SS12 Shoe Trend Alert: Ankle Straps

The trend alerts continue, and they’re comin’ on strong.

We’ve covered some of the patterns already, but if I had to predict one thing that’ll show up most come next spring, it’s not white or buckles or shiny shiny gold (though here are drive-by pics to show that Zac Posen has also jumped on the C3PO train, as has Thakoon… love those gilded toe caps!).

It’s ankle straps.

Yep.  Some are thin, like these Zac Posen’s or the Derek Lam ones I posted about earlier.  But mostly, we’re getting thick ankle straps that fasten in all kinds of interesting ways.

There are zips, like at the Custo Barcelona show:

There are ties, like these at the Timo Weiland show:

And, of course, there are buckles (buckles!), like that last Timo Weiland shoe above, like the ones at Christian Siriano a few days ago or like the show to which I will dedicate the rest of this post, because the shoes were gorgeous and spring-like and made me want to get all flirty in the sunshine: DKNY.  So feast your eyes on these pretty pretty puppies, and let the Fashion Week shoe parade march on.

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.

UGG Art and Sole Auction

UGG Australia recently collaborated with a number of popular designers in the 7th annual UGG Art and Sole (Charity) Auction with proceeds benefiting the St. Judes Children’s Hopital.  According to the St. Jude’s website, this event has raised more than $315,000 for the hospital to date.

From the UGG’s website:

In 2005, UGG® Australia decided to use St. Jude as the primary charity for every annual Art & Sole celebrity boot auction. Each year select high profile artists, actors, and musicians are asked to hand design a pair of Classic Boots to auction off on the brand’s homepage during a fourteen day period in December. All of the proceeds are then donated to further the research for St. Jude. Last year, the 5th annual auction raised more than $105,000. Celebrity participants included: Liv Tyler, Miley Cyrus, Eva Longoria, Matthew McConaughey, Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart, Jessica Simpson, Sharon Stone and many more.
Details

Each participant that agrees to design a pair of UGG® Boots is sent an art kit which includes everything they need from paint to sharpie markers. When finished, each celebrity signs each boot and a headshot before sending back to us. Then the auction begins!
About St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tennessee, St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. No family ever pays for treatments not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fund-raising organization.

This year’s designers included Manolo Blahnik, Betsey Johnson, Reem Acra, Giuseppe Zanotti, Rebecca Minkoff, LaROK, True Religion, Stuart Weitzman, Christian Siriano, Lauren Moffatt, Thomas Wylde, Chrome Hearts, PPQ, Zang Toi, Rebecca Taylor, Erin Wasson, Jenni Kayne, Miss Sixty, Leanne Marshall, Pamela Roland, Carlos Falchi, Eugenia Kim, Chloe Dao, and Rafe New York,

My favorite was the flowers and butterflies offering from LaRok (Final bid $2100)

But, the biggest winner for St. Jude appears to be this strappy, studded boot by Rafe New York which ended it’s bidding at $2750.

Final bids on the boots varied from that just-shy-of-3k high-bid down to a more modest $500 for these Thomas Wylde’s skull-themed boot:

Now, let’s play a game!

How many boots can you match to their designer without peeking at the auction link at the top of this story?

Answers are listed after the break below.

(more…)

Christian Siriano is now available online at Payless

Remember how – not too long ago -  we were anticipating the new Christian Siriano-Payless Shoesource collaboration?

Well, some styles are now available in-store an online.

So far, I am seeing 2 shoe-styles and 1 handbag online:

Christian Siriano for Payless “Slither” $49.99. Don’t expect these to go on sale anytime soon.

Christian Siriano for Payless “Sandstrap” platform peep-to $34.99. This is a cute and classy shoe.

Christian Siriano for Payless “Sassafrass” extra large hobo handbag $34.99. I wonder if that little inverted pyramid-thingy will be the Siriano trademark?

These are cute and I like the idea of supporting new designers – particularly when they are trying to create affordable fashion for the many folks who must stay on-budget every month.

But, online styles appear to be limited ….. Let’s hope there are more styles to be found in-store.

…Or, am I just being unreasonably greedy to get my hands on a pair of the edgy little chain-adorned numbers we saw on the runway?

Now I’ll just have to  try to get some time to go into town today to see if anything has shown up locally. Unfortunately, small-town living may not bode well for me in this instance.

ETA: Another new style just popped up on the Payless site (particularly useful to those who’s local stores never saw any September in-store stock); these certainly weren’t there yesterday morning – Brown snakeskin flats:

Christian Siriano for Payless “Saunter” $29.99

I suppose there’s some of that chain we have been mentioning in the comments below.

Christian Siriano: Spring 2010 Runway Collection Sneek Peek

Christian Siriano introduced his Spring ’10 Runway collection at Payless Shoe Source in New York during Fashion’s Night Out.  Now, I don’t know if these shoes will be in my neighborhood Payless, or if they will make them less “runway” looking, or if these are a llimited edition for only New York.  Last year we saw Payless take his hot runway shoes and make them consumer friendly (average).

Here are the shoes introduced. 

These are what the model wore at the sneak peek.

Christian and the current display.

Payless Shoe Source is trying to make unusual shoes available to the lower end market.  They also have Alice+Olivia limited edition designs available.  We’ll see how well this line does in the stores.