Loofah Ankle Boot
Ian Horowitz, BFA 2009
Title: Loofah Ankle Boot
Material: Egyptian Loofah
Description: The Loofah Ankle Boot explores applications of non-manufactured fabrics in footwear, using unprocessed vegetable matter in lieu of traditional shoemaking materials. Loofah is a gourd-like vegetable that is edible when young, but becomes too fibrous to digest in its mature state. Let to dry on the vine, the vegetable forms into a vascular mass. This cylindrical entanglement of fiber when sliced lengthwise may be unrolled into a flat sheet. It is from this sheet that pattern pieces for the shoe are cut. A two-ply construction with quilted reinforcement throughout the upper ensures durability. Each shoe is constructed of six dried vegetables and a small block of poplar wood, showing that luxury and environmental consciousness can go hand in hand. Through transforming Loofah into a refined product, the shoe serves as a vehicle for the idea that tomorrow’s exotic materials in design and fashion may be growing in our backyard.
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