Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Comme il Faut versus NeoTango: Which Are Your Favorites? (Take Poll In Top Right To Decide )


Just when I thought I was getting the hang of how universal women's love for Comme il Faut tango shoes is, a friend of mine told me she "hates!" them. She doesn't think they're comfortable enough & her personal favorites are NeoTango.

At a milonga recently I trotted out my new knowledge and, using my "I'm in the know" tone, told another friend I knew that a lot of women love NeoTango shoes more, a notion my friend promptly rejected. She replied that her Comme il Faut's are awesome & proceeded to whip out one of her girlfriend's Comme il Faut's. As if to prove her case, she held the shoe up for me and asked "What do you see?" I told her I saw a heel. She looked at the heel, then me, and then back at the heel, wondering why I couldn't see what she saw: the pillar of all tango civilization.

So, Ladies, I give up. I thought I could grow to understand the unspoken Comme il Faut vs. NeoTango competition, but I don't.

But before this breaks down into the next Hatfield versus McCoys, I have a simple solution. Take the poll in the top right of this tango blog to choose your favorite pair of tango shoes and we'll let the readers decide.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wish I had a pair of either, but no-one can tell me where they buy their shoes from! I must make do with whatever heels I have got...Please, does anyone know of a good shoe website that will ship to the UK? I can't afford to fly to B.A just yet.

Anonymous said...

From Tangoconmigo.

Anonymous, you don't have to fly to Buenos Aires to get your shoes, the shoes will fly to you.

www.neotangoshoes.com (once you get to the shoe section, click online sales). You can order online, and they will ship to you in UK.

www.shoes-susanaartesanal.com
Orders are taken through emails or phone. They also deliver to the UK.

Anonymous said...

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

I think we should have proportional representation in our vote. Therefore, I cast 10 votes for CIF, 4 for Susana Artesanal, 4 for Tara and some negative votes for unnamed cobblers.

My podiatrist thanks them all.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Anonymous, for posting the site where NeoTango shoes can be bought. I know some of my tanguera friends in the States buy their CIFs from Jennifer Bratt, an excellent teacher. Her url is:
www.malevashoes.com

Anonymous said...

Hereby noted, Nancy! I'd add in those extra votes for CIFs, but I don't think the poll will let me do that.

msHedgehog said...

Here's my deal with Comme Il Fauts: I don't care how comfortable they are, because I don't like the way they look.

Ana de San Francisco said...

Hola Mark-- Sorry to post this comment so late, just catching up.

Jennifer Bratt now has a Comme Il Faut boutique at her & Ney's www.tangovida.com studio on Russian Hill here in SF.

As for me, my new favorite is Lolo Gerard (on Anchorena 607 in BsAs). The quality of their materials, construction and design are outstanding, and they have plenty for the guys too.

Another favorite is P.H. (on Grito De Ascencio 3602 in BsAs). Their designs are becoming more fashion forward and they now have spikey stilettos a la CIF, but with a more traditional design, so more supportive than a strappy sandal, but you still get a very nice arch and a lot of footbed padding, typical of P.H.

And for the record I have 2 pairs of CIF, and 0 NeoTango...but many, many other pairs from others (Lolo Gerard, PH, Artesanal, Tango8, Victorio)...The thing with shoes is that everyone's feet is different, and so everyone will have a different opinion on which shoes are "best" -- and even that is subjective with more people giving weight to fit, style, stability, etc., and all colored with the dancer's own experience and skill level. So ... bottom line... to each his/her own...

As for CIFs, no doubt about it they are among the most beautiful shoes I own, but I rarely wear them because I have other shoes that are more comfortable and equally or more beautiful.

Besos y abrazos,

Anonymous said...

Thank you Ana de San Francisco! I hope you don't mind, but your comment was so helpful that I added it as a separate post (with credit to you, of course).

Anonymous said...

MsHedgeHog (love your avatar, BTW)--I'll take your word for it.

Frankly, I'm still trying to understand the passion women have for shoes, let along tango shoes.

My sister gave me a great explanation that finally started to break through my clouds of confusion on this point--I'll post that as soon as I can find the time.