Diversify your Feet

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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…

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

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

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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…

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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…)…

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They come in black and taupe too…

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

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

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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…

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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…

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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…

41 comments

  1. Oh my goodness, FINALLY!!! I’ve been searching for royal blue shoes…for.ever. it looks like my search may soon be ending. thanks for the inspiration.

  4. I ADORE those ones with the texture and brass spheres. But of course they’re all amazing!!

  6. I love all these crazy high heels shoes, but please, could anyone teach me how to walk on this shoes?!?!?!

  10. I read ELLE and found out about you. I mean I enjoy reading your blog and all the pictures you took throughout your fashion journey. It is amazing. I am very interested in fashion too and I admire your inspiration. Very well done!!!
    I will keep reading and thanks for creating this blog.

  12. *faints*
    Seriously, I ‘m glad he was able to broaden his scope so successfully. The brogues are adorable.

  13. must own these….how when where?? my mind is spinning…i want to be the crazy shoe lady with a mountain of a pile of these shoes around me with twitching eye and shotgun in hand in case anyone gets too close to them!

  14. wow….man over here………drooling!
    the shoes are beautiful
    i particularly like the first pair which remind me of digital-ness
    and i like the one where he experiments with texture, it’s pretty in an ugly, destroyed way.

  15. One of my favorite shoe designers today. Kirkwood has not ceased to disappoint me season after season… Thanks for the coverage. Very cool!

  16. One of my favorite shoe designers today. Kirkwood has not ceased to disappoint me season after season… Thanks for the coverage. Very cool!

  17. One of my favorite shoe designers today. Kirkwood has not ceased to disappoint me season after season… Thanks for the coverage. Very cool!

  18. One of my favorite shoe designers today. Kirkwood has not ceased to disappoint me season after season… Thanks for the coverage. Very cool!

  23. Wow, just wow! Just how cool it would be to have a pair. Colors and prints are amazing, but can’t blame the more muted down versions boring either. Thanks for the peek!

  24. I totally appreciate his work and found the SCHIAPARELLI REMAKE he did for his fall 2009 collection absolutely wicked.

  25. Going to go againts the tide here and say I think much of this looks…a bit high street. I don’t see any positive progression in terms of design, other than making them more appealing to a broader spectrum of people. That may be considered a positive in terms of fiscal gain, but creatively I don’t see it as anything special. I usually love Kirkwood as much as the next girl, but these aren’t exciting me.

  27. those are seriously sexy shoes…still favouring Atalanta’s though for next spring. Small collection, but as the new kid on the block, she gets my vote.

  28. DJM: I would say that it’s the high street who have somewhat ripped off his work which is why he has to diversify… the market is tough at the moment and with buyers being ever more demanding, this is his reaction to that…Kirkwood isn’t that lo-key designer anymore and to make it a globally stocked brand, I think he’s making the right steps… that said, I also think the shoes do need to be seen in person as some of the detailing, the flocking, the shoe last, the heel shape and the overall finish doesn’t come across in pics… afterall, he’s not really making shoes for purely editorial purposes anymore and they’re ACTUALLY being bought to be worn out and about…

  30. I die! 😉
    I do love Kirkwood’s shoes. But funnily enough its the flat brogues that I’m most taken with here, maybe its just the sleepy lazy mood I’m in this morning, but those blue shoes are fabulous and I can kind of see the small heel thats on the the pink sandal, I presume its something similar on the brogues. I think it probably takes even more work to take something like the brogue that’s everywhere at the moment and make something special of it. Of course all the heels are utterly fabulous too! 🙂

  32. Oodelally!
    But the question is… when is his sample sale rolling back into London town? I’ve been waiting forever for the next one, and have been saving for nigh on a year…

  37. oh my…. goodness.
    i now know my life will never be complete [until i own a pair of these pretty little things. which will probably be never]. hot damn.

  38. I am traveling at the moment – longing desperately for a sight of Nicholas Kirkwood’s a/w collection I wandered into what was supposedly the best shoe shop in Melbourne. And they responded – oh that’s too ALTERNATIVE for us. Melbourne ladies have more feminine taste. They don’t know what they’re missing!

  39. wow… the shoes are lovely. nicholas kirkwod is a genius. i design shoes too. i’m not famous like kirkwood or tisci haha but i’ve injected bright colors in my recent collection too:) nothing makes the feet happy than beautiful shoes in happy colors!:) speaking about colors, i love miuccia prada’s take on print and color as well:)

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