At this point, breaking Guinness World Records has become passé for the UAE. The tiny gulf nation has done it almost 200 times, which is a weirdly impressive accomplishment.
It does mean that practically everywhere you look, you’ll find the world’s tallest, fastest or biggest ‘thing’ in the world, which is cool. But not all accolades are equal, and the latest is pretty questionable.
Dubai just unveiled the world’s most expensive shoe (aboard a yacht in Dubai Marina, of course) earning the country yet another record. The shoe, called ‘The Moon Star’ are worth $19.9 million. It’s made of a solid gold heel and features 30 carats of diamonds, and a piece of meteorite discovered in Argentina in 1576, hence the astronomical price tag.
They were created by Italian designer Antonia Vietri, who is also behind the world’s first 24-carat-gold shoes, which were priced at a more conservative $32,000 and were delivered to their buyers via helicopter. His latest ‘Moon Star’ shoes smash the previous Guinness World Record of most expensive shoes ever created, which were valued at $15.5 million.
But whilst earning a world record is impressive, the shoes themselves are arguably hideous. The designer wanted to pay homage to the UAE, but with subtlety seemingly out of the question for Vietri, the gold heel is literally a miniature model of Burj Khalifa.
