Well Shod, Well Imformed

CLEAR CUT

Imelda says T.G.I Friday (or Saturday in some parts of the world) and it mean’s it’s high time we get down to the business of spring/summer 09 footwear trends.

Side note for Imeldette’s who are new to the Order - every Friday Imelda takes a look at one key (or micro) trend that will impact what you’ll be wearing next spring/summer and I dish up (or dumb down) a post, high on pictures and low on text – it’s known as a ‘win win’.

My despotic eye first spotted PVC / Perspex in London, and of course the more I looked, the more I saw. Oft (unfairly) associated with strippers and more recently, Erin Brockovich, Perspex has been bogged down by bad PR.

With the likes of McQueen, Lagerfeld, Giles, Westwood and McCartney all tripping on the light fantastic plastic, PVC/Perspex undergoes a bad girl gone good makeover this spring/summer.  Used everywhere from trims to straps, right through to heels and even sole treatments (Celine), it looks like we’ll all be getting our Nomi Malone on next Summer…just remember if anyone asks you ‘bought ‘em at Ver-sayce’.

THE MAIN ACT!

At the close of day two all the talk centred on Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi’s debut collection for the legendary Italian fashion house Gianfranco Ferre.

There wasn’t a dry seat in the house, least of all Mummy Imelda, who rushed straight back to my hotel to change into a fresh pair of petty pants.

Forging an exciting new direction with their futuristic silhouettes Aquilano and Rimondi have fast tracked the ‘deep space’ trend to the top of Imelda’s list of SS09 must haves.

There’s no question that the futuristic semi circular perspex wedge was intended to impress (and it did) but my money's on the more commercial (and consumer friendly) stiletto heel. Clustered underneath the heel the small(ish) perspex ice cubes intrigue the eye without over powering the whole shoe.

Milanese designers are continuing to inspire fear and push the creative boundaries of fashion, art and gaud with the evolution of the ‘feature heel’. Like the platform, the feature heel isn’t about to disappear anytime soon so the real question is after four consecutive seasons ‘how far is too far?’ I guess we’ll have that answer come the end of next week.

Yesterday at the youth focused Just Cavalli the shoe de jour was a clunky Betty Grable inspired t-bar platform wedge. Carefully offsetting the Herman Munster-esque silhouette, Cavalli trimmed the wedge in bright pop colours and silver metallics. In my opinion the shoe was neither here nor there, but High Street retailers will beg to differ with the Despotic Queen. Like Luella’s heart shaped vamps, Just Cavalli’s platform wedges are an easy sell to the youth market, so expect to see them everywhere.

So heavy was Christopher Bailey’s silhouette at Burberry Prorsum I had to triple check that I hadn’t accidentally clicked on the AW collection. Burberry Prorsum only ever send two shoes down the runway so you’d think they’d be able to get at least one of them right.

If Bailey’s intention was to turn me into a psychopathic investment banker – it worked. Aside from the heel (which I liked) these glum looking nasties are so boring and conservative that I feel like cashing in Yum Yum’s 401K and hurling her from the 30th floor of Merrel Lynch.