She’s in fashion

As the days get shorter and darker, it gets harder and harder to drag ourselves out of bed and into work. Luckily for a shoe lover, the girls in the Vogue office can always be counted on to make the day merrier and brighter. These beautiful, classic black patent Prada pumps (above and below), for instance, would put a spring in anyone’s step. They belong to beauty queen Rita, whose Valentino heels and Massimo Dutti Chelsea boots have previously guested on this blog.

For a shot of super-cool style, check out fashion writer Nana in her “Serena” platform bootees by Loeffler Randall (below). 

You may have spotted Katya Z’s leopard print last month on the blog. Her “Anouck” Chelsea boots from Alexander Wang (below) have smart leather ribbed sides and braided leather collars at the back, but of course the standout detail is their metal hinge-effect heels. They flash across the office as Katya darts in and out of the fashion cupboard.

Two (of many) things to love about fashionista Liza: her beautiful smile and her gorgeous Burberry wooden wedges (below). 

Stylist Elena B has an eye for killer details (the Attilio Giusti Leombruni ponyskin brogues we blogged in October for example). Love these cobalt blue Giuseppe Zanotti peep-toe heels with the zips up the back – and love the way she teams them with seamed stockings.

I had to include these (below) because sometimes all you have to do is look down to feel like things are looking up.
Representing the art department, your Shoeblogger in Corso Como bootees. These are baby-soft black leather (so soft in fact that you can only pull them on with the aid of a shoehorn). The heels are metal spikes, cup-shaped under the sole, and buckled with a matte leather harness around the ankle. J’adore.

But my favourite look of the winter so far has to be this (below).
Elena S’s Miu Miu leopard-print ponyskin platform Mary Janes earned their own blog post back in the summer. Here, prefiguring the s/s 2012 trend for print on print (it’s going to be huge) she rocks them with tiger-striped hose. And the effect is electric. Anna Dello Russo eat your heart out.

Friends with benefits

It is quite true that women dress for other women. “I wore these because I knew they’d make you smile,” said my dear friend Miss Lovely when she turned up for lunch on Thursday in a pair of marvelous glitter ankle boots (above). With their smart Cuban heels and zips up both sides, they are a neat take on the Giuseppe Zanotti glitter bootees below – but without the $895 price tag. 

In fact these are “Ambush” ankleboots from the a/w 2011 collection by Topshop, and a perfect pre-Christmas pick-me-up on a wintery afternoon in London’s West End.

Lovely is the owner of vintage fashion website Lovely’s Vintage Emporium, so an eye for beautiful clothes and canny shopping sense come with the territory. She describes the website as a “modern, trends-led, magazine-like approach to vintage.” And she currently has a section called Christmas Gifts that curates a really clever selection of jewellery, accessories, and vintage fashion pieces from the 1930s onwards. LVE ships internationally, so if you need suggestions for truly original gift ideas, check it out (I have my eye on the 1970s Yves Saint Laurent bottle green t-bar heels...) 
lovelysvintageemporium.com

A splash of burgundy

Image thanks to fashion.telegraph.co.uk

The British fashion press got quite intoxicated this season. “It’s time to hit the claret,” declared The Telegraph in a story, above, styled by Charlie Harrington and photographed by Rachel Pierce. (The shoes are LK Bennett, BTW: £195.)

Elie Tahari a/w 2011 image thanks to style.com

“From deep maroon to autumnal rust through to burgundy and claret, rich muted reds are undoubtedly the core colour palette of AW11,” agreed Red magazine (appropriately enough.) “Burgundy is massive this season,” added Imogen Fox in The Guardian. “But we’re calling it ‘boozy’. It sounds that bit sexier, less schooly.”



Ah, yes: the “schooly” factor. “If your school uniform was burgundy then I am afraid you are not going to like this,” Imogen cautioned. During a Black Friday moment (it took place in Moscow, on Saturday afternoon, in a crowd of one: no pepper spray was involved) I found myself falling inordinately and inexplicably in love with a maroon wool v-neck sweater. Inexplicably because it was the absolute spit of my old school uniform.

There is also something undeniably, er, uniform about the small collection of wine-coloured shoes your Shoeblogger has somehow managed to acquire over the years. Two pairs of mock-croc claret pumps? Yes, but they work so well with a pleated skirt and a wooly pullover... 



Happily, in London this week the burgundy trend manifested in a variety of styles. On Portobello Road Friday morning I spotted these plum-coloured knee-high boots (above): Asos I believe. 

The maroon velvet trainers with grosgrain laces (above) are from Jigsaw. 

