After last week’s Friday Shoe History Corner trip to the Louvre, I thought we’d take a gander at London’s V&A this week.  Their Golden Age of Couture show (focused on Paris and London between 1947 and 1957) is now closed, but the website is still up, so in case you didn’t get to see it in person, here are a few of the Roger Vivier footwear highlights.  Being a French designer, of course, these all fall into the “Paris” half of the show, and some of them have a suitably couture over-the-top decadence about them, while others rely on the simplicity of the shape to make a woman’s foot look divine.

Coral and diamante embroidered satin, late 1950s, for Christian Dior

Pink satin embroidered with metallic thread and sequins, ca. 1958, for Christian Dior

Coral and diamante embroidered satin, ca. 1958, for Christian Dior

Remind you of the iconic pilgrim shoes that Shoesense adores?  Indeed.  This version is satin with a diamante buckle, from the late 1950s, for Christian Dior.

Tulle over satin, 1954, for Christian Dior

Any of these would still make a strong statement at a party, and when the no-doubt uber fashionable ladies of the 1950s wore them out, I’ll bet they did the same thing.

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Remember the Fendi chain heel?  Heels with flair, as seen on the spring 2008 runway, are finally hitting the stores.  Here are some of my favorites shoes from the decorated heel category.

Even though the heel is 4.5 inches, this laced up heel looks more comfortable than the undergarment.   It’s feminine but sexy at the same time. The Alexander Neels Corset Heel is available at Saks for $650

Everything smells like roses with these Prada floral heels; Available at Neiman Marcus for $590

One of our readers thought this Dior Orbed Heel reminded her of a giant thumb tack.  At $1,030 (at Saks), it certainly is a beautiful but expensive tack.

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In fact, I’m talking about one shoe–this:

Galliano used it over and over throughout his (what else?) extravagant and luxurious Spring 2008 Paris show. It comes in all the primary colors, glowing bright in yellow, crimson, purple, fuchsia, lime–but also in some “neutral” shades such as black, white, brown, dove gray, and beige:

Truth be told, only a shoe like this:

could match a dress like this:

Again, perfect showmanship! These wedges are bound to become THE hot item from the Dior house in all matters of footwear. They’re impossible, impractical, over-the-top–true. But they are also spectacular. And they will allow you to take tiny little dainty rocking steps and swing your hips all manners of sexy. (They might also cause the careless user to throw a hip, too, so use extreme caution!)

(Images courtesy of Style.com.)

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Knowing that these shoes are there to be found on Bluefly is just irresistible to me. So, here’s another installment of Project Runway 4 Shoe Scouting.

Well, Christian Dior’s “Marie Antoinette” shoes are clearly getting a lot of love, because they’re back again this week (remember that Victorya used them in the first episode).

In that same group, Victorya’s model this week looks like she was wearing these satin Linnie wedges by Delman, a classy choice if you ask me.

Steven’s dancewear inspired outfit was paired up (nicely, I thought) with these Leopoldo Giordano wedge Maryjanes.

The zoot suit/fringe/pleather group had the best shoes, I thought, but I wasn’t able to hunt them down on Bluefly. Ah well. There’s always next week.

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As I’m sure many of you did last night, I sat down giddily to watch the premiere of Project Runway season 4. I won’t get into a big long discussion here, because it’s not really shoe-related (although I must say I definitely agreed with the “out” outfit, but heartily disagreed with the winner, which was boring and looked like what we’ve seen in stores for a few years now), but I will say that I was super glad to see that the accessories this season are coming from Bluefly. You know what this means? Better shoes!

And the designers put those better shoes to good use last night.

Check out Kevin’s model, Katie, in a dress I loved and with shoes that are an EXCELLENT match in terms of style, color, everything.

I don’t see this exact shoe on Bluefly, but there’s a glam Giuseppe Zanotti evening shoe that’s pretty damn close.

Kit used what looks to be these Versace asymmetrical patent Maryjanes to perfectly set off her outfit.

Chris got good mileage out of this Stuart Weitzman glittery sandal.

Victorya added some flare to her dress with these Christian Dior “Marie Antoinette” heels.

I can’t wait to see more of the lovely Bluefly shoes on the models. I’m always interested in the accessories the designers choose to set off their creations, and I think we’re in for a much wider selection of glam accessories this season. So let’s see what they come up with.

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