Shoe blog

NY Fashion Week Fall 2010: ADAM by Adam Lippes

Adam Lippes, you make clothes that are ravishing, but I’m not sure about your shoe pairings.

Like wine to food, the right shoe can make your clothes sparkle instead of stealing the thunder (and what’s so wrong with that, say the Shoe Lovers of the World).

For instance, my favorite look of the show, on Anastasia: a gorgeous billowy ivory washed silk charmeuse gathered pleat dress flowing forth from the open doors of a stunner of a cropped antiqued gold and silver moire embroidery, putty organza t-back vest. Anastasia’s coppery red locks are the perfect complement for this vest.

Now, you can’t entirely see in my photo what shoes this look is paired with, but what would you imagine?

Not this! Oy vey! Adam, not even God himself could keep from casting you out of the Garden of Eden for that shoe choice!

Now, now, I know they’re Manolos. And they’d be fine in many other circumstances. But in this one, the Shoe Parliament votes a resounding, “NAY!” The omnipresent black tights and black shoes have gone too far! Not one more pair on the runway as a default for hosiery and shoes just because you didn’t know what else to do!

What do those black stockings and booties do for the ensemble? Nada! Zip! Zilch!

As a contrast, the shoes might work if they were more of a resounding black, an inky (either metallic or bejeweled) black. They appear to be SUEDE, my friends (with perhaps some sort of small leather toe cap), and suede portrays a softness. Now, the dress is already soft. Since the vest is hard and the dress is soft, hard, metallic, serpentine shoes in copper or gold would be a good complement for this Athenian apparel (to sandwich the soft in alternating hard layers).

Or you could go the other way around, with soft ivory slippers that whisper of things to come.

But these Manolo booties, with their suede, scrunching and indiscriminate shape, were not the right choice.

And what is more amazing is that ADAM used these same booties for the ENTIRE show excepting a few lone ensembles.

Now, I don’t love this ensemble, which makes me think Furry Cheerleader, but at least the shoes are more interesting because even though they are nearly the exact same shoe, they are interesting colors that speak to the outfit, that are having a conversation with the outfit that is a playful interchange.

Legwear, legwear, legwear. Has it ever been this important in fashion history? In the 80s, perhaps. But unlike Victorian times, when showing a peep of an ankle was scandalous, we’ve got gals walking around in booty shorts and heels in winter, so legwear is of utmost importance. Layers and layers of tights, leg warmers that hug tighter to the leg and ankle socks will continue to be very important this year.

The fashion world is on an Amelia Earhart kick. Kori below is wearing a caramel leather aviator jacket with a shearling collar (the tough Earhart persona of a career woman), an ivory washed silk charmeuse tank (elegance and sexiness beneath the rough sportsman-like modern American woman) and a putty high waisted cashmere knit jodhpur (a sporty, comfortable horseback riding pant that will only ever be worn around the house by rich women). I don’t like the jodhpur’s color or distressing similarity to my most shapeless pilates pants, but the jacket’s nice. You can see a Michael Kors girl sporting it in her younger days, before she got her yacht.

Now, in honor of Mr. Lippes’ mad skills, as we like to call it where I’m from in Cali (and you know, everywhere they have MTV), I’d like to show a few more of his looks. He really is an ubertalented man, but his accessories gals need to step it up. Laziness is not an option with shoes when it comes to Fashion Week. Shoes are the “it” item and are being evermore critiqued.

So hello, beautiful dress! Adam’s hemlines are not perfect, which is part of what appeals to me.

Marlena wears the putty organza dress with antiqued gold and silver moire embroidery. This dress is an exception for fashion week, because it would look better on a curvier woman.

I am cringing and pretending not to look at the awkward black tights and black booties.

Azul is wearing a merino and mohair seamless floating hem dress. The belt by Lucia Nenickova is lovely and a great contrasting shade that wouldn’t be expected.

The divinity below is Yulia gracing us with a crimson silk chiffon hand painted kaleidoscope print tank dress and a wonderfully twisted scarf-muff and fingerless gloves (70s punks would roll in their graves to see how haute fingerless gloves have become, selling at Bendel for $300 and whatnot).

Believe it or not, this was my favorite look in Adam’s show, despite the gorgeous dress above.

Yulia is wearing a rust merino wool hand knit circle cardigan and an ivory etched plaid silk chiffon shirt dress. The styling is just so great on this. It looks so effortless, like a Scottish woman who blew in from the Highlands. I love it for the rebellious messiness that’s actually very calculated (the scarf tucked into the belt and over the shoulder just so, the sweater off the shoulder and pulled down closer to the right wristline).

Adam, your clothes are lovely and well-styled, so please grace us with some shoes that are equally lovely and contenders worthy of the clothing next time.