Jun
This Autumn’s Footwear FashioSarah Jessica Parker famously made Manolo Blahnik a household name in Sex and the City. However, long before the erstwhile Carrie Bradshaw and her girlfriends made the legendary shoe designer a figure of mass consumption, “Manolo’s” were already an essential item in the celebrity world and amongst the fashion elite. But today, as more and more people demand their goods, how can the Manolos, Jimmy Choos and Vivienne Westwoods of the world still get away with charging women thousands of pounds for their shoes? The simple explanation – women love shoes – may seem an overused stereotype but it is, sadly or not, very true.
Take one of the leading shoe trends for Autumn 2006: the platform. Chunky heels are once again all the rage, but they owe more to 1980s decadence than to the Swinging Sixties. The recent return to the skinny jeans and leggings of the Bananarama age has prompted a comeback for the heavy platform and the stacked heel. But don’t get carried away with images of Olivia Newton John trying desperately to extinguish her cigarette with her killer heel at the end of Grease – stacked platforms may also be worn with a bell-shaped dress or skirt, so there’s hope yet. Read the rest of this entry »