Oh, the shoes!

For sometime now I’ve noticed, looking in my wordpress dashboard, that many people find my blog while looking for tango shoes. I remember the early days of my tango when I bought my first pairs and the now never ending research for a good combination of style and comfort for the benefit of my feet. 🙂
So I’ve decided to add a list of the brands I like and the brands I’d like to try out, also in spite of the broken computer who kept inside the hd the larger collection of tango shoes links I had managed to gather. 😦

Comme il Faut

they really are the best, it’s not a question of having the best looking shoes and the greatest variety of styles (which is also true, anyway), but, even more important for dancers, they have the best-centered heels and the most comfortable fit you can find out there. There is a website selling directly for Comme il Faut called Lisadore, but there are also a wide number of local websites selling in almost every area of the world, certainly there are french, american, british, turkish, greek and italian websites. My advice is to look up the nearest one and to buy the shoes from them, they may have less variety (since Comme il Faut shoes are only made in a limited number of pairs per style, but in most cases the price is a little lower). Lisadore has, anyway, much information about the brand itself and its politics and history, so it’s definetly worth a visit.

Neotango

I put them a close second on my personal list because they both have some really good-looking models and their heels and forms fit most people. The downside of these brand is, for those who shop online (which is most of us) is the limited number of models they present on the website, in the BsAs shop on the contrary they have a greater variety on display, so I would advise a visit for those fortunate enough to be in the Mecca of tango. They have two websites, one (in flash) is always the same one presenting a selection of models and giving information about the shop and its history, the other one (html) is the online shop.

Victorio Tango Shoes

I discovered this brand about a year ago and I’ve been wanting to try it out since then. The shoes have a great variety (even though many models look a bit outdated) and it has a most wonderful collection of sandals that, even though not quite reaching the Comme il Faut state of the art, looks great. The website also has useful tips to choose the size (something that makes most people dubious when online purchases are concerned) and much info about the shop owners and their history as shoe-makers. They sell and send their shoes everywhere you want, I once wrote them an e-mail once requesting information and they answered easily and quickly..I did not finalize the purchase, in the end, because the new Comme il Faut collection arrived and..well..I AM quite obsessed with those in the end 🙂 , but otherwise the people at Victorio Tango Shoes seemed perfectly friendly and helpful.

Darcos Tango

It’s a brand I wouldn’t have recommended until sometime ago, because their styles were so old fashioned that I really couldn’t believe the difference in price would justify the choice, please, don’t think I’m snobbish, I’m Italian, its perfectly normal for us to be picky with shoes 🙂 . There have always been good models, but the majority of the pairs lacked, in my opinion, the class and the style you could find elsewhere (or even have done for yourself in BsAs, if you are one of the fortunate lot). BUT..I’ve discovered that they renewed their collection and there are now some really good model and a great variety as ever even online (this has always been a positive side of the brand), so chek it out, because they are supposed to be really comfortable.

Madreselva

This brand I never tried nor I have information on their comfort through reliable sources, but I am putting it on the list nevertheless because it has some great models and if some of you out there have tried/try them please let me know.

Tango Brujo

This is the first suggestion for the men…poor them! 🙂 This shop is, in fact, not only a shoe-shop, but it has clothing, accessories and a tango school in it (directed by Gaston Torelli). They have a new website and its online tienda is not ready yet, but check it out since they have very nice looking models both for women and men.

DNI

Have a look around for the shoes designed and produced by Estudio DNI Tango, which is Pablo Villaraza and Dana Frigoli tango school in BsAs. The women’s shoes are mainly for practice, they are the feminine version of the zapatillas de practica that so many men wear also when dancing in the milongas (since they are sooo confortable), these zapatillas for women are not meant to be worn in the milongas, they just aren’t stylish enough 🙂 , but are good for practising and taking lessons. DNI is also the only brand I know of that has more model-choice for men than for women, they have both zapatillas and proper shoes for men and my boyfriend and my friends tell me that even the ‘proper shoes’ are very confortable and that they have an innovative sole: a kind of rubber in the center in order to help the balance and suede around to facilitate rotations.

Madam Pivot

This new brand is produced and sold in Italy, I just obtained my first pair from them and tried it out on Thursday and I must say that I rarely felt so confortable on the first day 🙂 So I’ll recommend to have a look around their website and see if any of the models, which are quite plain, but nice nontheless, suits you.

This is the end of this longest ever post…pfiuuuuuui…La Bruja is really tired and sure to have forgotten something along the way, oh no! Fabio Shoes for instance..but now you know the name anyway!

I hope this results useful to anybody wishing to purchase a pair of tango shoes and, of course, that it results easier to find them than it was to me.

La Bruja_helpful mode:on

~ by PensaloBien on April 5, 2008.