Melissa is a brand I never found very interesting, funny or cute maybe, but nothing I could ever think to buy. I am not fond of plastic shoes even if I have to admit I have two pairs of Marni plastic sandals that some friends have given to me years ago.  Nevertheless I must say that Melissa has changed a lot in recent years, both in communication than in style, they are promoting more and more interesting collaborations with international designers and they manifest an eco side that deserves all my respect.

The last week I was invited to Corso Como 10, my favorite place in Milan, the perfect shop where I can spend time dreaming to buy all the compelling pieces they sell; the concept store has been chosen for the presentation of the new shoes designed by Gareth Pugh for Melissa. I witnessed an event rich of graphic explosions, stripes and stars welcomed me in the shop while Gareth was wandering in the entrance hall from an interview to another.

The British designer has proposed two different pieces, the more classic ballerina “open toe” which Gareth has simply decorated with his patterns, and the “Aileron”, a brand new sandal which takes inspiration from the Scottish architectural shapes of “The Armadillo” in Glasgow. Although Melissa has already collaborated with several other brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Gaetano Pesce, Jean Paul Gaultier and Jason Wu, Gareth Pugh has a special and closer relationship with the Brazilian brand, they have in fact provided shoes for his second show. I think the designer has done a very good work, along with the pairs of Gaetano Pesce and Jean Paul Gaultier, the Aileron are the ones I prefer more.

Morethanlove

Click here to view the embedded video.

Conceptualized and handmade in the heartland of Germany, TRIPPEN shoes are a total trip to behold (but awesomely easy to wear).

Contrary to the popular opinion that a company can only operate in an economically successful manner by ducking its responsibility for production, Trippen proves the opposite: modern design combines environmental friendliness, sustainability and social responsibility. Trippen was established in 1992 and has been using this concept with great success for a long time now.

In addition to Trippen’s own stores in Germany and partner stores in Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Taiwan and Japan, over 450 other stores worldwide stock Trippen shoes. Co-operations with well-known designers like Issey Miyake and a number of international product design awards underline this success.

Ariko

These boots are made for walking from Pablo Mayal on Vimeo.

Futurism could be appreciated via art, architecture, clothing, apparel even make up, but not many designers have been bold enough to attempt futurism with footwear due to the wearability factor. But of course not many of them are Chau Har Lee. The London based footwear designer Chau Har Lee is definitely from the hottest of the season for her fierce and unforeseen designs. She graduated from her MA degree at Royal College of Art on women’s footwear. Afterwards, she worked with many names including Nicole Farhi and Camper as an accessories designer and nowadays she works with the famous shoe design team; Bally.-Her designs could be found in stores in early 2011 and with made to order from Selfridges London.
Chau Har Lee’s designs are conceptual within themselves and not conforming to the fashion dogmas of fashion, especially on footwear. Without disregarding daily wearability, Lee designs shoes that are beyond limits of fashion and she accomplishes this by employing a crossover of making and manufacturing processes of other design field other than footwear. She uses this comparison to make better sense of her concept for the collections and in order to set the limits of breaking the boundaries of design. Her accomplishments have been fully regarded by the awards she earned due to her prodigious designs. She won the ITS8 Accessories Collection of the Year award in 2009 and she became the Prize Winner in Manolo Blahnik Award RCA in 2009 and she names, getting an award from Manolo Blahnik himself as the highlight of her career up until now. The birds of a feather flock together, hence the collaboration between the outstanding designer and the out of the ordinary photographer is a perfect match. Her latest collection have been advertised by photos of Viktor Vauthier and he for sure made this as distinct as possible. Chau Har Lee’s futurism for the footwear movement will be ‘a next best thing’ cause no one can really say no to an unknown from the future, right?

niente by nil

“Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.”

