The female stars of the Shonda Rhimes dramas that grace television screens every Thursday have a lot in common. The TV writer and producer creates strong leaders, the best in their respective fields; but often their personal lives suffer as a result. They’re beautiful, but there’s always something in the way of their love lives. And though they have their messy, ugly moments in private, when they step out into their fictional worlds, they wear the shoes and outfits viewers want to own the next day.
“I am never 100 percent clear about who a character is until I know what shoes she’s wearing,” Kerry Washington told WWD last year. “Shoes say so much about what we are — they define how we walk in the world. I will come to work and rehearse in sweatpants, a T-shirt and Manolo pumps, because I don’t feel like the character unless I’m in their heels.”
In Shondaland, those heels are sometimes spiky stilettos, for setting the White House straight, and sometimes they’re comfy Chucks for the long hours required of a talented surgeon. Either way, you know a lot of thought went into fitting them to the character and the moment.
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In real life, “Scandal” star Washington, “Grey’s Anatomy” lead Ellen Pompeo, “Private Practice” star Kate Walsh and “How to Get Away With Murder” headliner Viola Davis are must-sees on the red carpet as well.
Rhimes is no slouch at events, either. And this fall, fans are crossing fingers that there will be a new flawed-but-awesome lady in the mix: Mireille Enos, best known for “The Killing,” has signed on for the pilot of a Shondaland drama called “The Catch,” about a fraud investigator who doesn’t know she’s about to marry a con man. We can’t wait to see what she wears to kick him to the curb.
Take a look at some of these ladies’ shoes on screen and in real life.
Whose shoe closet will you dream of raiding after tonight’s episode?