Menswear, too, has soaked up some wine. In Seven Dials I admired this guy’s thick-soled artichoke-and-black oxford high-tops. “Aldo,” their owner told me. “There’s a branch right around the corner.”

What a coincidence! Just the day before your Shoeblogger had fallen for this pair of Aldo fake-snake platform wedge pumps (above) in bordeaux, black and cream. Hardly schooly at all – unless in a bad-girl-smoking-and-talking-to-boys-at-the-bus-stop kind of way.

I also tried – but did not buy – the gorgeous wet look claret pumps, above, from Dune. I mean, how many pairs of shiny, wine-y, round-toed, block-heeled pumps can a girl justify, really?

Dune was where one of my all-time fave pairs of maroon shoes originated. I have had these beautiful leather-and-suede strappy heels with enamelled uppers, above, for years. I suspect that if I’d turned up at the school gates in these the nuns would’ve taken a dim view. On the other hand, I also love the two-tone Enzo Angiolini Mary Janes below, of which surely even Miss Jean Brodie would have approved.

As Muriel Spark/Jean Brodie said, “Give me a girl  at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.” Apparently the same can be said for making her wear burgundy. Cheers, dears!

Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,
image thanks to oscarfan

Princesses, pop stars and fairy-tale footwear

Patience, dear shoe fans: keep scrolling and you will eventually get to the toe of this 8-inch (20cm) ballerina heel, created by Christian Louboutin for the Royal Ballet... 

This skyscraper flat was one of the exhibits in the Couture section of Shoes for Show: the Sculptural Art of High Heels, a great exhibition which took place in London for just four days at the start of November. (Take a look at last week’s post here for an intro to the exhibition and the Innovation section, featuring London’s exciting new generation of shoe designers.)
Christian Louboutin also figured under the heading of shoes commissioned for the Catwalk. The gold studded-and-spiked heels below were created for the Rodarte f/w 2008 collection and swiftly became a favourite with celebs like Janet Jackson and Victoria Beckham.

Image thanks to KuwaitStyle,com

When it comes to pop stars, of course, “Shoes for Show” pretty much says it all. This silver and gold glam-rock boot with perspex heel (below) was designed by Terry de Havilland for Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters...

...and Gareth Pugh designed these graphic/futuristic gold boots (below) worn by Beyoncé in her “(Girls) Run the World” video.

Image thanks to myshoebags

More gold, and another musical connection: Rupert Sanderson created these “Atlas” sandals, to be worn by Princess Amneris in the Royal Opera 2010 production of Verdi’s Aida.

French department store Printemps commissioned Nicholas Kirkwood to make these charm-laden stilettos (below) in 2010. They were part of a window display in the Boulevard Haussman shop during Paris Fashion Week, celebrating Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland.

Nicholas Kirkham also designed the amazing platform confections below, for Meadham Kirchoff’s s/s 2012 catwalk collection. While on display they look like something that should sit on top of a particularly princessy dressing-table, your Shoeblogger has already seen them in an upcoming fashion shoot and can confirm that – with a little judicious wardrobe-juggling – they are surprisingly wearable.

Where would shoe fashion be without Daphne Guinness? (Several inches closer to the ground for a start.) One of the most amazing pieces in the exhibition was this towering purple lurex heel-less shoe by Nina Ricci, lent by the Hon. Daphne.

Daphne Guinness, in Nina Ricci shoes, with Valentino Garavani.
Image thanks to fashette.wordpress.com

Shoes for Show: the Sculptural Art of High Heels was organised by e-commerce site Javari.co.uk. Curator Shonagh Marshall commissioned sculptor Jamie Bowler to design a set that would reflect the complex three-dimensional process of shoe design. Sadly there are no immediate plans to tour the exhibition, but it was such a big hit with visitors (and with bloggers) that we hope to see it on the road yet. Fingers crossed...

The Sculptural Art of High Heels

Miniature Armadillo shoe by Alexander McQueen
 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, Savage Beauty

Blink and you missed it. Shoes for Show: The Sculptural Art of High Heels was a fascinating exhibition that took place in east London for just four days at the start of November. Organised by online shoe store Javari and presented in three sections – Catwalk, Couture and Innovation – the exhibition prompted visitors “to consider the high heel, when taken off the foot and placed within the gallery, as a piece of art.” The Innovation theme also provided an introduction to the exciting work of a new generation of London-based shoe designers, such as... 

