Style Bubble

Denim Feet

>> Keepin' it short and shrifty today, short and SHRIFTY.  I have a deluge of photos to post, video footage to edit and that hasn't even got anything to do with the mass of press days that most of London's fashion peeps are ploughing through.  It's funny how when you're walking around Central London, you see girls with familiar looking goodie bags traversing the streets and you can mentally tick off in your head where they've just been. 

Anyway, I'll try and be selective... Repetto and their head-over-heels S/S 10 affair with true blue blue blue... actually, I'm not sure how TRUE this blue is but it's definitely a shade of proper denim that would work well in mixed denim outfits... ballets, loafers, jazz, mocs, heeled loafers and slingbacks...take your S/S 10 true blue pick...

... or if the true true blue shade isn't your thing, you can go lighter with these chambray styles...

... or lighter yet into ballet shades.  I'm already picturing the nude suede loafer worn with the palest of green silk trousers and a pale pale blue slouchy jacket... too much pastel perhaps?  Not for me... I'd also like to add a lavender and pistachio icecream cone too to the mix. 

Pay Half Trimmings

I do realise that the title of this post sounds like a subject line in a spam email but bear with me.  Actually come to think of it, thanks for bearing with the irregular posting times (thanks to the GMT for closing the gap on the time difference...woohoo!) and the *hangs head in shame* dusty emptiness of the DIY category. 

I realise 'lack of time' is a ropey excuse but I'm still hoping free time will come into my possession.  That said, having spent four days observing fashion professionals who work for companies like Lanvin, Raf Simons, Hermes etc  conducting Masterclasses at the Arts of Fashion event here in Philadelphia, I definitely come away with the conclusion that my own hands are limited in their ability because someone up there did not gift me with nifty and nimble fingers.  It's not even really about fashion school training (which I also lack of course...) but these people, who in their working hours and hours outside that, are constantly generating ideas and experimenting in fabrications, shapes and techniques and happen to be naturally gifted with having fashion eureka moments pretty often.  When they're working with the students who are taking their classes, I often hear sentences that start with "Maybe we could try this...?" and the results are more often than not, spot on.  I'm most definitely happy to be the observer of this idea generation rather than the idea generator...

Take these black pumps from Payhalf.  I went on a bit of a long winded excursion to buy them for the Arts of Fashion show tonight as they are being used to accessorize the Bag Pocket Masterclass conducted by Anthony Vaccarello and Arnaud Michaux.  They just took one look at them and with the trimmings lying around on the table knew what to do with them...

On goes the black fringe running along both sides of the pumps...

...and a feather boa trim is cut up to stick onto the back of the shoes...

Left to my own devices and I might have gone about these two dead simple tricks in a really long and roundabout way... I'll stick to typing and making really good banana and walnut cake...

Heller Stella

>> Hopefully some of you Londoners made out to the Stella McCartney sample sale (apologies for not pre-announcing it beforehand but I only knew about it at the last minute...) early because by the time I arrived, an hour in from the start time, it was pretty much tumbleweed blowing in amongst the racks.  Stella fans seem to have a grown-up efficiency about them as most were sifting through racks in rampant speed, Blackberry in one hand, with a pram by the side.   I wasn't out to get any clothing, as my main objective was the lingerie, which I did score some of (no knickers alas because of the sizing...).  Not really having the time to rummage properly I literally grabbed some catwalk sample shoes and this heavy knitted racerback dress.  Both happen to be S/S 10 pastel shaded and the first thing that sprung to mind with the dress in particular, was that I could accentuate the nips nips a bit more (sorry, the bad boys came out in the cold in these photos...) by adding a pointy bra a la Louise Goldin S/S 10...

The shoes are from S/S 09 I believe and I love how the lucite heel is REALLY REALLY chunky, and actually the whole shoe is completely dancing around the line of being ugly but at £40, I'll live with the questionable potential ugliness... seeing as I love to have a good twirl around that particular line anyway....

Booted for Leaf Crunching

>> I'd been threatening it for a while but when Clarks Desert Boots 60th Anniversary set of boots hit the stores, I had to succumb to at least one pair and in accordance with my summer's fixation with all things Liberty, the paisley fabric '60s' decade boots had to be mine.  Post fashion week calls for fuddy duddy feet and I'm having mine firmly planted on the ground with these ones that I will enjoy clashing with prints other than the obvious paisley.   

Not sure why I think of paisley as an autumnal fabric but this weekend, they'll be firmly on my feet crunching leaves on Hampstead Heath and if I'm lucky, hopefully I won't spill any crepe cream/syrup/nutella on them...  

