27 February 2007

Klompen Couture?

I love The Netherlands and all the things it represents politically and artistically. It's The Progressive of the Progressives. Amsterdam has more museums per capita than any other major city. The Netherlands gave us Rembrandt, van Gogh, Vermeer, Mondrian, Audrey Hepburn and Viktor & Rolf. It gave you me, too. When my paternal ancestors left The Netherlands and arrived in what was then known as New Amsterdam (now New York), they were the Hoppes. In order to Anglicize, they changed their name to Hopper. So it's thanks to them that I always get, "Any relation to Dennis?" (The answer is no, by the way. And no to Hedda and Edward as well.)

My parents keep a pair of Dutch clogs sitting on our hearth. When I was younger, my feet were small enough that I would teeter around in them. But I've never seen klompen quite like the ones that were marched down the catwalk at Viktor & Rolf. Is this just a cobbled homage to the Moederland, or will would-be trendsetters actually starting clomping around in klompen?

(pic courtesy of style.com)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh I love you for this! Im dutch.