, thanks to a patent recently granted by The GTX Corporation (which specializes in the creation of Global Positioning Systems applications in cellphones wearable items) announced it will soon begin production of a line of footwear called the Ambulator. The shoe will provide “a dynamic method for accurately positioning the shoe with GPS data capture and transmission of that location to a central monitoring station which disseminates the secure data through the use of proprietary software and cellular connectivity and the Internet.” Retailers will “start selling the shoe next spring for $200 to $300, plus a monthly monitoring fee starting at about $18 per month. Some of the costs may be reimbursed by Medicare.”

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Aetrex Foot Machine help you find your shoe

Here is how it works: a digital foot scanner calculates three different readings to give an accurate measurement of the areas of your foot that are being over-stressed. It maps your arch height, foot width and overall pressure distribution. Results pop up right before your eyes on a plasma screen. The colorful display helps determine what type of shoe is best for you. You can try it here.

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Pick a shoe and get active

If you’re in Austin, Texas, another run in heels is going on in case you missed the last one! The event takes place this Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Hill Country Galleria. Men are invited to throw on a pair of heels and join in for a 100 yard dash benefiting the Austin affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. If biking shoes are more your thing, mark your calendar for the Texas Mamma Jamma Ride, on October 10. It will benefits breast cancer and will have a route for every level from 10 to 100 miles.

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Social networks website boost supershoes

In May 2009 supershoes.com launched a number of new features including the ability to rank, tag and share products customers like or dislike. Since the launch, product page views per visit have increased 56%, conversion rate has increased 37% and customer interactions on product pages have increased 128%. The team encouraged adoption of the new features through contests and giveaways executed on social networks including Facebook and Twitter. “We knew this audience would be familiar with this type of functionality, but also saw it as an opportunity to connect with the newest breed of online shoppers, who expect increased levels of interaction, connectedness and personalization online” explains supershoes’rep. More details here.

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