Fall shoes for fashionistas
London Fashion Week attracted some top designers such as Stella McCartney and Vivienne Westwood, as well as upscale high street brands like Jaeger and Burberry. Anna Wintour, editor in chief of American Vogue, breezed into town, taking in the Luella, Sienna and Savannah Miller, and Burberry catwalk shows.
Other A- and B-list celebrities included Pixie Geldof, who modelled for Vivienne Westwood; MTV's Alexa Chung, who has become a front-row regular; Gwyneth Paltrow, Liv Tyler, Aggie Deyn, Freida Pinto, Victoria Beckham, and Emma Watson at the Burberry show, said by many to be the highpoint of London Fashion Week.
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham got it dreadully wrong at the Burberry show, one of only two she attended, with a dull dress that might have appealed to your local school's dinner ladies but was far from being a statement by a woman desperately eager to be on the cutting edge of fashion design.
Alexa Chung was trying too hard, as she often does, looking woeful and wobbly in chunky, platform booties, which are the footwear of the moment but you need the long legs and frame to make them work. Alexa just looks silly in shoe-boots and platforms. Stick with the ballet flats and trainers, girlfriend!
Which brings us nicely to the subject of fall/autumn shoes. Brick-like shoe-boots, a halfway house between a shoe and a boot, often with a wedge-shaped platform heel, are everywhere to be seen. At the top end of the range the Burberry Prorsum will set you back about $870. Marc Jacobs, Louboutin, Guiseppe Zanotti, and Jerome C. Rousseau all offer shoe boots in that price range.
Stella McCartney
If you want to come down a little in price, Stella McCartney, Camilla Skovgaard, and DKNY have something to offer for under $600. Or you just pop down to Oxford Street or equivalent and find a similar look for well under $100. You can do what more and more people are doing these days: check out E-bay, where my latest bargain was an Ozwald Boateng suit for $400. A trip to the tailor for alterations had the garments looking like bespoke, or at least semi-bespoke, for a fraction of the price.
An event like London Fashion Week affords limitless opportunity to not only see what's being worn today but where trends are headed. The catwalk shows are one thing, a pointer at the near future and sometimes no more than a flight of fancy for the designer, but on the street you'll see individualism, free expression, boldness, quirkiness, design success and often plummeting failure in an invigorating mix, making the streets a great place to hang out during any big fashion event.
Louboutin is The Man
Wathing the fashion journalists and buyers arrive for the Jaeger catwalk shoe, it was obvious that Louboutin has become the shoe designer of choice for women who want to make a statement but also be safe. You can't go wrong in a pair of black, high heel Louboutins, the scarlet soles telling everyone you got it right, and the classic design telling them you haven't the courage to get it wrong.
Fashion-conscious members of the public arriving for the Jaeger show were bolder, braver and more prepared to be out there on a stiletto-heeled limb. The shoe-boot theme was there of course, often with a peep toe, often with black ankle socks, either in pantyhose nylon, or a simple, cotton ankle sock. Those shoe-boots end harshly and abrubtly just above the ankle, not following the line of the leg but cutting across it, as if to announce, Look at me, I'm a shoe-boot!
Black shoe-boots, usually with high heel, were often adorned and trimmed with gold, so often in fact that it became an obvious and rather predictable statement after a day or so of Fashion Week. One longed for something else. Gold and black, yes, very nice, but somewhat safe, somewhat obvious.
Platform wedges are a risky item for many women. If you've got the long, slender limbs of a catwalk model you can successfully carry off the incongruous look. It's all about stick-like legs ending in a piece of chunky footwear. It's not elegant, but it's distinctive. If you're a short or stocky-limbed woman, platform wedges can make it look as though you are trying to hard to be taller. Or worse, they can end up looking like corrective shoes of the sort used by people with one leg shorter than the other.
Doc Martens
Dr Martens are a safe bet with the younger crowd. We know the look by now. Black tights, high Doc Martens partially laced. It's a look Pixie Geldof likes. Pixie is such a favorite of the fashion scene these days that she is thought of being so right even when she's obviously so wrong. She and Alexa Chung are probably the main talking point of London Fashion Week, having ticked off Anna Wintour with their snickering and hugging on the front row, and also with their willingness to toss on any old garments and call it a fashion statement.
Anna Wintour's distaste for upstarts probably won't last long and isn't sincere or genuine. Ms. Wintour might be the high priestess of fashion and a gatekeeper of couture, but she's also a businesswoman. If she senses that her readers are clamoring for Alexa and Pixie, well they'll end up in Vogue faster than you can say Maria Grachvogel.
Gladiator sandals were seen on a few girls, possibly a last whisper of summer before autumn and winter hit us with their icy winds, rain, and sleet. Frankly, I'm tired of gladiaotor sandals by now. Isn't it time to lock them up along with your memories of Wimbledon, strawberries and cream, and flat-footed strolls through the park?
Ballet flats of the sort Mrs. Obama loves were seen on a pitiful few, some of them scurrying PR gophers, rushing off to Pret a Manger to buy latte and a crayfish sandwich for the boss. More popular than ballet flats, though not ubiqutous, were trainers in all colors and shapes. Nike seems to have the uper hand. Not a Puma in sight at London Fashion Week, a bit of Adidas, possibly tipping a nod to Stella McCartney's work for the sporting goods giant.
Karhu footwear
I'd like to give a special mention to Karhu, which really should be the trainer of choice at any fashion event. If only Finnish Karhu could get its marketing act together, folks would see it has a prettier, edgier, and better trainer than any other brand. They're great to run in, too.
Men require a mention, too. What can we say? It is by now clear that British men, and those influenced by Anglo-Saxon culture and values, do not wear loafers, which are an American and Italian affliction. A Brtish gentleman, or even a British fashion thug, wears lace-up brogues or Oxfords.
If money is of no object and you can wait a couple of months, take yourself down to Royal Arcade near the Ritz end of Bond Street and hand over your $4000 for a pair of bespoke brogues by George Cleverley. Those in the know claim they are the best shoes in the world. Cleverley makes regular visits to the States, so don't worry if you are stuck on that side of the pond.
If you think $3000 to $4000 is too much for a pair of shoes, Cleverley will offer you a pair of semi-bespokes for under $2000. Or you could cross Piccadilly, head to Jermyn Street, calling in at Crocker and Jones for a pair of perfectly good shoes for under $600.
by Giles Devos. With thanks to Anna Wintour