Happy Birthday Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli will have 70 candles on his birthday cake today. He also celebrated his 40th anniversary as a designer this year.  Congratulations!

I had never really thought about Cavalli’s designs until I began reading about what he pioneered.   He began as a textile printer for an Italian knitwear line.  He designed a series of floral prints that caught the attention of  several hosiery companies.

In the early 70′s he  invented and  patented a new way to print leather and began to piece them together.  Hermes and Pierre Cardin immediately commissioned pieces from him.  He then started his own fashion house  featuring bright flamboyant fabrics that appealed to the trendsetters.   In 1992 he featured sand blasted denim – I didn’t know  that  was HIS idea.  He is still sandblasting jeans only updating them. (more…)

Roberto Cavalli Elegant Chain Sandals

So, one of our readers (You know who you are.) loves metallic studs, chains and other hardware details on shoes.

Unfortunately, the tendency of shoe-designers to create their rocker-chic and club shoes with stainless steel, aluminum, or other silver-toned hardware inevitably leaves her disappointed.

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What did Fall 2010 Fashion Month tell us?

With the three major fall 2010 fashion events, New York, Milan and Paris,  concluding, there were a few shoe trends that recurred in several collections.  This is what we saw.  Mad Men curves are in.  Fur is in. Many of the big name fashion houses went with classic investment pieces that were timeless looking.  Several of the lesser known houses had some beautiful and interesting  pieces.  Let’s look at some shoes – that’s why we are all here.

Pointy toe shoes are returning, so dust off your Guess “Carrie” shoes because we will be seeing more pointy toes in the future.

Prada

Valentino.  There was a flat and a kitten heel also presented in this collection.

Louis Vuitton

While stilettoes were seen, typically  if the heel was high - especially boots -then it was a chunky heel.  I love the stability chunky heels offer.  Can you imagine tottering around in the above Vuitton shoes if  the heel was pencil thin?

Alexander Wang

Fendi

Erdem – love the print on these boots.

Not many wedges were seen, so I am guessing we will be seeing those phased out over the next couple of years.

Kenzo

Bottega Veneta featured this wedge on all the shoes.

Dries Van Noten.  I LOVE this half wedge.

With the retro girly-fication of the styles  no tough girl platforms were necessary.

Marc Jacobs

Dolce Gabbana

Carolina Herrera

Lanvin (Arguably the best line of the season.)

But lots of platforms were presented.

Christian Louboutin for Phillip Lim

Michael Kors

Burberry Prorsum

Brian Atwood for Victoria Beckham.

There must have been 10 different colors of this shoe because Mrs. Beckham likes to match her shoes to her dress.  These shoes are nice but nothing to hyper-ventilate over.  Her dresses were nice, wearable, and pretty.

Over the knee boots will be around for a while.  We saw over the knee boots in several presentations.  Since this is the fall season, we should not be surprised.

Burberry Prorsum presented some of the season’s favorite boots.

Roberto Cavalli

Statement shoes were everywhere.

If you are a chiropractor, you NEED these shoes.

Dsquared

Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte

Louise Goldin

Chanel.  Notice the ice heel.

Chanel’s show, in my opinion was one of the goofiest ideas I think I have ever seen.  Uncle Karl shipped a glacier from Sweden to Paris, had it sculpted it for the runway, put it on a swimming pool type platform,  then the models walked through about an inch of melting glacier water.  He presented some beautiful suits, IF you could see past the heinous fake fur that accompanied these outfits.  Global warming, glaciers melting, save the furry animals was the message of this show.  Here’s the thing. 1) Lagerfield  used more fur in Fendi than virtually any other collection, so why use cheap looking fake fur with Chanel.  2) The carbon footprint of this show was massive and the power it took to present this show could have powered a small country.  (Here is where I usually go off on my global-warming-leadership-hypocrasy tirade, but I won’t because you came here to see shoes.)

OK,  I rarely look at purses, but I WANT THIS PURSE.

Forgive me for this long post, but there were so many beautiful shoes, and even more beautiful outfits.  I wanted to show them all to you but that isn’t possible.

Burberry Laser Cut Shoes

I have been a huge fan of laser cut shoe detail since I first encountered this Cavalli T7711 shoe several years ago (’07).

And, while the color contrast of the rainbow backing fabric was too busy for some people, the flawless detail of the leather with it’s peakaboo cutouts has never lost it’s charm to me. I almost  forgot to breath when I first saw this shoe; you just don’t forget when you have that kind of gut reaction to something. Oh, and there was a matching roll clutch…just amazing.

So, while I could never justify $700+ on sale for this particular variation, the last 3 years have seen more companies entering into the laser-cut detail arena. This, to my mind, is a good thing.

I was reminded of this shoe the other day at Nordstrom Seattle when I saw this shoe on display in the Shoe Salon area:

Burberry ‘Nova Broderie Anglaise’ pumps $550 $364.90 at Nordstrom.com, $358 at Zappos Couture.

Another peek-a-boo, window-paned shoe with a little more color subtlety than the Cavalli. This time the cutouts are flirting with the signature Burberry plaid and successfully abstracting it in the process!

When I checked online, I found it was also available in a both peep-toe pump and a ballerina flat.

Burberry Nova Broderie Anglaise Peep-Toe Pumps $550 $358 at Zappos Couture

Burberry Nova Broderie Anglaise Ballerina Flat $495 $322

I can’t help but find the whole effect to be rather charming. If that qualifies my taste as a little over the top, I can live with that.

Roberto Cavalli L70038: Fantastic fish-scale shoes

Unlike Louboutin’s creepy, fish-themed ‘Pesce’ pumps (which, frankly, scare me enough to produce nightmares), Roberto Cavalli has a scaled metallic shoe that is just as fishy as a shoe can get without going overboard (pun intended).

Roberto Cavalli L70038 $1494 $1072.80 at Zappos.com

I find these to be an interesting and fresh alternative to the many recent glittered, sequined, pailletted,  and otherwise bedazzled shoe options being offered in nearly every price range. They also happen to make me smile because they bring immediately to mind one of my favorite, illustrated, children’s books, “The Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister:

These Cavalli peep-toes are just as sparkly as the rainbow fish is at the beginning of the story.

Though, I must admit that I actually love the illustrations as much or more than story text; a morality tale centered around the concepts of vanity, sharing, friendship, and inner beauty.  Over the course of the story, the rainbow fish eventually passes out most of his scales to those around him – sharing his beauty and gaining friends as he learns humility and the ability to share.  There is also a great, tactile, quality to the artwork; foil scales are inset into the watercolor illustrations – adding sparkle and collage interest to each page.

Looking at these shoes, I feel kind of like the rainbow fish at the beginning of the story.  They are soooo pretty; you would feel spectacular any time you tried them on.  I suppose that even as a grown-up,  it’s hard to share certain things that make us feel fabulous and personal all at the same time.

I certainly wouldn’t want to share these if they were a part of my closet. I’m afraid the closest I come to the tale’s selflessness (in regard to shoes) is by periodically donating any non-worn shoes in my closet.

How about you?