Low or high, kitten, platform, leather and suede… The shoes from this fall-winter are literally killing the shoe adorers such as myself. From the fur covered knee high boots to the lace print plastic rain boots, the precious collections by our favorite designers have decided to make us drool at the shoe sections in the multi-brand stores. And our brutal finance fairy forces us girls to accept the cruel fact that we just simply can’t buy it all. Luckily drooling ain’t costing us anything!
When I was in college one of the fun activities that I had going on during the weekends was going to Harvey Nichols London to have a glass of wine or two. I would then move on to the designer shoe floor only to find that I am in absolute shoe heaven. Drunken shoe shopping I must say, must be the most enjoyable time a girl can have even without a friend at sight. Walking towards Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, trying on a pair of leather studded ankle boot from Burberry’s new collection finally, being offered another glass of champagne might become a treat to us fair ladies! Finally deciding on a pair of Azzedine Alaïa suede lace pumps I am ready to be back home with a small piece of godliness.
The fall season this year brings more than frostbites in to our closets. Although over the knees are still very delicious this year, booties take the spot lights. Lace ups, fur covered -inside or out-, fringed or studded any kind of bootie is highly appreciated this season. From kitten heel pumps to rock chic ballerinas I will make a list of top fave of these styles; ballerinas, pumps, booties and boots.
The ballerina section had the loveliest flat shoes that are, in themselves, irresistible. The leading three ballerinas of 2010 fall winter are; Marc by Marc Jacobs metallic silver leather mouse flats in the third place. Marc Jacobs have had this style for a couple of years now and it instantly became one of his classics and was such a hit because it appeals to a wider audience than just teenagers but also fashionistas who enjoy a little humour from now and then such as myself. The second place is taken up by the lovely Christian Louboutin’s for girls who like to rock and shake it a little, the pigalle spiked ballerinas adding a sense of chicness even with a simple LBD. The absolute fave of this section is the leopard print calf hair Lanvin flats. Although personally I am not keen on leopard print on any women of any age, nonetheless, animal print and calf skin accessories are a hit this year. I support this trend, without encouraging an outrage of animal prints and to get one of these lovelies.
The pumps have been mostly challenging for me just because I am secretly leading a cult of women who does not like the kitten/mid heel. The top three certainly took my attention out of the many that are in this season. From the moment Louboutin created the nude pump, a light beige pair of shoes could not be missing from any girl’s wardrobe even during winter. Therefore, the third place goes to the very classical patent leather beige kitten heel pumps by Jimmy Choo. These shoes are made for workaholics that needs to keep up an appearance at work. Styling it up with a classic knee length skirt or even a short cut pair of pants. My heart goes out to the follow up; the bourdeaux patent pump by Prada that is smartly embellished with a black ribbon. Miuccia certainly knows working her way around an old fashioned femininity. The lead has to be the stylish daily wear and a younger generation of kitten heel pumps is the black suede, silver buckled cutouts by Sigerson Morrison. These are a graphic alternative to the classic mid heel courts, definitely more stylish!
Over the knees keep showing themselves in the magazines and honestly I have a great deal of confidence in them that they will be back for a third season to warm us, possibly more than wool stockings. However, the booties steal the throne away from over the knee boots and make a come back after their fall in the last season. Booties have been particularly difficult to decide because there are so many styles to choose from which should be a good thing considering there are so many of us out there. As a huge admirer of Alexander McQueen I hearby name the buckled leather ski booties as number three on the bootie favorites list. The sport element to it steals the lead from many other styles that of Bottega Veneta for instance. The rocker soul is buried somewhere around these boots and I can definitely see a fashionista with a pair of leggings and a baggy knit sweater strolling down town. Christian Louboutin is on the second place again on this section. The flannel platform booties are an outfit completer. The gold buttons on each side compliment the gold-black combo trend this year. These peep toe booties are best worn with a textured mini dress by Hervé Léger and opaque tights for winter cocktails. Number one favorite in booties are for sure the leather lace up ankle boots by Givenchy. The detailed lace starting from the ankle towards the tip of the toe gives an added elegance and these boots are the best appetizer in the winter shopping list.
Boots, boots and more boots. I believe in comfort more than style in boots which could be concluded with one suggestion. I am a true believer in rain boots possibly due to my very British roots, thus I strongly recommend any plastic rain boot but I will refer to one specifically. If you are or you know someone with thoughts on rain boots similar to my mom’s, that is; ‘rain boots are not chic’ advice given is nothing less than Valentino’s lovely, romantic lace printed violet boots with a bow. These will get you in almost anywhere. Using the very simplistic element of Valentino, the powerful duo Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli managed to make something contemporary without compromising the essentials. The Hermès suede boots beat Valentino on the lead game. Considering fur, faux fur and any type of feathering is one of the trends of this season therefore the trim in the brown suede boot definitely takes attraction while thinking of a harsh winter. The secret platform in the front as well as the thick heel at the back helps making these boots a daily item with a sporty look. The top of the list is made by a Reed Krakoff. Khaki colour, canvas lace ups finished with crocodile trim. The colour combination of khaki and brown fascinates and positively steals hearts and minds of shoe addicts over the world due the its minimalist approach and low key, non-embellished style.
The fave list consists from Lanvin leopard ballerinas, Sigerson Morrison’s cutout pumps, Givenchy’s leather lace ups and finally Reed Krakoff’s crocodile trim khaki daily boots. Do’s and don’ts are plenty this season as previous years. Out of the many many shoes presented by our best designers anything goes. All I can know for sure is wine is a necessity in order to keep warm, as well as a nice pair of boots. Let’s hit the stores!

This post was submitted by niente by nil.

young staff of ROSE AU CARRE making tees for everyone!

here part #2 of the opening of Paris Pret à Porter…many hats and Polaroid offered playing fun french music.

Share the fun.

julikafrombudapest

Comfortable leather + checked fabric for Trt

Distressed canvas but same shape, seen at Closed

These ones scream “wear me”. Love them. By Daniele Alessandrini.

Pin holes and bright colors, Elia Maurizi

Freego made the best packaging: the shoes wrapped in cellophane like supermarket goods. I loved the contrast between rubber sole and super soft suede, and the inner lining in shirt cotton.

Ariko

The Sergio Rossi metamorphosis sandal for Spring/Summer 2010
An enchanted world is revealed with the touch of this object of desire. This is a dreamlike vortex that transports to the kingdom of metamorphosis. The structure vanishes; colour becomes material and material a play of curves and slender spirals around a re-deified ankle. An ankle that is to the foot what the waist is to the body. In an endless play of compositions and perspectives, where the line becomes one with the foot.

Tropical and glamour trends inspire models for summer and the multi-coloured creatures of the coral reef.

The Sergio Rossi woman steps off the gangway of a luxury yacht, with seductive irony, and becomes the main attraction in a fascinating and enveloping sea setting. The vamp of the sandal, depicting multi-patterned waves, fish and coral, highlights the precise, skilled workmanship on the supple leather and the expert combination of colours. Materials that are variously overlapped and cut, with silver-coloured piping to enhance the unexpected shapes. The stiletto heel is 10 cm high, covered in black leather, like a simple stem that recalls slender supports.

Jack Russell

Dolce&Gabbana

Diego Dolcini

Christian Louboutin

Marc Jacobs

Givenchy

Manolo Blahnik

Diego Dolcini

Givenchy

Roger Vivier

Bruno Frisoni

Emilio Pucci

Emilio Pucci

John Galliano

Morethanlove

Have you ever thought of your favourite colour’s weight? “180 grammes” if you choose it in Paris.

Interview with Nicolas Chevallier

Jo Meyer