Yves Saint Laurent Style

Yves Saint Laurent knew a clean, classic silhouette and a clean, classic shoe. He knew funky too, of course, he just knew when to be simple.

I went to the YSL exhibit at the de Young Museum this week and nearly had to close my eyes as a brief respite from the overwhelming visual feast. This is the only stop in the U.S., so if you can, please go to the de Young for this fantastic exhibit.

Of course, I was on the lookout for the best shoes at the exhibit. This 1992 silk cocktail dress with its teaspot earrings and black and white crepe shoes was a stunner. I soaked in the negative space of the shoes as much as possible, getting close and letting myself feel sucked in by the white ovals. How can the whole outfit be so loud and yet so elegant, and the shoes be so quiet and yet so fun (and almost teasing, playful, funny)?

Now that over-the-knee boots are back, wouldn’t you like to just traipse around like a woodland hunter-sprite in these thigh boots?

Or how about going completely fearless in these fire engines, matched with a dark magenta, no less?

You could go for this eskimo look with the cordon-wrapped boots while you polish off that tuna nicoise with the ladies who lunch in the Arctic.

In 1965, Vivier’s Pilgrim pumps were paired with YSL’s Mondrian dresses. A fantastic match of geometry.

Most of the YSL shoes in the exhibit were black patent leather, and went incredibly sexily with the YSL tuxedo. (I wish I had photos of them). I love his masculine silhouettes and the strongly feminine, rounded square-toed black patent leather shoes he paired with them. Hamish Bowles said Yves had “impeccable understatement and startling modernity.” This is true, and is so evident in his scores of well-tailored black separates. But the man also put a woman in a matador outfit and heels, a jini in a lamp gold lame gown with leather and rhinestone pumps  – why couldn’t he have lived forever to have outfitted the 22nd century woman?

You changed the way women entering the workforce in the 60s dress by offering them pants. You paved the way for the existence of style rebels like Nan Kempner, who, when rejected from a restaurant for wearing one of your pantsuits, simply unzipped the pants and wore her tunic as a minidress.

“Nothing is so beautiful on a woman as the arms of a man she loves. But not all women are so blessed. Those women have me.”

Here’s to you, Yves, and your shoes, classic, refined and thoroughly modern at the same time.

Vivier’s Pilgrim Shoes

Thanksgiving is upon us.  And, as the house slowly fills with the unmistakable and homey aromas of sage and rosemary roast turkey, I wanted to stop for a moment to reflect on the contribution made by Roger Vivier that is most commonly referred to as the Pilgrim Pump.

Yes, this is the unavoidable Thanksgiving post. So, let’s chat about the Pilgrim Shoe.

Not This Shoe:

But This Shoe:

So, here’s to Roger Vivier. While well-known for his revival* of the stiletto n the 1950′s - particularly during Hollywood’s ‘Golden Years’  (Think Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), Mr. Vivier is also well-remembered for the classic buckled-vamp ‘Pilgrim Shoe’.

Originally introduced in the 1960′s to compliment then-current Mod fashions, and made famous by Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour, the style was instantly recognizable and became  as iconically associated with the Vivier name as the stiletto.

A classic and much imitated shoe, the Vivier Pilgrim shoe (La Belle Vivier) was re-introduced in 2004 under Bruno Frisoni to a whole new generation of fans.  More recently, the iconic buckle has been featured on handbags  offered by the House of Vivier.

So, here’s the eye-candy:

Personally, I love the black pump with the contrasting red buckle. The hint of color-blocking adds just the right amount of sass to an otherwise conservative style.

Of course, those of you who love to celebrity-watch may recognize the strappy buckles sandals; Shoebunny has all the details on just which celebrity wore these here.

The ‘eye-candy’ styles shown are all currently available at  the styledrops.com Roger Vivier Corner; Prices range from $739 to $989 for pictured styles. 

For those interested in more historical information on Vivier, several additional articles and references are available. 

*Credit to graymnce for editorial correction on the stiletto article.

Shoe History Corner: Roger Vivier and the Stiletto

Roger Vivier’s shoes have been a regular feature on this blog. Really, how could we not blog about Roger Vivier, the Fragonard of the shoe, when the designer is credited for inventing the stiletto heel, comma heel, and pilgram buckle.

Today, I present to you this Roger Vivier for Dior pump, circa 1954. It’s one of the first designs of a thin metal stake we now call the stiletto and is every bit as lovely as it was fifty odd years ago.

And if you have a ton of free time on your hands, and I do emphasize a ton, I highly encourage you to peruse the Costume Institute’s meticulously cataloged online collection, which is where I found this photo. It would take hours just to review the buckles and Chanel pieces on the site.

This Week in Shoes

-The low down on Suri Cruise’s custom-made Roger Vivier buckle. What a lucky girl. [Shoewawa]

-Confess your love affair of the sole on Marshall’s shoe contest. You could win a $1,000 shoe shopping spree or better yet help Anna win the shoe shopping spree. [Shoe Smitten]

-It’s that time of the year again. The annual FFANY Shoes on Sale® to raise funds for breast cancer research is happening on Wednesday, October 15 from 7– 10 p.m. ET. Here’s a wonderful chance to shop designer shoes (there will be a 100,000 pairs of designer shoes at half the suggested retail price) for great savings or a noble cause. [FFANY Shoes on Sale]

Cate Blanchett and the $11,000 shoes

People Magazine gives us the scoop on these glittery heels Cate Blanchett donned at Australia’s Helpmann Awards: they are “a pair of limited edition Roger Vivier Limelight America platform heels with sequined star detail and Swarovski crystal buckles.” Wait, that’s not the best part: They cost $11,000! Eleven. Thousand. Dollars.

I’m sure they were a gift (really, what self-respecting celebrity would fork that kind of cash for shoes, no matter how fab?). At any rate, it appears Cate also wore them to the premier of her Bob Dylan movie “I’m not here”–so at least she got some mileage out of them!