This book is a collaboration between the shoe brand Simona Vanth and three young Milanese artists: photographer Marta Marinotti, stylist Giulia Revolo and make-up artist Vanessa Geraci. The impetus for the project came from Marta, Giulia and Vanessa who visited Simona Vanth founder, Simona Citarella’s studio in Milan in 2020 and fell in love with shoes from her personal archive collection, displayed throughout the office. For Marta, Giulia and Vanessa the discovery of the collection was the discovery of the depth and intimacy of Simona’s research process: almost twenty years of highly eclectic collecting around the world guided only by a sculptural curiosity and tireless fascination for the shoe-object. Each shoe borrowed from the collection by the three artists – ranging from vintage pairs, to Simona Vanth prototypes, to cult design pieces from the 80s 90s and 00s - was used to evoke an aesthetic universe, sometimes in the form of “characters” others, simply, atmospheric “landscapes”. This way of working is itself informed by Simona’s approach to developing seasonal collections under the influence of a single literary character or theme such as The New Arabian Nights (AW20), The Adolescent Dracula (SS21), The Gaucho Wedding (AW21), Millenium Diva (SS22) and, most recently, Very Very Sad Princess (AW22). Marta, Giulia and Vanessa’s artistic interpretations flow throughout the following pages according to an intuitive order. Each shoe, though, is annotated with a glossary written together with Simona found at the end of the book, that tells the brief story of how each pair came to find its way into her personal collection.