Because you can't have depths without surfaces.
Linda Grant, thinking about clothes, books and other matters.
Pure Collection Ltd.
Net-a-porter UK

Friday 4 July 2008

More shoes I'm not going to be able to wear


Hadley writes:

At Balenciaga - pretty much the bellwether for trends that the high street masses will be adopting - the gladiator sandals it knocked out last season have been replaced for autumn/ winter by shoes so pointy they will probably double as weapons for the requisite eastern European villainess in the next Bond film.

Even Marc Jacobs, who is surely Coco Chanel's successor in his tireless promotion of the sweet and girly look, has pushed aside his beloved mouse pumps (literally, ballet pumps with little beaded eyes and whiskers fixed on the tip) for decidedly more grown-up and less rodenty pointier toes, at both his own eponymous label and in the current collection for Louis Vuitton. Similarly, the Lanvin woman seems to have matured from the pretty, round-toed mademoiselle she was just a few seasons ago to a full-on vamp, with black, sharp-toed teetering heels. "Round toes are on their way out and pointy toes are marching back into our wardrobes!" one fashion magazine gleefully announced this month.

12 comments:

Susan B said...

Psst Linda, Ferragamo makes some lovely classic pointy toed pumps in wide sizes. So does Stuart Weitzman. I actually think a pointy toe is more flattering as well as iconic and sexy.

Linda Grant said...

I tried some Ferragamos the day I boight my D&Gs. The heels were too high. And Weitzman doesn't ship any of his wearable shoes to Britain, except the classic flats, as I know when I accosted the SW rep at the Selfridge's trunk show last year. Incidentally, she was wearing the same pair of shoes I own - three years old. They were only smart SW's she could stand all day in because the heel was not too high.

Weitzman does do different widths but our buyers don't order them, she told me.

Susan B said...

I'm sorry to hear that. You're just going to have to come to LA then! I'll take you shoe shopping. The Ferragamo pumps I bought at their boutique come in two heel heights, 5cm and 7cm. And the Stewie store is just up the street.

materfamilias said...

Like Pseu, while I'm not keen on overly-high heels, I'm happy to see the pointy toe getting an extra shot -- I find it much more flattering than a round toe, and, as Pseu suggests, its iconic overtones lend a hint of the bad girl or the sexy one, at least, which I find otherwise pretty tough to muster convincingly at my age!
And I think you should take Pseu up on her shoe-shopping offer. The two of you could have some great posts of that trip -- and since you're already across the ocean and the continent, you two could come up to Vancouver and I'll show you round our shoe shops as well;-)

Anonymous said...

I much prefer round-toed shoes as I have wide feet. So few places sell shoes by width and when they do, they're always gruesome so I am left with the regular widths.

It's a rare pair of pointy ones that doesn't pinch and even then, I'm bound to scuff the ends. I had a beautiful pair of chocolate and green Cole Haan pointy-toed shoes that didn't pinch that much and then annoyingly, I dented the pointy toe of one of them on an over-high kerb one day. As this can't be repaired, I never felt quite the same way about them after that.

Anonymous said...

I was online shopping for a new pair of Oxfords and noticed the pointy-toe is a trend in that style, too!

We'll see.

-- desertwind

Anonymous said...

Your link is on the blink. It's missing an "l".

Anonymous said...

Do not do pointy toed pumps; we call those 'toad stickers' around here and with a foot shaped more like a shoe box than a foot, it's tough enough finding shoes that fit my size six double wides than not. Something I found out this week when I ordered two separate pairs of gold pumps to try out to pick one for my daughter's wedding: Size six wide in Naturalizer is not the same size as size six wide in Lifestride. Could not even get my foot into the Lifestride; the Naturalizer fit like a charm. Guess I found my wedding shoes.

Belle de Ville said...

Oh great....so we go from unwearable super high platforms to unwearable super pointy toes.

I'm glad that I still have my pointy stillettos from the last time they were hot...so I can sell them on ebay....

Mardel said...

I'm inclined to agree with those favoring the pointy toe, but prefer the not to high heel. Terrible shame about not ordering different widths tho', perhaps you should take up that shopping offer.

Anonymous said...

Heels of any size don't bother me, but I hate toe cleavage!

Total exposure - or totally hidden - but please, no cleavage.

Anonymous said...

Oh goody, I love pointy toes. (And never stopped wearing them.)

I personally think a mid-heeled pointy toe pump is sexier than a 4" heel. Think sexy secretary.