Say what you will about Pope Benedict XVI, but the man knows his loafers: hand-made, size 42 (8.5, American), and a bright cardinal red, which adds serious panache to a guy who otherwise < target="_blank">resembles the emperor from Star Wars. The slippers became his signature look — so much so that we named him the accessorizer of the year in 2007. But now that he's stepping down and becoming an "emeritus pope," he's sadly letting them go.
As most personal papal possessions do — like Benedict's Serengeti sunglasses, iPod Nano, and a leather-upholstered golf cart (and bulletproof popemobile) — the red shoes came as a gift. When the Pope first donned the shoes, rumors spread that they were Prada, but that turned out not to be the case. In 2005, Adriano Stefanelli, a Roman with a three-generation shoemaking lineage, hand-delivered a pair to Benedict in St. Peter's Square. Stefanelli, who quickly became Benedict's cobbler, had given a different style of shoe to John Paul II in 2002, but, as he explains, Benedict chose a ruby red instead of John Paul's oxblood shade. (Most pontiffs have had unique shoe style — often picking between a cross, golden insignia, or buckles, by way of adornment.)
But as he departs the Vatican, officials say Benedict wil keep the cassock, but leave the reds behind. Apparently he plans to slip into a pair obtained during a trip to Leon, Mexico. Artisanal, of course.
