I have a pair of fall boots that I love.

All right, so I’ve had a few of those so far (Viktor & Rolf, I am still dreaming dizzily of your boot creations).

But now, Alexander McQueen has added another to the Fall 2009 repertoire with his high-drama, fashion-pastiche spiked numbers.

 

At the risk of sounding like a “You all know I like _____________, right?” broken record, you all know I like shoes that blend high fashion with fetish styling, right?

And boy howdy, don’t these deliver.  The McQueen models looked like something out of the Cremaster Cycle in a very McQueenian art-meets-fashion-meets-anarchy sort of way.

McQueen Model =  + 

But no matter what your reaction to the melodramatic makeup job, these are the boots of a woman who will kick ass and take no prisoners and look amazing while she does it.

 

At the other end of the spectrum, there’s this shoe from the Chanel show that I totally love, not only for being quirky and fun and eccentric, but for taking Chanel outside the interlocking-C-logo, tweed-suit, bland-shoe box that even Karl Lagerfeld hasn’t really succeeded in escaping.  Until now.

 

Dare I say that something on the Chanel runway felt… young and quirky?  Why yes.  Indeed I do dare.  Bravo.