BEST PLACE FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAIRS NOW

Can a beautiful pair of shoes send you over the moon? Might you travel far and wide to find the plus perfect pair? Whether or not you would ever wear them, do you love to look, do you dare to imagine, do you have crazy shoe fantasies?

Well, even if you are not ready to admit it, we’ve got just the place for you!

Level Shoe District is the luxe Disney World of shoes. This sprawling 96,000 square foot emporium in Dubai is the largest shoe store on the planet (perhaps universe???). Despite its size, it feels totally luxurious. It is designed to meet your every shoe desire, whim, or need.

Tens of thousands of pairs of shoes, from over 300 designers, are beautifully displayed in over 40 sweet in-store boutiques. They are likely not the ones you would normally see at your local shoe store. They are over-the-top expressions of art, design, and fine craft.

“This is a place for people who are passionate about shoes, who are addicted to shoes, who are obsessed about shoes,” said Patrick Chalhoub, chief executive officer of Chalhoub Group, the store’s parent company.

This shoe travel destination opened just 2 years ago and was just named ‘Retailer of the Year 2014’ by Footwear News.

Your shopping experience at Level Shoe District might include sublime personal shoe styling, shoe restoration, foot therapy, and a full-time concierge service.

One of the coolest events held at Level Shoe District was its recent shoe expo in collaboration with The Virtual Shoe Museum, which featured 10 architectural shoes from the museum’s collection.

“More sculpture than shoe, more building than boot, and more high-concept than high heel,” this was more about the art of shoe design rather than about anything you might actually wear and be able to walk in.

The Virtual Shoe Museum, founded in 2007 by Dutch shoe enthusiast Liza Snook, holds a fabulous array of extraordinary shoes, personally collected and commissioned, which you can see online as well as in various exhibitions around the world.

You can see them now in “History Under Your Feet,” a retrospective exhibition at the Spielzeug Welten Museum Basel.

Most exhibited shoes are unique pairs of small, limited editions, like this beautifully outrageous pair from Austrian artist Carolin Holzhuber, entitled “Conjoined Illusion.”

Most shoe designers can custom make these and other shoes upon request.

It’s likely, whenever you go, Level Shoe District will be putting on some extravaganza or event.

If you go this month, you can can attend the SBTG Competition and pop-up pavillion where you can view the designers’ special 12 pairs of gold and red tiger striped Desert Mayhem sneakers.

You can get your super-cool new pair of SBTG-designed Air Jordans customized just for you. And you can view other ultra-limited sneaker collections by Gourmet, Golden Goose and the awesome Common Project…. as well a debut Pierre Hardy retrospective exhibition.

For a Beautiful Pairs destination, we can’t think of a more amazing place to go right now!

Read more about Beautiful Pairs, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including 10 Extraordinary Pairs to Embellish Your Space Now, Beautiful Similarities & Difference in Twins Now, The New Art and Science of Flavoring Pairings Now and The Art of A Beautiful Pair Now.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Pairs in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 11.16.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: Courtesy of Adventures in Monaland. Shoes by Giuseppe Zanotti. Level Shoe District.
2. Photo: Courtesy of Cameron Clegg Photography. Level Shoe District.  
3. Photo: Courtesy of Shoeholics Club. Level Shoe District.
4. Photo: Courtesy of Level Shoe District. Secret Garden.
5. Photo: Courtesy of Julian Shakes. ‘Mojito’.
6. Photo: Courtesy of Level Shoe District. Fringed Boots.
7. Photo: Courtesy of The Virtual Shoe Museum. The Virtual Shoe Museum. With permission.
8. Photo: Courtesy of The Virtual Shoe Museum. “City Shoe,” by Artist: Joyce de Gruiter. With permission.
9. Photo: Courtesy of The Virtual Shoe Museum. Shoes by Artist Youngwon Kim. With permission.
10. Photo: Courtesy of The Virtual Shoe Museum. “Conjoined Illusion” Shoes by Artist: Carolin Holzhuber. With permission.
11. Photo: Courtesy of Level Shoe District. Kandee Booties.
12. Photo: Courtesy of Level Shoe District. SBTG Custom Air Jordans.
13. Photo: Courtesy of Level Shoe District. SBTG Custom Air Jordans.
14. Photo: Courtesy of Level Shoe District. CÆSURA Shoes, by Artist: Ilja Visser.