Hav­ing a weak­ness for most things fash­ion­able, I’ve recently devel­oped a strong affin­ity for shoes. Amongst my time ded­i­cated to online win­dow shop­ping, I’ve come across both fash­ion­able and no-so-fashionable, but then there are shoes that are just cool.

Artists shoes add a unique flair to an often banal sil­hou­ette. Betsy Wal­ton has designed a line of Keds shoes, come in dif­fer­ent col­ors and pat­terns, and are a nice nod to her work. Other artists cre­ate one-of-a kind designs on their shoes, includ­ing Ana Benaroya and Luke Best. What I love the most about these shoes are the new life they are given, and how each artist really uses their per­spec­tive to work with the lim­i­ta­tions of the materials.

Sneaker Pimps uses shoes like noth­ing I’ve ever seen. A large tour­ing sneaker/street art/concert, it dis­plays inno­vated and sculp­tural uses to (mostly) the Nike Dunk shoes. Some are not wear­able, but all are cus­tomized and take on a life out­side of being a nor­mal shoe.

From top to bot­tom, in order: Betsy Wal­ton // Ana Benaroya // Luke Best // Sneaker Pimps, Manila 2007