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So my friend Elise McIntosh was on a business trip in Crystal City (near Washington, DC), and decided to take a walk. She wears these crazy shoes called Vibram Five Fingers — which I refer to as “the gorilla feet.” Anyway, she looked down at one point and noticed that on a short walk, she was walking over all kinds of interesting-looking patterns. So she started taking pictures and posting them on Flickr, in a set called Crystal City Beneath Five Fingers. She wrote:
I was talking with Siri [a mutual friend] before I left about how empty and soulless Crystal City feels, so when I got here, I tried to find something interesting about it. Then I noticed that the sidewalk kept changing: patterns, materials, textures. Kind of like an interior decorator took the neighborhood floor on as a personal project.
Next time, I want to see if I can get other feet in the picture with me. Might be an interesting way to meet some new shoes.
Check out the slideshow for a fun photo adventure. And if anyone’s up for it, go ahead and post your own walk-photos on Flickr, and leave a link (minus the http part) in the comments!
Comments (15)
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I have two pairs of these shoes, and they are the most comfortable pair of shoes I’ve ever owned.
It’s strange when you first start wearing them, getting used to feeling the texture of whatever you’re walking on.
posted by Abby on 7-2-2009 at 3:27 pm
So you mean \JJ Casuals: Shoes That Look Like Feet\ are real?
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/segments/6651.shtml
posted by Lindseydl on 7-2-2009 at 4:33 pm
i would’ve never thought of shoes with toes even though it seems so obvious! but why call it 5 fingers? why not 5 toes? or foot-gloves, floves? I should stop.
posted by septerr on 7-2-2009 at 5:45 pm
This is a great twist to the more typical fivefingers self-taken photo! Just put it up on my fivefingers fan site ( http://birthdayshoes.com ). Thanks for sharing -
posted by justin on 7-2-2009 at 5:59 pm
Abby “It’s strange when you first start wearing them, getting used to feeling the texture of whatever you’re walking on.”
Um, okay, I’m picturing the typical terrain around where I live. No sidewalks. How are they on gravel? Hot asphalt? Broken glass, thorny weeds, etc. Can you run in them? How many times have you stubbed your toes, or had your toes stepped on while wearing them? You see, most people don’t go barefoot because most environments aren’t foot friendly. And where there are no cities with their garbage, broken sidewalks and sticky spots (who knows why it’s sticky), you still have stones, thorns, and critters to watch out for. Think I’ll pass.
The pictures of patterns of mild interest, kind of reminds me of Arnold J. Rimmer’s pictures of 20th century telephone poles.
Ooh! I like my recaptcha “be haven”
posted by Pam on 7-3-2009 at 8:15 am
the shoes are wrong on many levels. i suppose if you don’t care about fashion and aren’t exposing your five fingers to the general public they would be ok. like if you’re hiking in the woods or taking out the trash. i conversed with a guy at a cocktail party for over an hour before i noticed he was wearing the five fingers. at first i was confused. he then explained them: comfort, blah blah blah. once i understood he did that to his feet on purpose i ran away from him very fast. i spoke to several friends about it and we all agreed it was like discovering someones disturbing bizzaro fetish. Remember Five finger fans: Some people think feet are very very ugly and by semi-exposing yours in a monkey like fashion you are risking being offensive and possibly never getting laid ever again.
posted by rebekah on 7-3-2009 at 9:52 am
rebekah- that was the most stuck up comment ever.
posted by Diane on 7-3-2009 at 11:58 am
@Diane,
rebekah’s comment is not so much stuck up as it is a stark confession of her preference of form over function. She’d rather shoes be aesthetically pleasing than comfortable and complimentary to feet. But this preference for form doesn’t stop at fivefingers. Perhaps even more telling: she had a conversation with someone for “over an hour” but immediately “ran away” once she observed his footwear. Said differently, she had an engaging conversation with a guy only to write him off upon discovering his unacceptable (to rebekah, anyway) footwear.
Talk about a bizarro fetish.
@Pam,
Let me see if I can tackle your questions:
>How are they on gravel?
