Black velvet (if you please)

If there is one thing nicer than a long lunch with an old friend, it is a long lunch with an old friend combined with some serious shoe shopping. Last time Sadia and I had done any proper shopping together was in Berlin, where she totally failed to stop me maxing my credit card on a pair of Armani pony skin mules (read all about it here). That was ages ago. This time round we were having lunch at
Le Gavroche, which has a three-month waiting list. Sadia, being an exceptionally organised gal, had booked our table even before I’d booked my flight to London for Christmas. Lunch was worth the three-month wait. They pretty much had to kick us out late afternoon.With our waistlines expanded and our wallets shrunk we meandered up to the Selfridges Shoe Galleries.

Now, I have to say that I don’t think the sales in London this month were all that. So far, the best thing I’d scored was a bath mat (it’s a great bath mat, but still). So I wasn’t holding out major hopes as we trailed around tables groaning under the weight of unwanted Kurt Geiger purple suede wedge sandals and un-discounted Christian Louboutin everything. Until – that moment. When I spotted – them.

All shoe lovers know that moment, when you first catch sight of Them across a loud department store or hushed boutique. The moment when your gaze falls on a pair of shoes that call your name, that say, “You’re the one that I’ve been waiting for. Take me. Now.”

My latest crush is a pair of Alexander Wang “Hannah” black velvet loafer boots.  They have a 6-inch heel and a stretch-velvet “shaft” (I’m not making it up – that’s what it says on the website). They look like something a particularly cool 1970s babysitter would wear. They cost six hundred and fif – whoa! Even Sadia couldn’t make me spend that much in the sales. These were reduced. Way reduced. Cheaper than lunch at Le Gavroche. And very, very tasty.

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.

Fashion's Night Out kicks off

 A couple of years ago, US Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America got together with the mayor's office in New York to devise an event to "celebrate fashion, restore consumer confidence, boost the industry's economy, and put the fun back in shopping." The result was Fashion's Night Out – a cynic would say it's just late-night retail with a marketing spin, but nonetheless the idea caught on, big time, and this year there are FNOs in 17 countries worldwide (Mexico has the best t-shirts). 

It takes place in different cities on different dates – finishing on November 5th with Japanese FNO and kicking off last night, September 6th, in Moscow.  

On Stoleshnikov Pereulok designer boutiques were serving champagne to the committed Moscow fashionistas braving the evening chill in short shorts and high heels (it went down to about 8ºC, aka 46ºF). I loved these gorgeous suede Prada peep-toe platform Mary Janes (above), and her friend's fabulous die cut Alaia lace-up stiletto bootees (below). 

There was more Alaia in the chic department store TSUM: these beautiful fawn-coloured wrap-strapped patent platforms.

Also in TSUM, I spotted these wonderful Alexander Wang bootees: grey felt uppers, leather lace ankle ties and among the highest heels of the night.

Back on the streets I met my friend Anna, who was rocking these amazing not-quite-bondage Benois Meleard sandals (below). They were a gift, she told me. "We were at a pub, when I broke the heel of my Camilla Skovgaards and my bf went to Mood Swings Apartment and got me those so we wouldn't have to go home and change my shoes!" Boyfriend of the year right there, wouldn't you say?

Among the delicate heels and bare legs the studded boots below caused their own sensation. The platforms are high enough to make the cobbled streets a challenge and the heels add another four inches or so. Their wearer was dressed down in jeans and sweater but from behind you couldn't miss that dangerous metal, flashing all the way down Stoleshnikov.  

More studs in the Dior boutique, though the shoes are a particularly brilliant pair of Louboutins. Their owner and her boyfriend, in Yves Saint Laurent leopard print ponyskin chelsea boots, made the best-looking couple I saw all evening (and I am not saying that just because they thought I was French...)

The highlight of the night, in every way, has to be these divine monsters (below). Part Alexander McQueen, part Antonio Berardi (guess which Shoe blogger was too overcome with excitement to actually enquire about the label) – completely awe-inspiring. The boy (yes, boy) wearing them was, sensibly, sitting on the kerbside with his girlfriends, so I cannot answer the inevitable question – can he walk in them? But in the style stakes at least he can definitely give Daphne Guinness and Lady Gaga a run for their money. 

To see Muscovites enjoying Fashion's Night Out from the knees up, take a look at vogue.ru's blog here.

Condé steps out

On a simmering hot summer's evening in Moscow, there is no better spot to chill out than Red October on the Moskva river. This former Soviet chocolate factory has been converted into a complex of cutting-edge art galleries, bars, clubs and restaurants, sprawling over a peninsula just southwest of the Kremlin. Cut to a midweek evening at the end of July, when we picked our way through the gridlocked traffic on the embankment, en route to the roof deck at Gipsy Bar and the Condé Nast Russia summer soiree.

Plenty of fab footwear, naturellement. Like these super-cool Michael Kors black leather sandals with gold buckles (above), accessorised to perfection with fire-engine red midi-skirt and pedi.

Vogue beauty queen Rita rocked up in studded suede Valentino stilettos (above). The owner of the beautiful and elegant tattoo below took advantage of the heat to display it in all its glory in transparent designer jelly shoes by Sonia Rykiel.  

Flats vs heels? A pretty even split, but tootsies were revealed in a rainbow of striking summery hues, including turquoise (above) and the deep mauve of Voguette Katya (below).

Popping out of the office at lunchtime, I'd clocked a fantastic pair of strappy black bondage heels on the street. So I was delighted to encounter them again at the party, and to find out that their owner (below) is from GQ and the shoes are from Alexander Wang. No wonder I'd been smitten on Kamergersky Pereulok.

It's always a pleasure to spot a pair of Melissas, and these (below) are original and charming – and look exactly as if they were designed for relaxing on a summer deck with a mojito somewhere out of shot.

Voguette Olesya has a connoisseur's eye for a heel and is a canny shopper to boot (see more Olesya at the Vogue Art Party here). Love these teal suede cage bootees, not to mention her excellent green pedi.

Last word goes to the chaps, for a change. Ivan in his Armani brogues shows exactly how to look stylish whilst flashing just the right amount of ankle to keep cool – in every sense of the word.