… That’s the word for today. Kinky.
Last night I watched “Kinky Boots,” a movie about a small shoe factory in Northampton, England. Apparently the area is known for its shoe factories, generations-old places where shoes are hand crafted. In the movie, a son inherits the family shoe factory, only to find it is going bankrupt, due mostly to cheap imports flooding the market. A chance encounter with a drag queen leads him to make, instead of brogues, thigh-high fetish boots for drag queens and transvestites.
Like all the craziest movies, this is based on a true story. The factory’s real name was W.J. Brookes, Ltd. and their “Divine” line kept the shoe factory open until 2000. In real life, the company was so successful that cheap, overseas shoemakers (the same group he was seeking to escape) copied his designs and eventually put him out of business. Today, Steve Bateman (the shoe factory owner) continues to make shoes—both fetish and not—out of his home.
So, it seems like kind of a downer, right? But let’s unpack it a little, before your break out the Kleenex. Although no longer on a factory scale, Steve still makes shoes: it’s in his blood, and there’s success in doing what you love for a living, even if you can’t save the day, Hollywood style.
In the movie, two interesting points are made: that a handcrafted pair of shoes can last someone their whole life, and that the factory had to “find its niche”—its kink, if you will—to be successful. By finding what you love to do and what only you can offer, you create something high-quality that’s beautiful and lasting.
Finally, it makes me smile to think of all the happy drag queens out there, wearing their thigh-high boots for Talent Night or Zumba Gold class at the old folks’ home.
So, find what makes you kinky, and have a great week!
-meredith
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