Riddle: How is a Stiletto like a sky scraper?

How is a stiletto like a skyscraper?

When you put it in terms like these, its easy to see the obvious relationship between shoe design and architecture.

The more subtle similarities might escape your notice however, so perhaps its better to think of it in this way...

What do a fifties ranch house

and a saddle shoe have in common?

Yes, they were both trend driven expressions of a burgeoning new suburban culture in America in the 1940s and 1950s but even more, they illustrate how both fashion and architecture, even at the most base level, respond to the ideal body and the culture of the time in which they are created.

So then, can you compare an Earth shoe to a building like the CalTrans headquarters in LA, winner of the Pritzker prize in 2005?

Yes and no. They both might be iterations of the culture's desire to move away from non-renewable resources and treat the planet with a more gentle touch. But while the Earth shoe relies on its negative heel technology, the Cal Trans building is much more clever. Here the architects have combined a structure which mimics its environment, blending into the sunrise and sunset of Los Angeles, with technology to capitalize on the power of the sun. Other features, such as "skip-stop" elevators which exit onto to every third floor save on energy as well.

Ultimately, the shoe is one of the best expressions of the architecture of fashion in that its design explores most clearly the action of human design on the human body. Distributing the weight of the body to heel, toe or ball of the foot, creating platform structures which elevate the figure and distort the length of the leg--all these things involve a kind of thinking which shares a kinship with the mind of the architect.

Consider all these things the next time you shop for shoes or take a look at your surroundings and I'll be back next week.