Gulliy, My Gulliver Shoes

This pair of shoes of mine is obviously inspired by the shoes worn by Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, the protagonist in the classic novel Gulliver's Travels, by the British author Jonathan Swift.

It was "love at first sight." The moment I first read Gulliver's Travels in elementary, I knew right away that it would become one of my favorite books. And right I was, for until now Gulliver's Travels belongs to my list of all-time favorites. I even own a copy of the 1996 film adaptation of the classic novel produced by Hallmark Home Entertainment, starring Ted Danson as Gulliver.

Aside from the diminutive Lilliputians, the monstrous Brobdingnaggians, and the wise Houyhnhnms, Gulliver's style of clothing—from hair to shoes—had certainly smitten me as a child—the reason in high school I used to cut my old pants just below the knee in imitation of those knee breeches Old Englishmen like the character Gulliver wore.

I also used to draw different versions of Gulliver's shoes, until I decided, in the mid-90s, to have a pair made at Luciano's Shoes (the same shoeshop that became known in the '80s for making Creepers). I remember bringing to Luciano's my drawings of Gulliver's shoes and explaining to the shoemaker the details. I waited for more than a month before Luciano's finished it. I was a bit disappointed because the shoemaker didn't follow our agreement concerning the shoes's tongue—I wanted them long and he made them short; perhaps he was trying to save on leather.

Nonetheless, my Gulliver's shoes came out very handsome. And like my eLf-shoes, it continues to tickle or tease the sensibilities of people who notice it whose common remark is,

"Isn't that a girl's shoes?"

To which my usual reply is,

"Have you read Gulliver's Travels?"

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"I winked at my own Littleness as People do at their own faults."—Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels