Spring 2012 Shoe Trends: Buckles and Gold

The shoes keep on strutting down the runways, and we’re starting to see some recurring patterns that are making me happy.  If Spring 2012 brings these to bear fruit, we shall all be well-shod little ponies, friends.

Buckles, Buckles, BUCKLES

The models at the Christian Siriano (left), Duro Olowu (center), and Band of Outsiders (right) shows trotted out pretty pretty shoes that combine texture and color and material beautifully.  And WITH BUCKLES!!  I love me a shoe with buckles in lots of places.

Shiny Shiny Gold

Some designers are deploying this trend sparingly, like at the Erin Fetherston show (left), and some are going full-on Midas, like Cynthia Rowley (center).  And there there’s Jill Stuart (right), who’s doing some of both (note the mixing of pastels and gold on the front model’s shoe and the more prominent gold on the retreating model).

Not only do I love me some buckles, but I also never outgrew the little girl lust for SHINY, so the gold trend will also probably be gracing my shoe collection come next spring/summer.

Trend sleuth: Oxford…thongs?

Is there a name for these shoes? Full back coverage, but a bare thong in front? They seem to be the opposite of slingbacks (if footwear had antonyms, that is). For example:

Georgina Goodman sandals (with elasticized back and twist-tie thong), $325 at Barefoot Tess.

A very similar style comes from Irregular Choice–’Dirrty’, available for $110 at Nordstrom, in black or ‘snake’:

By comparison, these below are positively business-like:

Delman ‘Una’ Sandal, $300 at Barefoo Tess. The Anthropologie team captures their oxymoronic nature when they dub these shoes ‘Oxford thongs’.

Or how about these Tracy Reese fiery thongs, $338 at Anthropologie. What’s that sticking from the back, you say? Why, I’m glad you asked:

Shark-teeth brass-detailed spurs!!! Now, that’s original! And scary!

And these Cynthia Rowley ‘Tuxedo’ thongs sport a minimum-coverage quarter, positively risque compared to the styles above–$131 at Anthropologie. Strangely, they remind me of a penguin.

Here’s a much more dressed-up version, the Azzaro Crystal sandal, $570 at Neiman Marcus.

However, I urge you to stay away from some variations, like the model above, which are indeed tragic ($118 at Free People Boutique). Rather, take advantage of the current sales and snag this chic Michael Kors ‘Gavi’ sandal, only $70 at Bloomingdales (sadly, only in sizes 7 and 7.5).