Designer, Martin Margiela: You can imagine the stress when you want to create a shoe as never seen before. You go a little bit crazy. Then my memory went back to the day we went to Tokyo for the first time, when we have seen street workers in their flat cotton tabi shoes. I thought, “Okay. Why shouldn’t I do like a soft tabi shoe but on a high heel?” And then the idea was born.
Fashion Consultant, Linda Loppa: I am Linda Loppa. I’m a consultant for fashion. I was always also in fashion education. What you see here are my personal Tabi shoes. I bought them in the early days when Martin Margiela came out with those amazing collections. They are inspired by the Japanese tabi socks. The tabi socks, from the 13th century, were made to step in sandals.
Martin Margiela spent a lot of time to find a good balance between the high heel and the proportions of the shoe. And because they were so unique, he kept on putting them in his later collections. He made sandals out of it. He made flat shoes, casual shoes, more elegant shoes.
When I was wearing them, people were a little bit shocked and skeptical: is it beautiful? Is it scary? Is it aesthetically interesting? The Tabi shoes make you feel a bit different. Your attitude, your pose, your way of walking, of thinking, probably, also is different.
Archival audio of the artist from the film, Martin Margiela: In His Own Words (2019), directed by Reiner Holzemer, courtesy of Reiner Holzemer film