It was grey and raining outside Band of Outsiders Spring 2010 presentation. No one was please that it was going to start 15 minutes late and that we wouldn’t even be allowed inside the main building to escape from the rain before it began. That is, we were annoyed until we walked in and saw that Scott Sternberg and team had taken a bare NY studio and transformed it into Los Angeles, beachside. Models stood in the sand, wearing the fun English childhood collection that Sternberg put together. It was awesome! There were huge sand dunes with grasses “growing” out of them. A pond with model-controlled electronic boats was next to an abandoned sailboat. One model stood above the rest, atop a huge rock, while another scanned the sand with a metal detector. A clever scene from a man who took the time to thank both Snuffaluffagus and the Cookie Monster in his show notes.

And as for the shoes, they were clever too. The men wore Band of Outsiders for Sperry custom designed boat shoes in that particularly soft nubbly grey that you find in your favorite sweatpants, though I couldn’t quite see if it was, in fact, sweatpant material. Sternberg collaborated with Manolo Blahnik on the women’s footwear making some incredibly cute suspender sandals. Straps were wrapped around the model’s feet and hooked to the other side with a suspender clip. The same patter was used in some very cool miniskirts as well.

Take a look at this merry Band of Outsiders.

The guy on the left is my favorite male model of Fashion Week: Thiago.

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My father just told me over lunch today that when he recently went back to research stories about his mother’s life in Korea, a former neighbor of hers told him that my grandmother was very fashionable and one of the first women in the neighborhood to wear high heels. I wish we had photos! So that explains my addiction to heels! It runs in the family and so I can attribute my psychological weakness to shoe-inclined genes (or so I’ll tell my future mate when the credit card bills roll around…)

Thinking about Korean shoes made me want to write about them. Here are some traditional Korean shoes, now mostly used for ceremonies. Arirang, a Korean TV website, says that the shoes, also known as “Hwahye,” or “flower shoes,” were worn mostly for special occasions. “By just taking a glance at the traditional Korean shoes worn by people in the Joseon Era, you were able to tell the age, social class, and gender of the people who wore them.” The world isn’t much different now, is it?

They are generally silk with embroidery:

Aren’t they pretty? I had some as a child to wear with my traditional Korean dresses, which looked basically like this but were pink:

This is what the queen wore in the Joseon Dynasty, which I think is quite lovely, even the very obvious braided wigs they wore (sadly, shoes are not visible):

(Via Wikimedia Commons)

I was amused to find this post by a Canadian living in Korea where she remarks on how Korean women wear great shoes (true) and how she thinks it’s funny that Koreans remove their shoes to enter a home (makes perfect sense to me). It’s been natural to me my whole life to remove my shoes upon entering a home, but I remember being shocked as a child to gradually discover that most Americans wear their outside shoes inside the home as well. What about tracking mud and dirt and outside germs in?

Koreans seem to switch between different functionality modes, and shoes follow suit. My parents seem to get visibly upset if I wear my “outside” clothes inside the house for longer than two seconds. Why don’t you change into your comfortable indoor clothes, they will urge me. There are fancy clothes and work clothes and home clothes, they’re not the same, and that’s that.

The whole inside-outside dilemma made me think of the Sex and the City episode where Carrie is superreluctant when asked to take off her Manolos at a friend’s party and then they get stolen. Shoes are so much a color- and style-coordinated part of our outfits in the West, but it’s true that in Korea it’s ill-mannered if you don’t take your shoes off when you enter the home. There are even various shoes provided by the house for you to wear instead.

Here are one type of wherever-it-may-be-wet rubber slippers you’d be offered in many Asian countries for bathroom areas (if you go to a Korean spa in America like Flushing, Queens’ SpaCastle, you’ll get these to wear) or for the courtyard or backyard of a housing complex (though I wouldn’t wear the same pair in the bathroom and outside, I guess it depends on the house):

Here are the kinds of fabric slippers you would wear indoors in non-bathroom areas (i.e. for the living room, at a hotel, in the karaoke room, etc.; even if you are a man, you may end up wearing something frou-frou with little pink bunnies on them, so be ready for that):

When they ARE wearing shoes, Korean ladies tend toward either tomboyish, preppy, hip-hop, sophisticated or ULTRA girly. There isn’t as much of a hipster, crazy, experimental style (in my opinion, Japan would be the place to find more of that). From what I hear, the hipster boot has caught on a bit but was much slower to come around.