Kron Feet

>> Kron Kron shoes have hopefully been sending waves of blogger's delight despite their slightly complex website which they promise will be revamped. I wasn't going to make the tough choice of picking a pair until later on in the year when I have a more decisive manner within me.  But then Kron Kron forced my hand and very very kindly offered to gift me a pair of shoes as a way of thanking me for sending out the Kron Kron waves.  So I did um and ah a bit and in the end it was the combination of the dusky pink and blue together with a nice curved heel that did it...  in my head when I look down at them, I'm thinking of the colours and pretty hoisery that Saga used to style her Kron Kron pics so likewise in reality, I'll have to ransack the tights box to ensure, they shoes aren't just bunged on the feet willy nilly...

Diversify your Feet

I know it's poor form of me to hulk my suitcase and me all the way to Paris only to go and blog about British designers who I could well and easily see back in London but in the case of running around showrooms in between shoes, with everything concentrated in the Marais, it's kind of hard to fall into a pace of popping your head in and around random galleries and seeing who/what is there.  I have got a MULTITUDE of things to post about that aren't Brit-related but for now I leave you with a bit of a shoe fest that I HAD to immediately unload off my heaving memory card...

Nicholas Kirkwood's rise is no surprise to anyone really who knows a good shoe.  Not just a good shoe but a stupendously well crafted, beautiful object of a shoe that most women might physically drool over (and maybe a few men too).  After a few seasons of establishing certain Kirkwood-isms... the raised cut-away platform, the heel that is supported with an angled block, the cut-outs, the contrast of materials..etc etc etc I could go on, for S/S 10, Kirkwood has somewhat diversified and is brave enough to go beyond his signature and so the platform isn't there in all instances, the colours are far broader, the colour/material contrasts are more daring and there is a wider range of flats.  All of this is tenuously and carefully balanced with the Kirkwood's signature so that you can still look at it and call it a Nicholas Kirkwood shoe.

Oh, and if you're not really bothered reading the above blathering babble, a quick scroll through the pics will tell you that S/S10 calls for COLOURFUL shoes... my mind is already ticking forward and I'm manically calculating what portion of my wages needs to be spent to make the feet happy...

I give you this print... abstracted from light shining through leaves and most definitely jumped out at me...

I give you another print... part animal, part wind swept brushstrokes...

I give you flats galore... brogues that from this angle look like most other brogues but the heel itself is kind of like a really flat pentagon/hexagon shape that gives a bit of lift.. I love the blue flocked ones on the right...

I give you these sandals in these unabashedly girly colours that basically sum up my summer of 2010 (I don't know why I've got it worked out already but there you go... summer 2010 is going to be a hot pink fest...actually everyday is a hot pink fest for me...)...

They come in black and taupe too...

I give you lots and lots of COLOURS... there's a sense that Kirkwood has really gone and PLAYED with his shoes this season...

I give you the shoe that most probably will be snapped by Jak and Jil and thus result with forty "I die!" comments... 

I give you the experimentations with texture... like this layering of distressed fabrics in a portion of the shoe and the burnished copper/lilac leather...

Then finally I give you some classic Kirkwood muted shoes where the heel has also been made a bit chunkier and straight for daywear purposes...

Of course, impractical me is going to be making a beeline for that print and those fuschia sandals as I'm hell bent on inappropriately clashing some bright colours with mis matching knee high socks, hoiking round a bejangled backpack (I have Louis Vuitton's jingle jangle slouchy bags and Louise Gray's charmed backpack in mind here... yes, that's an official statement, I officially am PONDERING the possibility of buying Louis Vuitton...) and generally looking a bit deranged...

They will see us waving from such great heights, "Come down now", they'll say...

>> Like I said in the previous post, I've finally woken up from some silly motion-going stupor and have rediscovered my fashion enthusiastic ju-ju-juice.  Yesterday we took a little detour to Digitaria, definitely up there in the most-interesting fashion retail ventures in London.  Their guest-designer roster seems to have grown a fair bit since I was last there including the likes of Katie Eary (did her S/S 10 collection floor ya, did it, did it?), Gemma Slack and Ada Zanditon.  I didn't realise however that designer Gabriella Marina Gonzalez, who I thought had already graduated, and has only just finished her BA at CSM, is also being stocked at Digitaria... with her super lace-up wedge shoes grabbing my attention immediately...

After walking with stable feet in Acne's Atacoma wedges and finally being able to confirm their comfort factor (walked fifteen blocks on the trot and kept them on all day... c'est proof or not?), I've now developed a somewhat blase/fearless attitude towards platform wedges but I'm guessing these will prove more of a challenge... still, Digitaria dares to sell them so somebody will be towering and looking at us from those great heights...

