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The Red Shoes : Hans Christian Andersen

TODAY IS A SENSATIONAL DAY!

Firstly, it is the first day of October which is (in Kobi Land) better known as HALLOWEEN MONTH! I have lots of exciting things planned both for blog-times AND for the real world. I LOVE OCTOBER!

But what could possibly make today even more awesome? This is the MAIDEN POST of the new Alternative Curves Blog Hop! The incredibly lovely and stylish Margot Meanie and I have been rallying the troops to create an online community of quirky, plus-size babes (check out the instagram and use the hashtag yourself!) and we decided to step it up a notch by organising a monthly, themed outfit blog hop.

AND TODAY, WE ARE KICKING THIS SHIT OFF.

The calendar was decided democratically by a small group of bloggers that Miss Meanie and I personally adore, and now the themes are set and you’re all invited to play! If you’re a blogger and want to be in on the Facebook chat, send a request to this group and check out what’s going down in uber-babe-land.

Without too much further ado, this month’s theme is “Alternative Fairytale”, and I had heaps of fun looking up obscure fairytales and brainstorming! As you may know (or at least have guessed), I love stuff with a touch of the macabre 😛 So I splooshed a little bit when I came across a story published in 1845 by Hans Christian Andersen, called “The Red Shoes”.

Here is an abridged version, retold through the ancient arts of vanity and fatshion…

Karen is a very poor girl who goes barefoot.

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One day, an old lady adopts her and buys her a beautiful pair of red shoes.

Kazza is stoked.

When Karen is old enough to be confirmed, she chooses to wear her beautiful red shoes to church.
During the church service, Karen can think only of her red shoes.

After the service the old lady scolds Karen, telling her now that she is a grown-up christian she must never wear red shoes to church again. The next Sunday, Karen chooses to wear her red shoes to communion and again can focus only on how pretty she looks for the entire service.

As they are leaving the church, her shoes start to dance on their own and when Karen climbs into the carriage, she kicks the old woman violently before the coachman removes the shoes from Karen’s feet. The old lady falls ill and it is Karen’s job to care for her, but Karen is invited to a ball and decides to wear her red shoes to the dance rather than care for the sick old woman.

When Karen begins to dance, the shoes take on a life of their own. They dance Karen away into the dark woods. Terrified, she tries to tear the shoes off but they have become one with her feet
—she continues to dance through field and meadow, rain and shine for many days.

While dancing through a graveyard she sees an angel who tells her she shall dance until she is cold and dead, and will continue to dance even when she is nothing but bones. Karen dances unceasingly over hill and heath, and over thorns and branches until her skin is torn and bleeding.

She eventually comes to the house of an executioner and begs him to chop off her feet, so that she can finally rest. The executioner does as Karen wishes and the shoes dance away with her little feet
still in them.

(The rest of the story is a bit lame, so I just did what I wanted)…

She kisses the hand that wielded the axe and he fashions her little wooden feet and a pair of crutches. Karen now wishes to go to church to repent, but the red shoes, with her feet
still in them, dance in front of the church doors so that Karen cannot enter.
Karen weeps bitter tears in her narrow bare room and eventually the angel
returns to her: He transforms her room into a church and as the organ plays,
Karen becomes so full of peace and joy that her heart breaks and she dies.

How fun is that?! I think the reason I fell in love with this story (aside from being able to justify buying a fabulous pair of EPIC red shoes) is that it reminds me of some sort of ye olde combination of Idle Hands and the Dancing Demon from the musical episode of Buffy. Am I right?!

As most often on my blog, photos are taken by my lovely love Sam and edited by yours truly!

I’m so excited to check out all the other babes interpretations of Alt Fairytale. Check back as the list below fills up with incredibleness!! xx

OUTFIT DETAILS

Literally everything is thrifted except the white skirt, which belongs to Jacqui.
The stripey bustle is a separate piece that my mum gifted me.

LET’S STAY IN TOUCH!
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The Red Shoes : Hans Christian Andersen

OUTFIT DETAILS

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