Only in the fabulously over the top world of John Galliano would outfits accessorized with things like GIANT Regency-reminiscent bonnets and Napoleon hats that look like they’ve come off a child’s pot holder loom be part of a ready-to-wear show and not a couture one.

But yes, the clothes of Galliano’s Fall 08 collection are indeed wearable (it’s all relative, of course–don’t expect these styles to be showing up in a Banana Republic near you). The audience was treated to a Pasha-like experience complete with models in harem pants and a runway decorated like a gold lame pleasure palace.

And oh, the shoes were gorgeous.

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The thing that’s great about watching all the various Fashion Week shows is that we get to see the viewpoints of the individual designers.

This may sound self-evident, sure, but think about it.  When you go to a non-designer shoe store (in person or online), you can pretty much count on seeing repetition of the same trends for that season.  Ballet flats galore.  Oxford booties coming out the wazoo.  More strappy gladiator sandals than you can shake a stick at.

But when you watch several Fashion Weeks’ worth of shoes parade down the catwalk, you can see individual style coming through instead of just the trends.

A current example?

Look at these Stella McCartney platforms.

 

They’re fantastic.  Chunky and super stylized with the shaping and the mixed textures and the metallic accents on the sole and heel.  And, of course, containing no animal products.

And then look at Sophia Kokosalaki’s dainty footwear.

 

 

Ladylike and refined with a hint of an insectile webbed feel to it with all those knots and twists and curls.

You just never know what those fashion designers will come up with next.  And don’t we all just love to wait and see what it’ll be.

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I’ve always been a fan of Dries van Noten; I love his ethnic inspiration, his colorful prints, his inventivity. It’s like wearing a work of art! Same goes for his shoes (well, with one notable exception). The collection he presented for Fall 2008 is equally artful and tasteful. Tell me you don’t want at least one of these pairs for your collection!

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Based on observations of his Balenciaga show in Paris, I think we can safely say that Nicolas Ghesquière is going multipurpose with his shoes.

Some may be talking about weaponizing space, but Ghesquière is weaponizing shoes!

I certainly wouldn’t want to be kicked in the shins by any of these sleek and deadly creations.

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Can’t say that much is grabbing me off the Paris runways, and I’m still in a post-Oscars place, even though the red carpet fashion was mostly a snore this year.  But, I couldn’t let Rick Owens go by without posting.

His collection was all swooping wings and zippers and capes and a creation that’s a melding of legwarmers and chaps and ends up giving some of these models the look of stylish sepulchral mermaids.

  

I quite love the stark black/gray/silver palette and the silhouettes are beautiful.

So what shoes are hidden under those sweeping leg-capes?  Boots that owe a great debt to fetish footwear’s pony shoes.

 

 

They slouch.  They tie.  They’re wedges.  They have fins at the back that remind me a little of the infamous heel-less Marc Jacobs shoe.  They’re completely impractical.  And I love them to pieces.

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