【In Style】

Queen of Sexy Shoes for Hollywood Sexy Women

By Harris Gaffin, Photojournalist

　春夏物のファッションが話題になる季節です。ハリウッドスターらが闊歩（かっぽ）する米ロサンゼルスはこのところの地価高騰でファッション街のたたずまいも変わってきました。そのうち、セクシーな靴を売る店の変貌（ぼう）ぶりを届けます。

　A young, very attractive woman wearing a short skirt and high heels struts over the famous stars firmly lodged in the sidewalk on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California.

　The lady, named Summer Long, has driven almost 200 kilometers to shop in one store and buy one item. In fact, that's part of her New Year's resolution.

　Summer is determined to look her best and for her, that means buying the best. She's into brand names of sorts. Not the ones that advertise in fashion magazines.

　Summer is a fan of a shoemaker / designer who goes by only her first name, Maya. Maybe it's because she still has family in Iran, or maybe she wants to create a mystique, but in any case, everyone knows her as "Maya," the lady who owns a women's shoe shop called simply "Maya of Hollywood."

　Los Angeles has warm weather year-round. So even the fashion conscious have very little use for the autumn / winter collections of New York, Paris and Milan.

　However, in recent years, Los Angeles has tried to become recognized on the international fashion map by launching its own spring / summer collections. Going into the new year, though, Miami, Florida, is still the American bathing suit capital and Los Angeles is still struggling for recognition.

　That doesn't mean there isn't talent here. Many fashion designers simply prefer to create for the television and motion picture industries.

　Individuals who wish to make a living in the fashion business in Los Angeles must find a specialty. Like Maya of Hollywood.

　Maya is the queen of sexy shoes for sexy women. Many customers work in the adult entertainment market as exotic dancers and escorts. Call it what you will, there is a market and a need for women's shoes that can grab a guy's attention -- immediately.

　A customer walks into Maya's shop, and there's Maya to greet her with a big hug. Maya knows many of her clients by name. She should, since they give her autographed sexy pictures to put up on the wall. There's even a poster of Summer behind the cash register.

　She has appeared in virtually every men's interest magazine in the United States, with or without Maya's shoes on.

　It's not just the selection that attracts women like Summer to Maya's shop. First, there's Maya. She's like a mother to the girls. They can talk to her and get exactly what they need.

　But Maya is not just a shoe retailer. She actually makes many of the shoes in the store. That means these entertainers can come in with their costumes, and Maya will match the fabric and make the shoes or the boots to complete the look.

　Maya has been in business since 1983. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and worked there as a shoemaker until the Shah was overthrown during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. She got out with her family, moved to Israel, then came to the United States and settled in Hollywood, where she has been ever since.

　At that time, although Hollywood had been an international symbol of wealth and glamour for decades, Hollywood Boulevard was anything but. It was one big drug, crime and red-light district. At night, there were more streetwalkers than tourists. Buildings were run down, if not abandoned.

ニッチな市場で勝負

　Ironically, this was a perfect place for Maya to set up business. Rent was cheap, and while she had been a regular shoemaker in Iran, there was no way she could compete with the slick shops of Beverly Hills.

　So she did the logical thing. She concentrated on a niche market. And there were her prospective customers walking up and down the street right in front of her shop. She embraced them with open arms, and they reciprocated by scooping up lots of sexy shoes.

　Unfortunately for Maya, over the past decade, Hollywood Boulevard has been cleaned up. It is now a high-rent district attracting tourists and families dressed in Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts and sneakers, the exact opposite of Maya's market.

　It's been a double whammy. Rents are skyrocketing, and her traditional customers have all but disappeared.

　Her name and reputation, fortunately have not. In the meantime, Maya's lease ran out. She found a new place across the street but at twice the price -- or another place with half the space. She chose the latter, and a once specious showroom now looks more like a crowded warehouse. Shoes are everywhere.

　Still, exotic dancers like Summer drive from far away to get their boots custom made.

　Maya is a one-of-a-kind shoe store. Packed wall to wall with stilettos, thigh-high boots, platform shoes, everything designed for anything but working in an office. Almost all of them are designed to entice. Size goes up to 11 which means, yes, many of her customers actually are men. A truly invisible market. Maya made some space for them in the back of the shop so they don't have to try on pairs in view of passers-by on the street or among other customers.

　However, many customers are anything but shy. In fact, exhibitionists might be a better term, like Summer, trying on shoes in a short, short dress. Hey, if she can promote her career while shopping, what businessman could object to that?