It's All about Shoes

Reviews / Votes

Suzanne Middlemass is a skilled street style photographer. After snapping the fashionable elite on the streets of the world's fashion capitals for Vogue, Elle and Glamour, Ms. Middlemass has developed a sizeable collection of beautiful images. her new book It's All About Shoes, published by teNeues, is a compilation of her best street shots, specifically focusing on shoes. Ms. Middlemass hones in on a fact most women know, shoes can make or break an outfit. For fashion's A-listers, featured on these pages, this can also mean the difference between earning money or not. Such is the pressure on those being photographed outside fashion shows these days to stand out from the herd, every trick counts. In this book, there certainly are tricks being performed balance-wise in seriously undercutting wedges and too-high heels. It is a fun flick-through for anyone who has stepped out on the fashion circuit and seen the door-limo-door brigade going to work.
Ms. Middlemass starts with the shoes on her first appraisal of a potential subject. As she writes in the book's introduction, "When it comes to my work...I am immediately drawn to wondrously adorned feed because, for me, style begins at the bottom." Ms. Middlemass has a knack for capturing the beauty and the essence of a shoe: a closeup of a clock-embroidered heel, a golden cage sandal just as it catches the light and reflects the blue sky above, a pair of building-block heeled shoes in primary colors as the woman wearing them walks up a flight of granite steps.


Beyond the short introduction and a smattering of quotes scattered throughout the book, there is a conspicuous lack of text. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The book's lack of words has a side benefit: it forces the reader to examine and focus on the shoes in all their high-res glory.


But the conspicuous lack of text is problematic. None of the shoes are captioned with the name of the designer. Even the index is lackluster, as it merely points out the location and date of when it was photographed. Of course, many of the photos are taken of industry-insiders and jetsetters on their way to fashion events so it's unlikely that Ms. Middlemass had the time nor the opportunity to ask her subjects what brand of shoe they are wearing. However, it would have been nice if, in reading this book, we readers were able to discover who created the beautiful shoes Ms. Middlemass chose to capture. The images are after all, so arresting, so captivating, she has made it impossible not to fall in love with and lust after nearly every pair of shoes featured on her pages.


Michelle Honig, The Observer British street-style photographer Suzanne Middlemass has spent her photography career shooting fashion week events all over the world for the likes of Vogue, Elle, InStyle, Glamour and GQ. And with her personal penchant for eclectic, statement making footwear, she found herself (and her camera) being drawn to what the fashion glitterati were choosing to put on their feet to strut the streets, the everyday fashion runways of Paris, Milan, New York, London, Berlin, and Copenhagen.
After amassing a huge collection of photographs showcasing daring, bold, beautiful (even strange) shoe choices that caught her eye, she published her first book, an ode to her favorite fashion item - the shoe. The new book published by teNeues is fittingly named It's All About Shoes, and gives us a peek into both high and low shoe selections from the fashion capitals of the world.


Jenny Nguyen, Forbes You've made it halfway through the week and might be feeling like you deserve a reward. Thankfully, the latest fashion tome released this week feels just like that; a treat. Specifically one for the eyes.
It's All About Shoes is the new book by street style photographer Suzanne Middlemass, and it feeds right into every shoe lover's obsession with statement-making, jaw-dropping, and sometimes over-the-top footwear--over 250 pages if them. With a portfolio that includes Vogue, Elle, and Glamour, Middlemass's work spans the globe and translates to page after page of styles both ubiquitous (think Gucci loafers, Miu Miu ballet slippers, and Adidas Superstars) and obscure, or that can only be classified as works of art.


While the book makes a great gift for any shoe fanatic in your life, consider it another colorful, vibrant addition to any fashion girl's bookcase.


Gina Marinelli, Who What Wear Blog British fashion photographer Suzanne Middlemass has spent her career photographing street style around the world. Her new book It's All About Shoes, published by teNeues, showcases 300 of the most fascinating shoes she's seen on the streets of Paris, Milan, New York, London, Berlin, and Copenhagen.
Designs range from stiletto sandals adorned with a pair of green eyes to see-through oxfords, furry zebra loafers, and booties painted to look like dragons. She says photographing shoes in particular is all about finding footwear that pushes boundaries. "When deciding who and what to shoot, I am not necessarily interested in the latest designs," she writes in the book's introduction. "Essentially I am looking for something that stands out from the crowd, something outside the realm of ordinary."


Lena Rawley, New York Magazine