Are shoes the new jewelry?

I’m not even cutting-edge with this one: I think we’re well past the "diamonds are a girl’s best friend" era and well into the "shoes are a woman’s best friend" years. And you know, the mystique of diamonds never held any sort of power on me. Well, sure, I love jewelry in a reasonable, oh-how-pretty way, but I’m not really beholden to it. In a time when top luxury shoes cost probably as much as jewelry, I’d rather show off my shoes then my diamond ring. And if given the choice, I’d definitely take a top-designer brand vs a cheap shoe imitation than a genuine diamond over cheaper jewelry. Too much bling definitely seems too decadent, too much, too ostentatious to me, especially when one piles it on. Shoes–at least you can only wear one pair at the time and they will as surely brand you as a person of taste (and, possibly, means)–or not. Plus, shoes often resemble pieces of jewelry these days.

You don’t need more bling than that when you’ve got these beautiful Manolo Blahnik jacquard slingbacks on your feet.

Why do women like me prefer to show their decadence in footwear rather than bling?

I guess one has to decide on the poison of choice, especially when operating on a limited budget. Standing in beautiful, comfortable, covetable shoes is also extremely empowering. In their most primary function, shoes shield you from the ground you walk on; when that shield takes the form of a work of art, your relationship with the environment seems to take on a new meaning, and you strive to make almost every movement a work of art.

I know I would, shod in those gorgeous, blinding Manolos.

Fall Shoe Trends

InStyle magazine has published their annual shoe guide for the fall. The magazine tells us what’s shoe styles are hot and shows what clothes to wear with the shoes. For those who subscribe to the magazine, check out pages 207-22 of the August edition for tons of shoe pictures. For the benefit of those that don’t have the magazine (which I highly encourage you to subscribe to) shall we do a brief rundown of the different fall shoe trends? I’ll also do my best to find some visual examples of stars wearing the look too.

Fall Shoe Trend #1: Cap-Toe Heels

This fall we’ll see women’s shoes with cap decorations in patent. They’ll appear on slingbacks, pumps, and mary-janes. InStyle recommends that you use the color of the toe cap to match your clothes.

Examples:

Tory Burch Quilted Pump

Marc Jacobs Mary Jane Platforms

Fall Shoe Trend #2: Ankle Boots HOT!

The ankle booties will go well with the skinny jeans you bought when you saw them on Kate Moss. Be sure to avoid showing flesh when wearing these boots (i.e. no minis) since the high cut of the shoe can make your legs shorter than they really are. Another way to wear the ankle boot is to pair them with tights which are the same color as the boots, as seen on Gwen Stefani.

Picture from MSNBC

Examples:

I really like the four fake buttons on these Franco Sarto Booties, which is currently on sale for $66 during Nordstrom’s Anniversary sale. The buttons give these shoes a victorian vibe.

For a little extra color, why not go for the Steve Madden ankle booties?

These black Christian Louboutin booties are super sexy will go well with many outfits. Good thing too, it’ll help ease the pain of the $750 pricetag.

Fall Shoe Trend #3: Banded Flats

Yup, flats are still in but this time they’re accessoried by a band. The skinnier the pants, the better they will go with the banded flats.

Examples:

I’m currently drolling over these silver Marc Jacob ballerinas. Cute, fun, and ruffly, what’s not to love?

Marc Jacob ballerina

The Palladium Lauren ballet flat is also a cute style and is nicely priced at $37 at Jildor Shoes.

Fall Shoe Trend #4: Tall Cuffed Boots

For me, tall boots are a classic which, with the right material and color, will never go out of style. Wear the boots with skirts but avoid jeans, the cuffs already add extra bulk to the calves.

Example:

This cuffed Just Cavalli zipper boot is easy to slip on and an instant classic for work with the rounded toe.

For a more Bohemian look, consider the Mia Nomad slouchy boot. It has a comfortable 1/2 inch heel, a foldover cuff, and what’s not to like about the stitching and the tassel. It’s available at Amazon for $35 but buy it at Endless for $53 and with their pricematch policy your total price is $33 bucks, plus it ships overnight! While it’s not instant gratification, it sure comes close.

Fall Shoe Trend #5: Oxford Booties HOT!

Shoesense reported on this trend already in a This Week in Shoes update (look for the Wall Street Journal link). The shoes are great for the office since they’re both feminine and masculine and will look nice with skirts.

Example:

Dolce and Gabbana Round Toe Lace Up Bootie at Nordies for $650

Valentino Francesina Bootie at NM for $695

Moschino Bootie at Zappos for $290

Fall Shoe Trend #6: Casual Flat Boot

I’m short (5’3), but if you have long slim legs like Mischa or Sienna, the casual flat boot works well over jeans. Suede and shearling go well for a casual look and metal hardware or chain details on the boot are for dressier styles.

Example:

Gucci Minerva Boot at Saks for $1095.

Frye Slouch at Piperlime for $300.

If you like the Frye Slouch but need something below the $50 price range, try the Naughty Monkey Motor Psyche Boot. It’s $26 at Amazon and shipping is free.

Fall Shoe Trend #8: Black and Gold

Instyle recommends pairing the black and gold evening shoe with a black cocktail dress. They also like the gold trimmed shoes because they enhance the glint on metallic clothes, like this outfit worn by Amanda Bynes.

Example:

Manolo Blahnik Two Tone Patent Pump at NM for $635

Nine West Chardin at their online store for $99

Fall Shoe Trend #8: Satin Evening

According to InStyle magazine, ‘patterned black-tie gowns in a rainbow of colors. Match pinks with browns, plums with blacks, and blues with both’

Example:

For the lady in red, how about these gorgeous Christian Louboutin Satin d-Orsays at NM for $530?

