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

Art vs Fashion, everybody wins

Friday night: to Garage, Moscow’s Centre for Contemporary Culture, aka the hippest art gallery in town, situated in an old bus depot and run by the very beautiful, very cool, and very cosmopolitan Dasha Zhukova. The occasion: the launch of Russian Vogue’s June issue, the Art+Fashion Special. In attendance: the great, the good, and the best-dressed of Russia’s modegentsia (hey, hereabouts they still label people ‘intelligentsia’: it’s about time there was a fashion equivalent.) It was such a stylish occasion even the paparazzi were dolled up – cf. our young celebrity smudger, below, in her pink satin messenger-of-the-gods style ballet flats.

Below: first points go to the Artists, in this case Sasha and her fabulous padded peep-toe ‘Tron Legacy’ bootees from Opening Ceremony. (Her oj pedi echoed the amazing orange dress she was wearing.)

More sunny D: Polina’s fluorescent orange sandals, with their thick velco-snap straps, 5-inch heels, and amazing rope behind-the-ankle ties drew attention from across the gallery. And no wonder: $650 worth of neon Giuseppe Zanotti for Christopher Kane will stop anyone in their tracks. I die. 

Sticking with the Zs: this is just to show that great looks don’t have to cost big bucks, even in Mockba. The very artsy strappy heels below are from Zara.

One for the Fashion team: Voguette Anna, below, looking super-chic in black suede Jil Sander, nicely paired with a metallic blue pedi.

This season, though, black is taking a back seat to colour. Loved these teal and tan patent sandals (below), especially with perfect siren-red toes.

So far in this blog I’ve mentioned Ds, Zs, and now it’s time for a G. That’s the price tag on these beautiful red strappy canvas platforms, worn by Natalya of fashion brand Kova & T. They have a 6-inch wooden heel, a pineapple leaf gold figure on the toes, and are from Charlotte Olympia. Swoon.   

From dizzy designer heights to the highest of high-street heels: Voguette Olesya looked a million dollars in these skyscaper black platforms. They’ve got a touch of the forties Hollywood diva about them – and they’re from Aldo. 

ShoeClub followers may have noticed that I have a bit of a pash for red stilettos – arguably the sexiest shoe ever invented and every bit as delicious with jeans as with ballgowns. They don’t come better than this pair (below): a very simple, classic, sexy pair of red patent stilettos by D&G and worn by Vogue fashionista Natalya. Altogether an excellent example of the art of fashion.