Shoe blog

Shoes of Project Runway 5.4: Olympic Edition

So, the challenge was to design an outfit for the female athletes from the USA to wear for the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics.  Cool challenge, right?  Olympics start this week.  We’ll get to see what Ralph Lauren cooked up for the actual ceremony tomorrow night.

And I have to say (with a few exceptions), thank god those women don’t have to wear what was proposed for them on tv last night!

Seriously, can you imagine hundreds of athletic, muscular, strong women coming out into the international scene in this?  I know I’ve loved on Jerell before, but this is just flat out hideous.  And misses the challenge by a mile!  The Charles by Charles David Skip shoes are pretty adorable, though (and on sale for only $60!)

Or, what about Daniel’s cocktail dress?  It’s the Olympics, for chrissake!  As Michael Kors said, a woman wearing this would have to be coming from the Republic of Cocktail Land.  Though, the Stuart Weitzman Spring Fling platforms are kind of cute, in a basic summery way.

Keith’s outfit wasn’t a total travesty, but has nothing to do with an athlete’s body and isn’t particularly American, apart from the color scheme (which misses the mark, too, in my book).  He did use the Gucci Eva oxfords, which I suspect are going to end up as the Patron Shoe of Project Runway 5.

As far as the good, there were really only two that I thought deserved a win.  And neither of them won.  One was Joe’s skort outfit, which says USA in a cute and athletic way, without relying on one particular era or style other than… well… sporty.  Plus, I ADORE his zipper color combining (in case you missed it, he bought red zippers and blue zippers and mixed them so each zip had one red side and one blue).  Couldn’t find his exact shoes, but the Stuart Weitzman Linda isn’t too far off.

And finally, much like last week, I thought Leanne deserved much higher kudos for her effort. Because this is sporty and flattering as well as representing a nice, clean vision of USA sportswear.  Fashion and athleticism (and patriotism, too) at once.  The shoes are adorable, too, and though I couldn’t find these exact ankle strap sandals, this Giuseppe Zanotti red and white slingback would do in a pinch.

One note, though.  I know this was a runway show and all, but there are plenty of cute shoes on Bluefly that (if they were available to the designers) would have been much more appropriate sporty footwear choices.  To wit, the Kate Spade Hayley ($32!!) in either red canvas or the oh-so-American denim

or the Stuart Weitzman Freshy (what an adorable name).

We’ll see how the real thing stacks up tomorrow night.