Below are some examples of the seemingly everlasting feminine Korean styles, most of which seem to follow the narrow shapes of Choos and Blahniks (and I didn’t see nearly as many platforms). When I was in Korea, it was not uncommon to wear frilly, rhinestoney, bow-adorned shoes with a large, rhinestone, blingy bow barette in your hair, and I even saw one gal wearing a pink anti-pollution mask over her mouth and nose to match her entirely pink head-to-toe ensemble — so my rockergirl styles stood out just a wee teensy bit. From what I have seen in friends’ Chinese women’s magazines, ultra-femmey shoes are also consistently popular in China, but in different colors, including bolder reds.

(Via korean-fashion-online.com)

If you don’t believe me that they really wear sparkly, girly shoes like these, check out this alarming photo of a shoe store in the popular Seoul shopping district of Myeong-Dong and you’ll understand why a tough, punky, experimental shoeista like yours truly would have a hard time finding shoes I liked in Seoul!

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Ahhh yes, we all remember the scene in Sex and the City (the finely tuned TV show, NOT the less-than-stellar film) where Carrie tries to improve her sex life with that guy from Office Space by wearing furry shoes. Or more specifically, boudoir slippers with pom-poms that resemble recent escapees from Victoria’s Secret but which probably cost about a bajillion dollars.

That scene nauseated me a little bit.

Carrie expressed some conflicted emotions about wearing furry shoes. So the question is: Would you, the fashion-forward, strong-willed woman that you are, actually wear furry shoes? There are certainly a wide variety of them available.

Let’s discuss. In pictures, of course.

Furry house slippers are no new thing. Almost everyone has a pair. But what if they crossbred with a heel? I found these pricey Bettye Mullers at Gabay’s (an amazing New York secret shoe heaven) a few weeks ago. They are furry inside, similar to the things I curl up on my couch in to survive winter storms, but they are heeled! And bejeweled! On the Pro side, there is something very French Royal Court about these. For me they evoke Marie Antoinette much more strongly than the Louboutin ones that we recently discussed. For one thing, the heel height is in keeping with the era, also the decoration around the toe box is typical of court shoes. Besides, fur-lined shoes seem like the perfect thing to weather a winter in a stone castle with no central heating.

If the French Court isn’t your thing, how about putting a furry English Rose garden on your feet? The fur flowers on the outside of these are kind of strange, but they certainly bring a new light to our be-furred shoe conversation. These are the same brand as the previous set. What do you think? Do they have interesting texture or do they look like they’re molting?

Oddly enough, from my view the two pairs we already covered are the more practical of our selections today. I found these at Loehmann’s. For a cool $299 (marked down from $955), you can get the boudoir-esque, pom-pom bedecked variety that so aided Carrie in her nighttime pursuits. These are grey, while hers were pink but the whole sexy evening mule thing is the same. Do you think these are sexy?

For some real history and more research, I went to see the appropriately title “Seduction” exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I browsed through the seductively draped Halston gown, the John Galliano leather dress, and some and a ‘58 Balenciaga, I came across the perfect addition to this post: these white silk Manolo Blahnik mules with burgundy ostrich feathers from 1998. There’s some real history for ya. Maybe not a long history, but history nonetheless.

I guess we can pretty safely say that furry shoes are a symbol of sensuality, or at least sexualty to many people. But sometimes accepted symbols start to lose thir meaning so I am very interested in what you guys think. In an interesting twist, I found that the quintessential movie moment to define the furry shoe question came not from Sex and the City, but from a much less likely place: My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In explanation:

“Give me a [shoe], any [shoe], and I tell you how that [shoe] is come from Greek!

(Members of the Greek infantry standing guard at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in Athens.)

“There you go!”

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Though this fashion week’s shoes have been quite a bit less fanciful than those of yesteryear (or even just last season), some shoe icons are still participating in the scaled-down version of Fashion Week footwear.

Christian Louboutin remains the patron saint of high footwear. The man’s work is EVERYWHERE. At the fun and fanciful Barbie fashion show, the Divine Mr. L created human-size replicas of the iconic hot pink plastic stiletto heel that nearly every little girl slipped onto Barbie’s painfully pointed foot.

Here is a photo of the red-soled Barbie shoe with the dress that Carmen Mark Valvo designed for the collection.

