Last night in New York was that always-delightful high point of every fashionista’s calendar o’ chic: the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala.  This year’s theme (in conjunction with the Costume Institute’s major annual exhibition of the same title)?  The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion.

While last year’s Superhero show only produced a few interesting footwear choices, this year, there were beautiful shoes galore!

This may well be the year of Nicholas Kirkwood.  It certainly was on the carpet last night.  In my opinion, the most interesting designs were his, and they were on the feet of some of the top models in the industry.

Here’s Jessica Stam in the S9051B.

And here’s Karolina Kurkova so considerately displaying the S9049A for us.

Check out the official site for stockists near you and a peek at the GORGEOUS, uber-glam styles for the spring/summer 09 line.

While Kirkwood was my favorite on the carpet, there were plenty more style statements made through shoes.

Louboutins were everywhere… of course!

I’m not sure I’m feeling the giant bow look (seen here on Ivanka Trump with her Bow T pumps, which you can find at Joseph here), but I’ll tell you I do love her dress.

The so-called hourglass heels from Louis Vuitton that Twinkletoes wrote about so amusingly during Paris Fashion Week earlier this year were EVERYWHERE last night!  And I do mean everywhere.

Madonna wore a crazed thigh-high boot version.

Posh went with the ankle straps.

And Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester took the cake for Walking Disaster in the covered ankle bow-tie version.  I hasten to add that the shoes are BY FAR the best part of this outfit, and that Walking Disaster status is earned by that horrible piece of—I hate to even call it fashion—fabric she has covered herself in that is an awful combination of rejected upholstery, spangles, and some American Apparel red lamé leggings.  XOXO?  I think not.

But we can’t end on such a hideous note, can we?  No no.  I wouldn’t do that to you.

So instead, I will end with a beautiful shoe that I totally covet.  It’s Roger Vivier’s origami-inspired Kyte in a beautiful ivory/gold combination that matches Marisa’s dress perfectly.  Mwah!

All in all, a beautiful batch of shoes full of interesting heels and toes and uppers and materials.  It’s going to be a fun season, folks.  Can’t wait for it to unroll.

(Celeb photos courtesy of Celebutopia and StyleFrizz.)

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If any of you are watching Joss Whedon’s new show, Dollhouse, you may (like me) be watching the shoes kind of obsessively.

This past week, Echo wore a pair of heels that I couldn’t look away from.  Here’s a screenshot.

In this case, it was actually because I thought they looked clunky and distracting, so… not a thumbs up.

But the last episode sent Sierra out in a pair of gorgeous criss-cross strappy pumps with what just might be my favorite of this season’s trends: heel zippers (which of course you can’t see in this shot).

What are these pretty puppies?  Thankfully something you can get your hands on if you’re feeling so inclined.

They’re the Tammy by L.A.M.B. (not to be confused with yesterday’s featured Flavia), and you can snag them for $349 at Heels.com.

I can’t say as I’d recommend trying to run away from government operatives in them the way Sierra did in the episode.  But they’re surely pretty shoes.

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The birds are chirping.  The leaves are budding.  The flowers are blossoming.  And I’m in a total case of spring fever.  Since I’m me, this extends to shoes.  I’m browsing for sandals left and right and getting all excited over pedicures and ballet flats and all, just like I do every spring.

But I’m also doing my other thing that I do every springtime.  Wondering if I’ll be able to find walkable, supportive, cute shoes for the warm weather.

How perfect the timing then, for Thierry Rabotin to step on up.

Thierry Rabotin is one of those classics of the comfort shoe industry.  The man himself used to be the designer for Taryn Rose, and after some legal bad blood a few years back when he left the company, he struck out on his own, with his own mission to make high-end, handmade comfort shoes.

And he’s done it.  If you’re a geek about shoe companies like I am, check out that link to the company website for some interesting information about their manufacturing process and design vision.

In case you’re not a geek like that (though, really, I bet a bunch of you are… it’s Shoeblog, after all), I won’t go into it much, except to say that Rabotins are made in Italy (as the good shoes always are) and use the legendary sacchetto construction (basically where full grain leather linings are sewn directly to the upper of the shoe instead of being glued to mid-layers or shanks or insoles) that a) makes shoes a lot lighter and more flexible and b) is fairly rare, since it takes a lot more care in the construction of a shoe and doesn’t lend itself to assembly-line mass production techniques.

Oh look… I went on about geeky shoe things anyway.

Right.

Well, let’s cut to the chase, shall we?

So up to now I’ve been very curious to try a pair of Thierrys, but I’ve never been tickled by their styles until I snagged myself a pair of these Georgia maryjanes for my very own.

Of course, it’s time to share the experience with all of you good people out there.

First off, I was a mite sceptical to be honest.  I’m generally leery of this sort of flat ballet-inspired shoe, because most of the ones I’ve ever tried on, even those from “comfort” companies, don’t offer much in the way of support or shock-absorption, and they often cut up the back of my heel something fierce.