Gonzalez describes her collection as 'clothing for the emotionally dispossessed' and together with her sketches, you can see how she's imagined this female ragged, urban warriror complete with fear-inducing footwear, armour-like harnesses made more vulnerable by the patchwork imperfect knitwear and the girlish knee highs...

Rock this Horse

>> I know the shoe fest is a bit tiresome but I did want to make a reMARK about these Marc Jacobs shoes at the show as Katie Grand made a comment about them saying, "This is why I wear flats!".  Seeking out interesting flats that don't just start and end with brogues and ballet pumps has been a bit of a mission of mine ever since my unfortunate clutz attack of a fall last season (for those that asked, the ankle is sort of mended but still twinges a bit sometimes....must get it checked out...).  So yes I was all-hailing Mr Jacobs for the flat-attack, until I saw the dreaded big toe thong.  Try as I might but the damn thing just makes my feet irritated, blister or bleed.  Once again though, Melissa have come up with a slightly questionable but most definitely tempting option in collaboration with Vivienne Westwood again.  These were part of the Red Label show but will be available as early as mid-November for £120. They're a tamed version of Westwood's original Rocking Horse shoe shape with detachable wings if you don't happen to feel like channelling Hermes, the messenger god. Whilst not strictly speaking completely flat, they are at one solid level, like creepers so I'm guessing they're equally as comfy.  Like I said though, I'm pondering them until I see them in the flesh. 

London S/S 10 Shoe Fest

>> What with a backlog of London Fashion Week stuff to plough through, I've had to try and be methodical and break it down and what better way to start it off than with a good batch of shoe porn.  In exhibitoins and in show, I've gathered up a pretty diverse bit of shoe porn because I'm going for an Argos kind of vibe here where there's something for everyone...

So to begin with an even better look at those Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte shoes that kind of got obscured in all the smoke... they're bolted, plated and also metal-toe-capped... basically shoes for serious arse-kicking...

Ok, not the best shot as it looks like the model's foot is too big but the point is that there are grey jersey slouchy socks with tan sandals.  It's surely got to be my dorky Heather Matarazzo as Dawn Wiener in Welcome to the Dollhouse shoe look.

Temperley's circus theme translated into something less flamboyant than expected... steel-toe caps on brogues and...

...pearly king and queen boxing boots...

Lemon slash melon (honey dew to be exact...) at Christopher Kane by Manolo Blahnik...

Michael Lewis' got NewGen sponsorship this season and he did more of these delicate heels that are slightly too pretty for me but the colour combo fully makes up for that...

Jean Pierre Braganza's cut-out heels for his Psychedelactica collection... they're most definitely SOMETHING-galatica...

FINALLY, I get to post something about Atalanta Weller that doesn't just involve shoe specimens like these that will only see the light of a fashion shoot... whilst she has also been busying herself designing the shoes for House of Holland, she has now got it all together to make her first SELLING collection...

As below... whilst the wedges are extreme in shape, these and the mid-wedges below are definitely comfy looking...

My original Christopher Kane for Versus chelsea boot option is probably never going to happen so I may have to refocus my attention on this chelsea boot option...

Atalanta explained that the leather was impressed with the imprint of a hand to get this texture... hands on, hands off... just thinking of all the possible press-worthy headlines with this feature of Atalanta's collection...

Opening Ceremony had an exhibition stand at LFW and once again, pulls out some covetable, walkable options... I particularly like the smudged chalky print that means any number of S/S10's pastel shades would go with them...

I saved the best till last though as I got to touch and feel the Kron by Kronkron shoes at their stand... these are their A/W 09 collection shoes which some of you have had a hard time picking through on their website (and also translating the pricing system...all will be well though as they're upgrading their site to make it easier to buy...)

...then here is their S/S 10 collection...if the previous batch of shoes was like choosing candy, then these are literally candy incarnated... I'm once again stumped as to which ones I actually want...

Follow the Delayed Path

>> So I kind of broke the Fannie Schiavoni blogger viral lookbook chain yesterday by not posting promptly at 5pm GMT.... I'm an utter idiot but in my next post, you'll see that I have good reason (or actually, if you see me in person and check out my dark circles, you'll see why...)

I'm completely devoted to her pieces otherwise, epsecially this shoulder padded piece of serious armour...

For the other looks please follow this chain of lookbook images here:

Sweden: Fashion Flash
US LA: Because I'm Addicted
Scotland: Queen Michelle from Kingdom of Style
Denmark: Anywho
US NY: Liberty London Girl

**EDIT** Seeing as the lookbook global blogger chain has sort of tailed off, I guess I can post these two images here which I snapped from the physical lookbook that I picked up today quite randomly... shoe adornment is nothing new but match these with some of the shoulder, harness or something like my cage chain dress piece and the matching jingle jangle is surely some kind of wonderful...