Definitive : Prime Time to Pump It Up
What is perfect, of course, depends upon the individual, but it should be noted that the Perfect Black Pumps are extremely rare. Women have been known to travel the world to find them, to undergo years of sacrifice, wearing instead brown, beige or even taupe shoes rather than allow anything less than the Perfect Black Pump to grace their foot.
--Cartoonist and writer Mimi Pond, from “Shoes Never Lie”
Well, you can bury those mud-colored babies in the back of your closet. And as for that seat on Alitalia, maybe you can get a refund. The Year of the Woman? Maybe. The Year of the Perfect Black Pump? No question.
Elegant and ever-so-subtly sexy.
Rare though the perfect pump--of whatever color--may be, it’s not for lack of trying. Strapless closed shoes have been around for centuries--perhaps since the 4th Century but possibly even before, although how the style came by that odd moniker is not known. The Dictionary of Costume states that the word was first used in the 16th Century, noting that the style was worn principally by footmen, who themselves came to be called pumps. In modern times, the style has been a classic for both day and evening from the 1930s on.
What better style, then, to go with ‘30s-inspired fashion? There hasn’t been such a sole-satisfying selection in a long, long time. Whether the silhouette is the strictly structured man-style suit (think--and thank--’30s siren Marlene Dietrich), the romantic Annie-Hall-retro redux look (as in ‘30s cum ‘70s cum ‘90s), or even something as today as jeans and a jacket, there’s a perfect--that is, perfectly plain--pump to go with it.
On the conservative side, it might be Ferragamo’s--fashionable, yet a design that is a masterful example of moderation in all things: fine smooth leather, the smallest stitching, medium-high tapered heel, crescent-shaped toe. For the forward, it might be Charles Jourdan’s--a U-turn to the ‘70s in platforms with a bumpish rounded toe and squat rounded heel. For those who stand on fashion’s middle ground, there are plenty of styles in between whose details take them beyond the boring--high-cut vamps that flirt with a demi-boot styling, slim or substantial Louis heels, square throats, low-cut sides . . . . Whatever, this is a shoe for the sophisticate.
