Darwin: "Defer Judgement" (in 12-inch heels)

As an sometimes stifled designer who struggles to have good ideas, I often get extremely frustrated with the more outlandish concepts presented by the design world.

I often have an extremely judgemental knee-jerk reaction to art world, the portfolios of other industrial design students, the professional design world and its concept cars, and basically the entire world of fashion, where runway models wear outfits that have no basis is the marketplace or often reality.

But maybe I have turned over a new leaf (over-reaching for a ecology pun?) and sublimated my instinct: I have discovered that I can be open-minded when the meta-deity of evolution is invoked, as did English fashion designer Alexander McQueen in conceiving his new collection that cites Darwin’s “The Origin of Species” as chief inspiration.

If it's simply a process of evolution, I will now remind myself, the more outlandish the better. Why not embrace the freak idea? Designers say "throw it all at the wall and see what sticks" is somewhat Darwinian interpretation of a way to think about things.

The market is indeed a part of our cultural evolution, and I can say that I am a little saddened that these bizarre shoes/claws have a slim chance to be seen walking down the street. I might not find them attractive in a "need-to-reproduce-immediately!" way, but I think things like them might offer our culture a way to cope with urban density--some people could have their own proprietary visual aesthetic, much like bird mating calls. -Will Capellaro

More of the collection here