She is rising from the ashes…or something.
Céline Dion’s confusing Christmas boots are fire flames. No actually. Did she wear red and green boots, you may wonder? No. Perhaps candy cane-themed stilettos? No again. This Christmas, Canada’s queen of pop is wearing literal flaming phoenixes on her feet. And what could be more festive than that?
Dion showed off her unusual shoes in a recent Instagram post. In the photo she crouched next to her Christmas tree expertly posing to show off the head-turning footwear. With one hand on her hip, the other resting on her knee, she revealed her her heeled boots, which appear to be engulfed in yellow, red, and orange fabric flames. The boots also resembled a flaming phoenix rising from the ashes, perhaps a poetic metaphor for Dion’s grand return to performing after her battle with Stiff Person Syndrome.
She paired the bold boots with a slinky, sparkly red midi dress with an asymmetric hemline. The piece appears to be the same—or very similar—to a dress she previously wore during her 2019 Courage tour.
Dion’s expressive footwear comes as no real surprise. After all, she is a known shoe fanatic. In fact, in in her documentary, I Am: Céline Dion, which was released earlier this year, the singer revealed that she will do just about anything to wear a good pair of shoes.
"When a girl loves her shoes, she will always make them fit," she explained while showing off her impressive shoe collection. "I have worn shoes my friend, my toes were like this [as she clawed her fingers] because they didn't have my size. Every time I went to a store and I loved those shoes they said, 'What size are you, ma'am?' 'I said no you don't understand. What size do you have?' I'll make them work, I'll make them fit. I will walk the shoe.
She concluded: "I walk the shoe, the shoe don't walk me."
Dion has taken a step back from performing after being diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an autoimmune neurological disorder that affects muscles, in 2022. As she told Vogue France earlier this year, dealing with the condition is “a lot of work.” “Five days a week, I undergo athletic, physical, and vocal therapy,” she said. “I work on my toes, my knees, my calves, my fingers, my singing, my voice…I have to learn to live with it now and stop questioning myself. At the beginning, I would ask myself: Why me? How did this happen? What have I done? Is this my fault?”
She made a breathtaking return to the stage in July when she performed a moving rendition of “Hymne à l’amour,” originally sung by Édith Piaf, at the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony. In November, she took to the stage once again to perform at a fashion show in Saudi Arabia.