red shoes – In accordance with the latest fashion this official is wearing red shoes. Originally red shoes were the footwear of women at night. They skillfully decorated their shoes with intricate embroidery in their personal style. The auspicious color and fine decorations should emphasize the small size of their lotus feet when gazed at by men. Because of this connotation with female sexual attraction one conservative critic sharply criticized the fad of men wearing red shoes. He considered it a form of inappropriate cross-dressing. But when we carefully examine portraits of officials, Buddhist abbots, and even emperors from the late Ming, we have to consider the critics’ view as essentially neglected and therefore outdated.