But when I slipped these on and walked them through the concrete and cobblestone streets of London for a few days, the most I could complain about was one spot where the edge rubbed at the outside of my little toe.  Even that, honestly, I’m not too worried about.  The leather feels like butter, and it’s already stretching around the shape of my foot.  No heel rubbing, because there’s a genius patch of suede on the inside of the shoe’s heel.  There’s even built-in arch support!  It’s like a little sigh of relief putting these puppies on my feet.  Word of advice, though: I’d go up a half size if you’re in doubt.  I’m usually an 8 US, and I got these in the 8.5 (which in Rabotin sizing is 38.5), and I wouldn’t want ‘em any smaller.

They’re a bit on the narrow side (hence the toe rubbing), which also worried me looking at them in the box.  But they’re actually quite flattering once they’re on, and they don’t gap weirdly, which I often find is a problem with ballerina-style shoes.

Style-wise, I can’t say as they’re the most cutting edge pair of shoes I’ve ever put on, and that’s in keeping with the company’s ethos of making shoes that are “classics” and don’t follow the whims of fashion.  Personally, I think there’s still room to get a bit less old-fashioned with their collections while maintaining a classic overall style.  But the inclusion of these metallic leathers that they’ve been doing for the past few seasons has made a huge difference.  Case in point: in black, the Georgia isn’t nearly as interesting to me.

Likewise, it’s the pewter that catches my eye on the Grace flat.

OK, maybe I’m just a sucker for the shiny, but make something in a metallic, and I’m all over it.

All in all, I’d say I was really pleasantly surprised by these shoes, and I’d give them high marks all around, with perhaps a few points off for style innovation.

If you’re after a pair of your own, follow the links above to the shoes at Joseph.  And if you’re still not convinced that these are awesome and worth the (admittedly high) retail price tag of $400-450, there are plenty of other comfort brands there with some adorable shoes for spring.  I make special mention of these funky Arche perforated sandals, which are not only a ton of fun in hot pink, but damn trendy right now with their zip-up heel and combination clunky/cut-out styling.

Or, in a yet-lower price bracket, there’s the Cole Haan Air Ariana sandal with Nike sole technology.  I haven’t mentioned it recently, but seriously, the Cole Haan Air series (as well as its precursor, Cole Haan G Series) makes up by far the highest percentage of my go-to shoes for summer walking in stylish comfort.

You know what?  Just go ahead and browse through all the spring shoes over there.  There are some beauts.  And there’s even a fun article from their head shoe buyer about some of his favorite picks for spring shoes.

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I’ve just come back from a jaunt through Turkey, where merhaba means hello and (more importantly for us here) ayakkabılar means shoes.

Did I buy shoes while I was there?

Well… no.

Surprise, right?

But I can point out the shoes that I was most tempted to buy.

No, it wasn’t the beaded “harem slippers” that were on sale to tourists EVERYWHERE.

(photo from e-turkey.net)

It wasn’t the standard designer knock-offs that seemed to be in every other booth at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.

It was the Suzani boots.

Suzani textiles are traditionally from Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan) and I’ve more often seen them woven into carpets and rugs.  There were certainly plenty of those all over Turkey.  And as rugs, they seem a bit much to me.

But the boots?  The boots sucked me in.

They’re not my usual style at all.  But they did remind me a bit of the Tatar boots seen way back here at the MFA in Boston for their Walk This Way exhibition.

And up close some of them are really gorgeous.  Here are a few examples (each helpfully linked to its for-sale page if you find yourself inclined in a purchasing direction).  All of them are for sale right now for about $145.

That last pair is probably my fave.  There’s a huge variety of these shoes for sale all throughout Turkey, and all right, so they’re not exactly a neutral basic, but just imagine how amazing they’d look with a basic black turtleneck/skirt outfit.

Maybe all the Turkish delights have gone to my brain.  Am I nuts, dear readers?  Are these the height of fug?  Or a quirky, fun statement-piece shoe?

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A while back, I was invited to the showroom of a woman with a brilliant idea.

What if you wanted to go travelling and didn’t want to fill up your suitcase with heavy, bulky pairs upon pairs of shoes?

Not surprisingly, the answer she came up with is shoes with interchangeable uppers.  We’ve talked about this idea before, but Phootlery’s offering is a particularly smart and stylish way of going about it.  Instead of a clunky or challenging method of swapping out your uppers, these different strap combinations hook onto the sole with the ingenious idea of little lingerie hooks that you insert into elastic loops on the sole.  It’s a delicate, discreet way of jazzing up your footwear that won’t fall apart on you, either.

With Phootlery sandals, you start with a choice of sole: silver, gold, or chocolate (all leather) and flat or low wedge (so you’re comfily set up no matter what you pick).  The soles have a bit of padding and are made of Italian leathers and trust me—I tried a pair on—they’re comfortable.

OK, got your sole chosen (they cost $100 and run from EU 35/US 5 to EU 41/US 11)?  Here’s the fun part.  Time to pick out your uppers.

Black crocodile embossed gladiator style?

Intertwined lemon-yellow and snakeskin ankle strapping?

There are bunches of options.  Here are only some of the ones I got to see to give you some idea of the variety you’ve got at your fingertips.

And the New York Times has just featured Phootlery in its TMagazine, so I imagine the order volume will be jumping.  Get in on this one early.  These are winners, especially in a time where many of us are worrying about spending tons of money on more and more shoes.  How about getting just the one sole with a few different uppers instead.  Change up your sandals without doing too much damage to your wallet.

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