i’ve been on the search for a pair of shoes recently which i think probably only exist in my imagination. which is not to say that they’re diamond encrusted or astronomically high or unfeasibly colourful but they are perfectly proportioned.

perfect proportion is something which fascinates me since its a concept which seems that it should be reducible to a formula.

and heaven knows formulae abound; vitruvious, fibonacci, da vinci, le corbusier, alberti have all posited universally applicable schemes for matching the most pleasing proportions to buildings, people, mathematics, and nature. and as appealing as many aspects of all of them feel, none quite manage it.

see, i think that pure aesthetics of proportion, like beauty can only really be held in the eye of the beholder and since our eyes are all at different points of latitude and longitude to our brains, subjects, fingers or feet at all times of the day its a sum so fraught with constantly shifting contingencies that its a waste to spend time considering whether it matches the golden ratio - when really all you need do is see how you feel when you engage with that chair, or building, that painting, or staircase or shoe.

which is not to say that i don’t gravitate towards all of the beautiful things produced according to those near perfect rules, frankly my obsession with most things skandi and borne of the idealistic modernist aesthetic has bored many of my cohorts (though not me - i still go weak at the knee at ercol chairs, artek tables and marimekko prints). so i’ll carry on my search for my implausibly perfect white calf leather shoes with six holes to thread a round jute lace through, a single inch of heel and an almond shaped toe all of which makes me look neither too short or too tall - and frustrating as it might be even to type out my wish list like that there’s a part of me which is gloriously happy that the ratio of heel to toe to height of arch i’m looking for is so specifically mine that no one else would ever make it.

here’s a track which i find perfectly proportioned in the most surprising of ways.

carl orff - musica poetica