...Katie Eary, who graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2008 with an MA in Menswear. Straight out of college she was commissioned by Selfridges and had pieces shot by Mario Testino with Kate Moss for UK Vogue. British Elle described her as having “industry credibility as a menswear designer to watch.” These spiked leather-wrapped platform trainers with brass toe caps (above) were created in association with Nike. “Street couture,” is how Katie describes her work. “Treading the monumentally versatile line between Vogue and Vice.” Just to prove she’s human, we should point out that Katie Eary collaborated on Kanye West’s less-than-ecstatically-received debut fashion line this season (Anna Wintour’s verdict: “Ask someone else”). But you can't run in superheels without the odd stumble, non? Shoeblog is looking forward to seeing what Katie does next. 

Above, looks from Katie Eary's collections for s/s 2012 and a/w 2011 (including the Nike platforms in red). 
www.katieeary.co.uk



Dorothy’s slippers in The Wizard of Oz were covered in rubies (Shoeblog recommends the fascinating – and exhaustive – story at Wikipedia. Coincidentally, one of the half dozen pairs seen in the 1945 movie is due to be auctioned this year, on December 16, with an estimate of $2-$3 million. And they aren’t even real rubies...)



This ‘Return to Oz’ heel-less platform slipper is encrusted with copper sulphate crystals and is the creation of two graduates from Kingston University’s Fashion Design MA course. Niamh O’Connor works with leading-edge design research teams, including the London fashion laboratory Studio Nancy Tilbury. Emily Crane’s ‘Micro-Nutrient Couture’ is “a sensory world of transient fashion where no one but the individual will ever wear the same dress again.”

In an interview with Italian Vogue, Emily said, “I’m inspired by the idea that we need to find a more sustainable way to produce clothes. Growing clothes from edible materials is sustainable – and my kitchen was my very first fashion laboratory. Eventually I hope people might be able to buy the recipes I create in shops and grow their own unique fashion items.”
Above, a piece of ‘kitchen couture’ jewellery by Emily Crane.
Niamh O'Connor: tamagangan.blogspot.com  
Emily Crane: emilycrane.co.uk

Chau Har Lee's award-winning footwear is futuristic, architectural and sensuous. After a foundation course at Camberwell College where sculpture and textiles were her main interests, a meeting with Olivia Morris pushed Chau in the direction of shoe design. Cordwainers College and an MA from the RCA followed, then work with companies including Burberry and Georgina Goodman. 

Using materials both traditional and otherwise (like the perspex design above, image thanks to faddy.typepad.com), Chau pushes the boundaries of cobblery. One of her themes is the notion of shoes that can be disassembled and reassembled. In an interview with DazedDigital.com, she talked about the sci-fi creative process: “One design... was built using a 3D printer that deposits thin layers of liquid resin. A laser beam tells the resin where to stay hard and where to remain liquid. After 28 hours... all the liquid drains off leaving the remaining shoe.” Her creations are now available from Selfridges on a made-to-order basis.
www.chauharlee.com

Sophia Grace Webster is another Camberwell/Cordwainers/RCA alumnus. These white leather and cream python platforms, with pearls threaded through the wooden heels, are for Manolo Blahnik.

Sophia’s final collection at art college was inspired by African butterfly wings. “Many of the designs in my collection work as a pair,” she told British Vogue. “So the shoes look beautiful on their own but also tell a story when the wearer puts their feet together. For example on a pair of boots, there is a laser-cut patent wing on each shoe so when you put your feet back together a butterfly appears.” Sophia’s feminine and curvaceous shoes are stocked by Browns, and she has also designed for the high street as winner of the River Island Design Forum. (Image above thanks to allyouneedisstyle.com)
www.sophiagracewebster.co.uk

French-born Natacha Marro (above) opened her first shoe boutique in south London in 2000, after graduating from Cordwainers. Over the years her creations have become favourites of the international fashion press (US Elle, below)...

...and of the most fashion forward footwear fans, ie Lady Gaga (below) and Daphne Guinness.

Lady Gaga image thanks to coolspotters.com

In an interview with GraziaDaily.co.uk, Natacha Marro said, “A lot of work goes into making the shoes really wearable as well as beautiful. The stability of the shoe is really important. They have to be strong enough to be worn by a drunk person walking down stairs! I use screws inside the heel instead of nails. Next, I use a really soft leather to go around the foot. If I am making a glitter or a fabric shoe, I always make it just a tiny bit bigger than the person’s foot so there is room for the person’s foot to expand with the pressure of walking on high heels. Finally, I use an orthopedic insole with lots of cushioning. The inside can take as much work as the outside. The higher the shoe, the more padding there is inside. Daphne once said she can play tennis in my shoes which to me is the biggest compliment ever!” 

Daphne Guinness image thanks to streetfsn.blogspot.com

You can commission Natacha Marro, but be prepared to get in line behind David Bowie, Alison Goldfrapp, Grayson Perry...

www.natachamarro.co.uk