These shoes were worn with some classic Barbie looks designed by various well-know folk. For example, DVF designed what looked like a day-to-night Barbie wrap dress and Bib Mackie did a very Cher-esque showgirl outfit set off by feathered eye makeup:

The Barbie show was fun and whimsical and the invitation specifically requested invitees to bring their daughter, niece, cousin, 4-year-old BFF, etc so the tent was full of glee.

Manolo Blahnik’s contribution to fashion week was much edgier. He collaborated with Band of Outsiders to create custom open-toed lace-up boots for their fall presentation. (Sounds like it wouldn’t work but it totally did). They could have starred in their own mini movie about a down-on-her luck fashion editor that has to take up boxing to support herself and the rhesus monkey that she adopted in hopes of making it her best friend or, in hard times, a coat. Instead, she takes up boxing (coached by the indomitable Clint Eastwood, of course) but can’t bring herself to put on the ugly boxing boots that come with the job so Band of Outsiders and Manolo come to her rescue. At he end of the saga, the viewer is left with many difficult questions like: Does the monkey get his own pair of mini boxing stilettos? Does the fashionista give up her new found career when Clint catches the Ebola virus from a very naughty monkey bite? How far is she willing to go to reach her dream of becoming the well-heeled boxing champion of the world? Would she, perish the thought, trade in Clint for Sylvester Stallone?

But I digress.

Anyway here are the shoes in question (photos courtesy of fashionista.com thanks to the poorly timed death of my camera battery):

And are you noting the cool contrasting toe tights? I love it. Manolo did an awesome job. And did I mention how clever Band of Outsiders’ presentation was? Rather than having models stand on pedestals that created and indoor-outdoor setting with old-fashioned lampposts for the models to lean against, park benches for them to sit on, telephone booths for them to feign calls in, and rope ladders for them to climb….toward the ceiling (perhaps it’s an allegory for reaching great fashion height? going to great lengths? reaching for the stars?)

Is cute, no? And who recognizes this model? I know that any of you watch some of the same embarassing television that I watch so I am betting the answer come right quick.

So to sum up: the Divine Mr. L and the Divine Mr. B contributed mightily to Fashion Week. Hurray for shoes!

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I do not recall us featuring this bootie yet on our blog. Which is a pity, really. As some other blogs have noted, Mr. Blahnik’s ’Patoso’ from the Fall 2009 collection, is worth us taking at least a peek or two.

From the Manolo Blahnik website:

I’ve gone absolutely mad for warriors this season … (Fall ‘08) . I’ve put Samurai masks on boots. (FANO) and metal discs that have come straight out of a crusaders suit of armour (PATOSCO). I’ve used shapes that are articulated, and incorporate shields (Satine designed for Christopher Kane, DELIS) for a modern, powerful woman … a kind of medieval Amazon, if that makes any sense.

The Patoso is also briefly referenced in a September 2008 interview with Manolo Blahnik by Carola Long at The Independent:

Blahnik shows me two of his own latest creations: a pair of fine-heeled grey boots covered in metal discs has been inspired by the Crusades, and are reminiscent of chain mail, while a pair of ankle boots with a leather grille around the ankle is “a cross between a ribcage and one of those horrible plants you have in hotel entrances in Hawaii, really common plants. No not an aspidistra, urgh! Every Victorian house had an aspidistra, urgh!” Aspidistras are just one of the things Blahnik expresses a comedic dislike for, along with platform shoes and noise. Every time a phone rings or a siren wails, he announces that he is being persecuted.

Am I the only one who reads or watches Manolo Blahnik interviews and then is automatically reminded of an energetic little teddy bear? Oh my, did I just refer to one of shoe-couture’s own members of ‘designer-royalty’ as a teddy bear? Why, it seems I did.

As of yesterday, the Nieman Marcus website had at least one of these amazing shoes left in stock - a situation that has now, sadly, changed (Which is a shame, really, as the price had dropped from  $1395 to $628). So, if you are interested in this style, a stock check of local Nieman Marcus stores, as well as Manolo Blahnik boutiques, will now be in order.

Anyway, from sketch to reality, this is one original shoe.  The balance achieved between the metallic elements and softer bow at the ankle is a pretty amazing dichotomy.  Overall, this is a fantastic visual feast. It is, unfortunately and unequivocally, not my style.  It does, however, own a special place in that wholely imaginary room of my house where all of the most decadent, if not always practical, shoes are kept on immaculate display in their own little glass displays; existing purely for simple visual pleasure. Sigh.

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