Or take advantage of the platform trend (which oddly isn’t listed in the magazine) with these Marc Jacobs pumps. Do you like the olive-like satin ball?

Fall Shoe Trend #9: Crystal Jewels

Our last Instyle fall shoe trend are the crystal jewelled shoes, which are best worn with the flirty cocktail dress or evening pants.

The Nine West Levant pump ($99) satisfies the satin AND the crystal jewel trend. Gray is usually a boring color, but the jewels give this shoe a little umph.

Or what about these Guiseppe Zanotti silk peep toes($625). Not too shabby right?

Dopie’s

Remember back in April when we talked about Terra Plana shoes? Remember my mention of the Dopie as causing a somewhat cultish fad?

Well, here’s some more evidence: Dopiewear, a whole site devoted to these minimalist, eco-friendly sandals.

Personally, I’m sceptical of the comfort here, but then again, I’m not a big wearer of thong sandals in general.

You still can’t buy Dopies on the Dopiewear site, but you can buy them from Terra Plana’s main site for 30 pounds UK. And they do ship internationally.

If anyone tries these puppies out, let us know how they feel on the forums.

Travel Shoes

Few people are so reviled by air passengers everywhere as Richard Reid, the so-called shoe-bomber. Because of that (thankfully inept) git, we now have to take off our shoes when in line at the airport and find other ways to stash those explosives when we get on board. I personally like to put mine in my lipstick–you?

In the meantime, eager to help, shoe companies have come up with the so-called airport-safe shoes, which lack the metal shank that usually supports the arch of the sole. Zappos has entire sections devoted to these shoes, but I am sorry to say the selection is dismal at worst, extremely modest at best: an endless parade of lackluster loafers, sneakers, and boring sandals (perhaps with the exception of one or two Camper models). 

At any rate, they would be no good anyway because the security people at the airport would make you take them off anyway, just in case. Try to explain them that they’re airport-safe while the crowd piles up behind you. It wouldn’t go very well, trust me.

Well….unless…you wear something like this, perhaps? 

They’re Working Ludens from S Design Unit and they’re built of elastomer. The minimalist, archless, bare design would probably not pose a security threat at the airport. One presumes, anyway. Well, unless the security people decided you’re too much of a kook to actually board a plane (also possible!)

Harry Potter and the Red Carpet Shoes

Since I (and probably a large portion of other people on the planet right now) have Harry Potter on the brain totally and completely, I figure let’s take a quick peek at what the girls of the Harry Potter movies have been wearing around town. Now, for the sake of fashion, I’m only looking at the past two films’ releases (Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix), since before that, the girls were mostly wearing cute flats befitting their ages as pre-teens. But for the past two films, there have been some interesting shoes worn by our three case studies for today: Emma Watson (aka Hermione Granger), Katie Leung (aka Cho Chang), and Bonnie Wright (aka Ginny Weasley).

First up: Bonnie

Here she is at the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in 2005 working the classic black dress/red shoe look.

While I think the dress and the hair and the makeup are nice, they seem too old for her, but I do love those shoes. Redheads wearing read is tough, but that flash of red on her feet… nicely done.

Now, here’s Bonnie at the Order of the Phoenix UK premiere earlier this month.

This free-spirit/flower-child look isn’t working for me. She’s got all the trimmings of it done right… long hair ironed straight, chunky bangs, smoky eyes, flowing dress, wood (or maybe wood-patterned) platforms. She’s doing the look right… it’s just not working for me. The dress doesn’t work for me at all, but since this is Shoeblog, I’ll focus on my problem with the shoes: they look like schoolgirl mary-janes with the toes cut off and a platform stuck on. Not a good look in my book.

Let’s see how Katie stacks up.

Here she is at that same Goblet of Fire premiere in 2005.

She looks lovely, but a sort of average lovely, in my book. There’s nothing wrong at all with her outfit, but it’s not knocking me out. However, I will give her that the shoes are quite well chosen to work with that dress and her other jewelry. Bonus points for the armband, which is always an interesting accessory choice.

And then, here’s Katie at the Order of the Phoenix UK premiere this month.

Oo la la! Love the hair, love the belted dress, love the Louboutins. Katie’s workin’ it! Classic, simple, elegant, tres chic!

And how does Ms. Watson compare to these two?

Well, she doesn’t start off well.

Here she is in 2005 at the Goblet of Fire premiere. While I give her props for both the choice of flats (and gold sparkly flats no less) and the flapper-inspired headband, the dress is the wrong length for her, and she ends up looking like she’s wearing a sack made of upholstery fabric from Versailles.

But give her a couple years, and it all starts looking up.

Here’s Emma at the UK premiere of Order of the Phoenix at the beginning of July. While I’ve seen mixed reviews of this outfit, I give it two thumbs up. It’s interesting and fresh, while still being appropriately young for Emma to pull off. And I don’t know who designed the shoes, but they have a sort of Marc Jacobs aesthetic going on with the round toe and the thicker heel. And I can’t argue with shoes that are Marc Jacobs-esque.

Plus, Emma gets an extra picture, because she looks so smashing at the LA Order of the Phoenix premiere.

Love it! It’s fresh and bright and young and stylish. Love the dress with its mini train there, and love the silver slingback flats. They’re the perfect shoes for that dress, and the perfect shoes for dressing up summertime fashions. Nicely done, Emma. I think she’s a great pick as the new face of Chanel, and if she keeps showing up to events dressed like this, I can only imagine others will start to agree.

(all photos courtesy of Getty)