| From pain and fortitude, a magic symbol |
| Before the turn of the 20th century, pointe shoes came in only one size and were made to fit. A long narrow tube of satin-covered leather bound and squeezed the foot into the ideal esthetic – an inhumanly-shaped miniscule pointe that did not remotely resemble the naked foot that entered it. The result of this painful effort is the symbolic figure of the unworldly creature of magical qualities and supreme femininity. It is a symbol recognized all over the world, achieved by fortitude and sacrifice in a search for illusion, perfection and beauty. The toe shoe of the 19th century bound the dancer’s foot as the Chinese bound their infant daughters’ feet and as laced corsets bound the bodies of fashionable women (the satin used for toe shoes is the same silk-and-cotton mixture as corset satin). Bythe
early 1900s, Pavlova was wearing a shoe that
resembled the toe shoe of today. There were different sizes by then, but still only one width, and the shoe was leather. Not until the 1950s did the construction of toe shoes improve dramatically in comfort, pliability, balance and strength. |
| Since I was satisfied with my own toe shoes, I had not visited Freed’s, but after three weeks of touring I decided I had to see |
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| it for myself and made my pilgrimage from Paris across the Channel. A long tube ride from Heathrow Airport and a small taxi fare landed me at 62-64 Well Street in Hackney, London’s oldest industrial area. |
| Factor director Bernard Kohler, a 35-year veteran of Freed’s, welcomed me with lunch in the factory canteen. He trains the new makers himself, preferring to have men (makers are always men) with no previous “shoe experience,” just as a good ballet school prefers young girls and boys without previous training. In both cases, time is wasted having to unlearn knowledge incompatible with the job at hand. He is a wiry, energetic man with a string, handsome face and heavily scarredhands – big, gnarled, scarred and skilled. Their look is poignantly mirrored by the dancers’ feet, which are also strong, scarred and misshapen from wearing the shoes. In the making and the wearing, a toe shoe, ironically, is not a kind or gentle object. |
| The dilemma: more strength with more comfort |
| As we ate, Kohler told me the story of the toe shoe. All of the changes in the shoes’ sizing, shaping and raw materials that |
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