It’s Friday so that means it’s time that we take a bow peep at another SS09 footwear trend. This morning the Despotic Queen took to ‘Twitter’ to ask the masses what SS09 trend they’d like to know more about (look at me being all inclusive) and the lovely Shelby Marie from P!NK suggested moccasins (clutches pearls). Instead of slamming her fingers in the car door for typing such suggestions, I explained moccasins were covered last winter (look at me being nice) and we’d be looking at lacing.
Now the SS09 parades are a distant memory (is it wrong that I’m chomping at the bit for the AW10 collections?) I (foolishly) anticipated this would be a 15 / 20 pic micro trend. WRONG! I was forced to stop at 37 (known designers) who have used lacing, but I know of another 10 more.
Scroll down and you’ll see Designers have used everything from thick rope (Hardy), ribboning (Gaultier) and delicate leather thonging (Steiger). The styling is varied, Camilla Skovgaard used corset styling lacing to trim her heel counters, while at Manish Arora, Raphael Young used thick strapping that laced aggressively up the leg. Ann Demeulmeester and Doo.R’s fetish inspired sandals have the most skirt-lifting appeal, while at Vuitton it looks like Marc Jacobs got busy with a hot glue gun and the contents of Imelda’s drag bag.
Should my beloved Imeldettes be bullish enough to give this trend a crack then heed Mother’s advise - unless you’ve been blessed (like Imelda) with the bone structure of a sparrow don’t tie anything thicker than dental floss around your ankle. Trust me, your ankle isn’t a Christmas ham so there’s no need to truss it like one.
FINALLY, a show that’s lifted Imelda’s skirt and shown the world my new panty girdle.
For 10 breath taking minutes the world was finally given a glimpse into the rarefied world of fashion’s elite as Dolce and Gabbana threw caution to the wind and streamed their mainline collections. Overlooking a few technical glitches (which is forgivable when you consider your audience numbers are in the millions) the parade was a bell clanging first round knockout!
As reported by Patty 'patchwork' Huntington a mere 20 minutes after the live stream “if there's a Recession on, evidently D&G didn't get the memo” as luxe embellished fabrics, volumous reworked shark fin and Mommie Dearest shoulders dominated the catwalk. The pyjama silhouette (seen a month ago in the men’s collection) opened the collection and was then cropped and reconstituted into tailored high waisted shorts and wrap tie blouses. While heels, or rather wedges, were sky high and shamelessly influenced by Salvatore Ferragamo’s 1938 ‘stage wedges’, we were mercifully spared any headline grabbing catwalk carnage.
The ever-present campy Dolce and Gabbana sub text was left to yesterday’s mainline parade. On Monday, D&G traded last season’s House of Windsor influences for adventures on the high seas. Compared to last season’s mocc fronted patent boots the nautical themed demi wedge platforms felt stale and over worked.
Not wanting to overshadow the shoes; the real story is whether Milan’s D&G have finally ended the industries elitist attitude towards its customers?
Every season we’re expected to buy into a brands ‘new vision’ and part with hard earned dollars for the ‘it’ bag or ‘it’ shoes, yet until a couple of days ago were not permitted to partake in the most exciting part the process, the parade.
Last night I watched the Dolce and Gabbana parade, knowing that I was being seduced into buying the D&G red sequin wedges at the same time Anna Wintour was contemplating how this look would work in her spring preview issue. While Anna and I were eyeballing the same collection, Patty (who was furiously texting me while snatching screen grabs) and I were laughing and trading witty quips about the streams ‘black holes’ (Patty suggested the black holes were in fact not glitches but used to disguise a fallen ‘walker’) and the lurch-like walks of the models. Without sounding trite I was part of a community (albeit a community of a million plus people), sharing a singular experience and although we weren’t ringside we were all on equal footing.
This morning I woke up thinking how the stream will further advance the democratisation of fashion. So I posed the question to Australia’s most respected and feared fashion journalist (ah, that would be Patty) who responded, “I do think the live runway show stream is a fascinating development. And look, fashion has already been 'democratised' - by the vertical fast fashion retailers, who take the runway ideas and get them into store while the originators are still signing off on their order books”.
Huntington went on to say “Net-a-porter founder Natalie Massenet (left) recently made a very interesting prediction - within five years, she estimates that the big ready-to-wear show circuit as we know it could be a consumer showcase, with buyers already seeing the ranges ‘in camera’ as it were, some time beforehand. And the shows happening as the merchandise is ready to go into store”.
The type of shift Massenet is referring to would have monumental implications (too many to cover in this post), one of which suggests that the Net-a-porter founder believes the internet will be relegated back into the dark ages. I’d like to ask any designer who would support such hieracy, who do you think is building the early word-of-mouth campaigns that eventually drive consumers into your stores to snap up your over-priced luxury items that keep your villa’s staffed and jets fuelled?
Huntington went on to say "Consumers are seeing the ideas now but they can't buy them until the designers put them into production. Enter the fast fashion crew. It will be interesting to see what transpires", that it will.
Instead of silencing (or limiting the number of) the voices, Designers and (more importantly) Buyers should be utilizing the myriad of opinions that spring up post parade.
I know that as a former Footwear Buyer (pre Web 2.0), had I had access to this level of consumer feedback, I could have saved my employers a lot of markdown money. With retail in a giant slump, Buyers are desperately trying to reduce inventories and negate potential ‘mistakes’.
It would appear that now, more than at any other time, our collective voices need to be heard, not silenced.
Tomorrow when I wake up and realize that 8 of the 27 shoes I’ve featured in today’s post are flats I’ll be seething! (For the record Imelda doesn’t ‘do’ or ‘advocate’ flats) Last night while watching Shirley Maclain’s Oscar deserving performance in the ‘Battle for Mary-Kay’ Yum Yum and I shared a stubby of beer and a bowl of cabana. We got a little tipsy so I allowed Yum Yum to kick off her 12cm house heels. A quick occupational glance at her trotters and I noticed they were covered in thick ropy veins and her one-size fits all pumps had caused permanent scaring.
I passed her the bowl of cabana and started thinking about penny loafer styling. Psychologically, humans are deeply comforted by knowing that their trotters feel protected. Think about all the times you’ve felt secure and then think about what shoes you were wearing. Chances are it was something snug fitting and granny-esque, like a loafer!
Aside from D&G’s brilliant take on the Patrick Cox Wannabe, it seems a number of other designers have taken inspiration from Nana’s wardrobe. This season it’s loafer-pallooza. I found penny loafers, tassel fronted penny loafers, loafer inspired pumps, kiltie fringed loafers and the list goes on….As for Yum Yum, she’ll just have to make do with the newspaper I stuffed into the toe of her pumps.
Tune in tomorrow, Imelda has some good news and some news that ALL bloggers need to be aware of.
