In my spare time–you know, all those enormous amounts of minutes that remain once I finish working all day and writing–I dance a bit of Argentine tango. I’ve travelled to Buenos Aires twice. Both times I came home loaded with shoes. The first trip, I purchased so many I had to buy another bag to bring them all home.
Determined not to be parted from my beautiful new shoes, this bag became one of two pieces of carry on luggage. One enormous piece of carry on luggage. It weighed so much, I mostly pushed it through airport lines with my foot.
My first trip to Argentina coincided with the new security measures in flying. And I decided to bring a bag of stilettos on an airplane. A large bag of stilettos. Don’t ask me how many. I don’t remember (or don’t want to remember) how many I bought that first time. Getting them in to my new piece of luggage took an inordinate amount of time and some incredible juggling to get everything to fit. That stuff wasn’t coming out until I got home.
At least that’s what I thought.
In the airport in Buenos Aires, I stood in line prior to getting on the plane and watched the security people open and take things out of bags. Every single bag. Groaning from more than just the weight of the stupid bag, I hefted it on to the counter prepared to miss my flight as I had to remove every item. Oh, and don’t forget, I’d have to get everything back into the bag again. And I worried that they would confiscate my beautiful shoes.
Instead, the woman opened my bag, spotted the heels, laughed. Zipped the bag shut, slid it across to me with a smile.
Shoes. The universal language.
So to make your purchasing trip easier (should you decide to head to Buenos Aires and need a shoe or nine), here is a list of places to purchase the most amazing shoes you’ve ever seen. Those two beauties in the photo are the heels of a pair of Comme il Faut.
2×4 al pie
Scalabrini Ortiz (Palermo) 1753
info@2x4alpie.com
www.2x4alpie.com
Alanis Tango Shoes
Av. Diagonal Norte 936
Artesanal
Anchorena 537
Riobamba 448
susanashoes@yahoo.com.ar
www.shoes-susanaartesanal.com
Aurora Lubiz
Sarmiento 722
ph. 4393-4092
info@zapatosauroralubiz.com.ar
www.auroralubizropa.com.ar
Bailarin Porteño
Suipacha 251
ph. 4390-4067
Bottier
Av. Pellegrini 859
ph. 054-341-4818380
www.bottier.com.ar
Comme il Faut
Arenales 1239
ph. 4815-5690
commeilfaut@netizen.com.ar
Darcos Tango
Suipacha 259
Sucre 2394
Malabia 1616
info@darcostango.com
www.darcostango.com
Delie Shoes
Piedras 843 (San Telmo)
www.delieshoes.com.ar
Fabio Shoes
Riobamba N° 10 piso
ph. (011) 4952-6628
www.fabioshoes.com.ar
Fattomano
Guatemala 4464
ph. (54 11) 4832 3156
fattomanoshoes@gmail.com
www.fattomano.com.ar
Flabella
Suipacha 263
www.flabella.com
Greta Flora
Acuña de Figueroa 1612 (Palermo Soho)
phone for appointment (+54 11) 48 61 05 39
info@gretaflora.com
www.gretaflora.com
La Vikinga
Entre Rios 469
ph. 4383-6229
helenislandia@telia.com
Loló Gerard Tango Shoes
Tomás M. de Anchorena 607
Corrientes 3200 (Abasto)
ph. 5411-4962-3860
info@lologerard.com
www.lologerard.com
Madreselva
Av. Corrientes 3190 (inside the Abasto Plaza Hotel)
ph. 6311-4466
www.madreselvazapatos.com.ar
Mirtha Paulo
Esmeralda 461
ph. 4328-5970
mirthapaulo@hotmail.com
Negra y Porteña
Talcahuano 945 2° D
ph. 4816-6008
www.negrayportenia.com.ar
NeoTango
Sarmiento 1938
ph. 4951-8694
www.neotangoshoes.com
Paule Tenaillon
by appointment ph. 153 191 8100
www.pauletenaillon.com
Por Ti Tango
Calderón de la Barca 2714
ph. 4567-6972
portitango@hotmail.com
Raquel®
Boliver 554
email: raqueltangoshoes@gmail.com
www.raquel-shoes.com
Scarpe Mahara
Suipacha 252
ph. 4328-3528
Taconeando
Arenales 1606
www.taconeandoshoes.com.ar
Tango 8
Lavalle 3101 (Abasto) or
Defensa 1179 (San Telmo)
ph. 4864-0471
www.tango8.com
Tango Brujo
Esmerelda 754
ph. 4325-8264
info@tangobrujo.com.ar
www.tangobrujo.com
Tango Leike
Sarmiento 1947
info@tangoleike.com
www.tangoleike.com
Todo Tango Shoes
Suipacha 245
calzadosavalos@argentina.com.ar
www.calzadosavalos.spaces.live.com
Traspié
Anchorena 602
www.traspie.com
Ven A mi Tango
Luis Braille
ph. 4567-0938
info@venamitango.com
www.venamitango.com
Victorio
Montiel 2619
ph. (54-11)4686-6505
www.victoriotangoshoes.com.ar
OMG! Wait while I wipe the drool off my keyboard… Thank you for this beautiful journey of tango shoes.
By: Kirra on April 16, 2010
at 10:29 am
I know. When typing those up, I had the same reaction. Made me want to hop on a plane and head to Buenos Aires for a bit of shoe shopping–well and tango of course.
By: victanguera on April 16, 2010
at 10:32 am
[...] All About the (Tango) Shoes Posted by: victanguera | January 2, 2011 [...]
All About the (Tango) Shoes Posted by: victanguera | January 2, 2011 [...]..." permalink="http://writeidea.wordpress.com/all-about-the-tango-shoes/#comment-408"]By: 2010 in review « I Had the Write Idea on January 2, 2011
at 10:35 pm
I LOVED this post. One thing though…the links are formatted improperly. you need to add http:// to the link so that the browser will look on the web for the page rather than on your site for the page.
By: Wendy S. Russo on December 18, 2011
at 5:50 pm
I didn’t know that. I’ve fixed all the links.
By: victanguera on December 18, 2011
at 6:38 pm