It's the end of the year and I decided to take stock of all my tango shoes and give them a good cleaning to start the new year out right. And since the tango shoe blog I had been blogging on for the last year or so (Tango Shoe Divas) seems to be a little defunct (you can still get to it, but you have to know how...) I thought I'd go ahead and keep carrying the torch over here for awhile.
Pretty shoes, while not a necessity for dancing tango, really do become a little bit of an addiction after awhile. And I had a lot of shoe disasters this past year so it's time to reflect on pretty shoes, comfort shoes and what I really think I need for the next year. So I'll go through my shoes by makers and comment on them, what I think of them...and more importantly, how they make my messed up feet feel after an hour of dancing.
Why is this such an obsession? Well, I have a lot of foot problems and so while I want my feet to look pretty, I don't care to be crippled after 5 years of dancing from wearing bad or tight shoes so finding the right shoe is a must...and takes trial and error...in my case...lots of error!
Here's the shoe train: I have 2 pairs of Comme Il Fauts, 2 Neotangos that I am happy with, 2 pairs of Jorge Nel's Forever dance shoes, 2 pairs of Diva-Boutique shoes and my practice shoes....that's 8 pairs of tango shoes, plus the practice pair...heavy on the black, not too bad for a low buget diva. The only thing I really need is a nice pair of dressy neutral shoes....

Now I'll go through them by maker...
The ever fashionable COmme Il Faut:

I'm really not all that fond of CIF...the are so pretty...and have so little padding in the front my feet hurt in as little as 30 mintues when I wear them. I have probably worn these 2 pairs less than 10 times each since I got them. They do cut the shoes well, and they are rock solid stable in the heel placement. But why can't they just update to modern times with the padding and offer a heel that is under 3 1/4" up the back? It's NOT necessary to have teetering heels to look good while dancing....
Neotango:

I like Neotango. They have good flexibility in the soles, which helps me be able to wear them a lot longer while dancing (though not the whole evening most days). These are the pretty sparkly lame' and suede model. The sparkly heel is the main attraction here. And it comes in a more comfortable 6.5cm heel...much more up my alley. The bad news is, they seem to have variable QC when it comes to fit. These are both the same model shoe, but the red ones ran quite wide. That ended up being ok, because I added a padded insole and they feel great...but if you aren't expecting that, well....that's a problem at $170 per pair. And don't even ask about that purple pair my friend exchanged for me in BSAs back in November....
Jorge Nel (Forever Dance shoes)

I like these shoes. They are fun. They were less than half the price of Comme Il Faut at a tango workshop. He was set up at the big tango weekend here and I went a little nuts going back and forth to get the right shoe. They fit alright. I'm not as fond of the heel placements he uses, but the pink ones were my favorite. They shouldn't have fit, but they are cut wide and they did. Bad thing is that the sizing on his shoes is very variable (size 6's labeled as 5, size 6's that fit like 7's and 7's that fit like 6's) so I wouldn't buy over the Internet, only at a show where I could try things on. Worth it for some fun shoes if you can find him at a workshop.
Diva Boutique:

Kathleen designs some nice shoes. The materials are good quality. She does some lower heels and some higher heels. They are comfortable, and decently priced. The only thing I think could be improved on is the padding on the insoles. It could be updated to something newer and more "squishy", and maybe some lower heels that aren't quite so granny looking...
Bloch:

I love my Bloch Splitflex. They are really comfortable. I can wear these little guys for hours. They have a 2 1/2" heel which is high enough but not too high...and very stable shank under the foot with a very flexible sole. (This was my main complaint against "character" shoes in the past, but Bloch solved it.)
And Tara tango:

Though I don't own these, I tried the new Tara Alegria shoes on recently. They are really pretty, very comfortable and had very soft leather with interchangebale cross strap or scarf tie. Her padding in these rocks...it's all the way from heel to toe and nice and "squishy". The bad news is these heels were too high for me (at 3.5") so they could not be my valentine...though she does have lots of low heel styles. I'm usually not all that fond of her styles (too conservative) but these were really nice.