An “Ultimate Shoedown” is every girl’s fantasy. Imagine being surrounded by a group of luxury shoe designers each clutching a pair of their prettiest heels, eager for you to accept them. The stuff of dreams, right? Well, just such a party is a yearly occurrence in the Spanish shoemaking center of Elda.
This past June 17, the lucky woman was Marta Hazas, a Spanish TV star and passionate shoe lover. The shoe designers represented some of the best Spanish brands that call Elda home.
The Woman with the Best Shoes
Every year since 1999 the Elda Shoe Museum (and store) convenes a panel of shoe industry, media and arts personalities. Their task – to choose “The Woman with the Best Shoes“. (The Spanish title: “Mejor Calzada” is much shorter and cool sounding. Usually English is more succinct than Spanish, but when it comes to shoes it’s different. Interesting, right?)
Before we get into the details of the latest “Ultimate Shoedown” at Elda, I want to thank Patricia Jorge, a charming person and popular Spanish shoe blogger from the Canary Islands, for the images and information about this unique and very Spanish event.
According to Patricia, the criteria for the prize are quite straight forward. The candidate must be a recognizable public realm persona, a stylish shoe “aficionada“, and a strong supporter of shoes “Made in Spain“. Finally, she must come to Elda to receive her prize and she must not charge for her appearance.
Quite naturally, the winner of the award becomes an ambassador of the brands that present her with the star models of their current collections.
Some of the past recipients include: actress Paz Vega (starred in 2004 “Spanglish“)
the late Duchess of Alba, who was for many, many years a highly flamboyant presence on Spain’s social scene, here in a traditional Spanish equestrian outfit:
and the charming Venezuela-born Marie Marguerite, Duchess of Anjou, here with her husband the Duke:
The “Woman with the Best Shoes” gets fussed over and spoiled like there is no tomorrow. Besides getting all these new shoes and a pretty winged shoe trophy, she gets measured for her own personal shoe last. With that she can have perfect fitting custom shoes made for her by any of her favorite designers.
Here are some other shoes that Marta Hazas got to take home with her:
So, this is what I call an “Ultimate Shoedown or Fairy Tales Do Come True.” Are you envious yet? I surely am.
Happy dreaming!
