Hans Christian Andersen, one of the protagonists in children's libraries from the 19th century to our times, also – like Perrault and the Grimm brothers – wrote about shoes...shoes and their magic, that enigma that has enveloped the subject of footwear since such ancient times.

Andersen spoke in his stories of beauty extolling this virtue as one of the keys to success and happiness; Thus, the Danish short-story writer and poet is ahead of the times with one of the most exquisite, sensual (even fetishist), magical titles: The Red Shoes.

Andersen approaches this story from two opposites that definitively intervene in the plot, as the basic premise of the story: religion with its glamor and rituals; its prohibitions, its faults and its lessons; witchcraft, seduction, the executioner of fairy tales who is the one who ends up giving the lesson.

Andersen portrays the poverty of little orphan Karen in only one aspect: her bare feet, before an old woman knits her a pair of rudimentary espadrilles that she wears on the day of her mother's funeral. There are no other elements in the description of the girl's poverty: everything is illustrated by those poorly made espadrilles and some bare feet to the fate of the undergrowth.

But Karen's destiny changes when she is adopted by an elderly millionaire: this event is also described by Andersen in the shoes that give this story its title: there are no elements in the description –apart from the fine leather red slippers– that describe happiness. of Karen, who reflects all her joy in new shoes equal to those worn by the Princess of the region.

We understand, then, Karen and her new life, her role as a young lady worthy of dances and a place in high places through the theme of shoes: they contain everything, they contain fortune, dignity, happiness and security of our character.

Karen embarks on the road to her life as an adolescent - adult wearing her red shoes, and enjoys the charm and fascination that good shoes give us: the pleasures of walking and dancing life aboard the fine leather, with its unmistakable aroma and its sound when touching the floor, as if a supernatural force raised it to levels close to the sky itself: there is a lot in Andersen's story related to Divine themes, the sky, mysticism and faith.

In this story, the charm of footwear is personified by the one who deposits his magic in the red shoes by touch, giving them a life of their own: Karen can not take them off, nor can she stop dancing for days on end, around the village and the city: the The fantasy of the story exquisitely hyperbolizes those physical and emotional sensations that shoe lovers and collectors experience: when someone asks – asks us – why so many shoes, our answers are short, because, as always happens in matters of magic, everything it is inexplicable and is simply perceived, without further explanation or reasoning: The Red Shoes are a metaphor for that charm that shoes have and their effect on our mood: shoes – perhaps giving reason to the psychological theory that with them “we make ground ” – are the accessory that we feel the most, that we experience the most, that contribute the most strength to our appearance.

Karen's compulsive dance is nothing more than the allegory of the pile that we feel when our steps are marked by good heels: nobody stops our walk, nothing makes us look down, nothing can happen, when we wear the ink that writes the best part of each day of our history.

Regina Romero is a sculptor with high self-esteem and strong steps; enchants everyone with the perfection of her shoes: only those of us who have danced our lives in Regina Romero understand the metaphor of Karen's spell with her red sneakers: the charm of being and feeling armed, on top and close to all dreams.