Bumpy. Sort of like a foot massage. However, it’s manageable (though a bit alarming the first time you try it). You can run on gravel with them, too, surprisingly enough.
>Hot asphalt?
Probably depends on how hot the asphalt is, but I’ve not experienced much, if any, discomfort wearing mine on hot asphalt in the summer.
>Broken glass, thorny weeds, etc.
No problem.
>Can you run in them?
Yeah — people even run ultramarathons (50 to 100 miles) in them.
>How many times have you stubbed your toes, or had your toes stepped on while wearing them?
I’ve stubbed my pinky toe once while trail running. I think I’ve had my toes stepped on once in over a year of wearing VFFs.
See, the thing is: when you’re down to being effectively barefoot, you are much more foot-aware, so stubbing toes and being stepped on (or stepping on painful stuff) is much less likely. VFFs promote foot awareness (and outright barefootedness even moreso).
Hope that helps.
posted by justin on 7-3-2009 at 12:34 pm
3 facts
1. i don’t have a foot fetish (calling it like it is).
2. i happen to think feet are the ugliest part of the human body.
3. i happen to care about fashion.
these things do not make me stuck up.
rather they make me very disturbed that there exists a fivefingerfan site.
you people scare me.
keep your fivefingers away from me.
i think i’m going to start an
anti-fivefingerfan site.
or wait! maybe one already exists
here: http://www.manoloblahnik.com/start.html
posted by rebekah on 7-3-2009 at 12:42 pm
I could never even consider wearing these. I can’t even wear regular thing-between-the-toes flip-flops. Just using a toe separator for painting my toe nails bothers me. Can’t have things between my toes. Makes finding cute dress sandals a bit hard these days :-)
posted by Danyel D on 7-3-2009 at 1:26 pm
Pam:
What Justin said.
Gravel – Indeed like a foot massage. Try running on sand in them. Again like a foot massage.
Asphalt – Surprisingly, it isn’t bad. It warms up after a while, but it doesn’t scald your feet.
Broken glass, other sharp objects – I’ve stepped on my share of glass, nails and such and it really hasn’t done much to my feet. Like walking over glass in normal shoes, it doesn’t usually pierce the rubber on the soles of the feet. The rubber has enough “give” to flow over it.
Running – Yes, but if you normally jog in jogging shoes and then try these, you’ll be feeling muscles you didn’t know you could exercise during a jog.
Stubbing/being stepped on – Been stepped on a few times, stubbed a few times. If you look at the toe, the rubber comes up and forms a lip over the front and tip of the toe. I would compare stubbing your toe to when you’re walking barefoot and you get careless. Being stepped on… imagine that you’re wearing canvas shoes. There is still protection, so you’re still unlikely to get your toes broken because you’ll move your foot away before that can happen.
I was concerned about this stuff when I first bought these shoes, but after a while you realize you’re really unlikely to hurt yourself any more than you would be with thick-soled shoes. Plus, these things really are quite comfortable.
People ask me about arch support, and unless you have foot problems to begin with and need orthopedic shoes, you really don’t need it. You walk differently barefoot and with these on than you do with regular shoes on, so it works out. I just wouldn’t wear them on a rainy day unless you like getting your feet wet.
posted by Abby on 7-3-2009 at 2:38 pm
I think the 5 toed things are disgusting. I seen a weirdo at our store with them on the other day. Blue feet with toenails painted on them. Ugggg. And it wasn’t because he wore these ugly things that I say he was a weirdo. He WAS a weirdo who just happened to be wearing these things. He walked around looking at books talking to himself very loudly and the stuff he said made no sense. I wouldn’t wear them on a bet.
posted by John Boy on 7-3-2009 at 10:52 pm
Imagine a generation of archless people. Kind of like when we were supposed to be monkeys and apes. Very unhealthy I would say. And painful. Feet need support. Oh well, the same generation who wear this stuff will have brain cancer from the overuse of cell phones.
posted by John Boy on 7-3-2009 at 10:56 pm
I wonder why we weren’t born with shoes on our feet?
posted by Derek on 7-6-2009 at 10:47 am
“the ugliest part of the body is the mind”
Zappa
posted by Frank on 7-20-2009 at 1:15 am