Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte Spring 2011 Shoes

In past seasons, Rodarte had shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood design some interesting footwear (think melting wax heels from the fall 2010 Kirkwood for Rodarte collection).   So, I was anticipating something different and was not disappointed with the Spring/Summer 2011 Rodarte collection.

Rodarte designer Laura promised “every shade of brown you can imagine, seventies suburbia, wood paneling, gold, off colors like chartreuse—basically, a combination of all the things that represent the area [our childhoold backyard] to us”  and this was evident in the hand-carved,  sculpted platforms and heels that perfectly complimented the outfits.  I wonder how long each of these heels took to shape.  They are truly works of art.

For more detailed pictures of the shoes, click on the gallery.

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.

Rodarte- Nicholas Kirkwood Fall 2010

I kept reading about the Nicholas Kirkwood shoes for Rodarte shown in New York being ultra high and made to look like melted candle wax. 

I didn’t understand what they were talking about, because this is what I found. 

THEN I found these photos.  NOW I understand.   Here is a close up of the shoes

These have Nicholas Kirkwood’s signature all over them.

New York Fashion Week Shoes: Off the Runway

It’s no mystery that at Fashion Week, the shoes worn by the editrixes, bloggers, and other assorted fashionistas can be just as fabulous, if not even better than what we’re seeing on the runway. Who do you think actually goes and buys those shoes anyway? So this is going to be a completely covetable, drool-worthy photo essay of Fashion Week Shoes: Off the Runway.

Let’s set the stage. Picture yourself at the Bryant Part. You are surrounded by fashionable folk and hangers on. Photographers hang out by all the entrances smoking and cracking jokes. Masses of people line the front and back of the tents, hoping to catch a glimpse of a famous person or to slip by security. You are not concerned with this as you blithely bypass security and stroll into the Tents. Since Fashion Week is Barbie themed this year, the first thing you see is the giant barbie sign. Each letter filled with Barbie in her many different iterations:

There are life-size barbies standing in a field of (real!) pink painted apples.

Are you getting into the mood?

Now check out the fabulous shoes that are literally just standing around:

Ok so these are not the gorgeous spiky Christian Louboutin for Rodarte heels that Rachel Weisz wore on the October cover of Vogue, BUT I was still pretty impressed that these lookalikes were being worn in public by a (regular?) person.

Red Hot Hoofers wander around, waiting for their close-up Mr. DeMille.

Studded Gladiator Sandals with cuffed jeans? Is that Katie Holmes? (Sadly, no. But her influence is clear.)

Furry Fabulosity! It may have been 45 degrees outside, but arctic fashion is SO in right now

Cut-outs are fun! (Well, the girl on the left was having fun. She was pretty agile in those booties. But the girl on the right was literally being completely held up by her date. She could not move on her own!

All Around Cool

I hope you have enjoyed my little Fashion Week photo story. May the shoe gods smile down on you!

More NY Fashion Week Spring 2009 Shoes

Before we dive into London fashion week, I thought it might be fun to have a look at some of the more interesting shoes seen on NY Fashion Week Spring 2009. And since the Emmys is this weekend, I thought it might be fun to dish out some shoe awards while I was at it.

Quite possibly, this is the Most Accessoried Accessory seen on the runways. Following in the footsteps of shoe designers Blahnik and Louboutin (remember these fierce shoes?) who have produced shoes for Rodarte, Nicholas Kirkwood designed these very decked out shoes. They are so ostentatious, can you imagine the stares you’d get if you wore these on a night out with the gals? I can also imagine them appearing in a rap video shortly.

Apparently, though, Nicholas Kirkwood’s heels for Rodarte aren’t very walkable. They have have gained notoriety for receiving the Most Likely to Fall in these Shoes, because well, it actually happened (near minute 7:00). The model, Abbey Lee, seems to have escaped injury this time.

Most Ill-Fitting shoes goes to Matthew Willliamson. The pinky toe and the right middle toe are just clinging on to the platform for dear life.

Finally, my Favorite Shoe from NY were by Marc Jacobs. Normally, I am not a fan of ankle straps, but these are too delicious and I want them in all the prints – weave, red glitter, silver, leather, etc. I’m a fan of the dainty teardrop-ish heel (hopefully they are easy to walk in though) and the tongue-like curvature at the heel.