Westfield Group
WHAT'S NOT
Pointy toed stilettos are for Euro-trash soccer wives. There I've said it. The vision of a pointed Marie Antoinette style toe peeping from beneath a gently flared jean hem makes one think of Sex and the City...Season One. Ditto a spindly heel, a sling back or a very bare evening sandal with a single horizontal bar sparkling across the manicured toes.
Keep these items for out of town weddings and the next revolution of fashion's wheel. The spike heel RIP 1998-2007, is gone but not forgotten, she will continue do her thing on daytime soaps and ultimately will pierce the pavement again, but not until the wedge, the stacked and the sculptured heel have had their moment.
WHAT'S HOT
The return of the bold, outrageous, artistic shoe means that heels are no longer a simple inverted comma or a nasty straight line. They are shaped like women's bodies at Prada, Venetian columns at Galliano and even Siamese twins at Dior. Marc Jacobs took a feather out of Schiaparelli's cap and turned a high completely upside down on one shoe, suspending it like a stalactite beneath the heel.
Now this is the stuff of the (freak) shows. For the fashionista on the street the big news is the high heeled Oxford and the high heeled bootie, looks that lengthen the calf and make any winter coat look drop dead adorable. If you have to invest in one key accessory for the season choose a heeled ankle boot that bares the leg and takes risks from the ground on up.
P.S. Other big shoe news globally? Ferragamo has announced a limited edition international collection of their most historic archive shoes from the past century. Some lucky girls will teeter in Marilyn Monroe's vertiginous arch heels or scamper in Audrey Hepburn's ballet flats. And for the incredibly bold there is the four inch gold and black stacked wedge platforms made famous by Carmen Miranda. No doubt there will queues waiting for these to hit the shelves.
