What is a footwear like?
Useful hints to create (even) a digital work

Footwear is certainly the most sculptural accessory: the one where third dimension looks evident even without the human body. Covering the foot and the lower part of the leg, footwear has always been a particular attraction for any weather and culture, because it is both a functional element (protecting the body extremity not only against atmospheric agents – as any other clothes do – but against contact with the ground) and decorative element (it gives an immediate sign of strength and distinction, makes higher, suggests intriguing sensual scenarios …). Nowadays footwear is mainly an objected connected with fashion. That’s why shoes are realized with a great variety of materials, from hide to leather, from any fabric to any kind of woven fiber, as well as wood. Quite recently rubber and plastic have been used for soles, while techno fibres for uppers.
The essential parts of a shoe are sole and upper.

Heel and plateau are certainly some of the most sculptural elements of footwear. Heel. In the traditional shoes for men it’s never over 3 cm. Instead, in those for women, it can be of 9 cm. Plateau. Mainly used for women, its height ranges from 3 to 5 cm but, together with the heel, it can raise the figure up to 11 or 13 cm.

The upper is the most visible element of shoes, as well as the one most subject to decorations, on which it is possible to insert the  lace, an accessory used for fastening shoes. It’s a thin leather lace, or a fabric tape, which is threaded through the eyelets, that can be simple holes, reinforced metal holes, or metal hooks: they make it possible to tighten the upper on the foot, or loosen it to take off the shoes. The evolution has added zippers, press-studs, velcro and clips to laces and tapes. The buckle can be another element of the upper. If once it was used only to lace up, now it’s mainly a decorative and sculptural element.

The boot is a shoe covering not only the foot, but also the ankle and the leg up to the calf, or even the first part of the thigh. Thanks to their wider surface, they are perfect for more complex and particularly bright decorations.