The double-duty accessories
From heels that turn into flats to ‘Russian doll’ handbags, Caroline Leaper discovers multitasking accessories that will see you through party season
Once you’ve got your party frock – or jumpsuit, trouser suit, or cocktail coat – sorted, finding the right accessories should be easy, right? On the shoe front, there are certainly plenty of lovely jewelled stilettos and pointed kitten heels to be found.
But while they might look fabulous, they also look rather painful, honestly, and who wants to sit out the dancing because your feet are aching?
If this rings true to you, you’ll be pleased to hear that a few designers are addressing the issue, clearly hoping to keep us dancing for longer this party season. Take Gucci’s opulent double-decker catwalk platforms. At a glance, they look precarious to walk in, inspired as they were by the shoes that Venetian courtesans once wobbled around on. But here comes the practical part: the velvet, slipper-like mule top half can be detached from the towering brocade soles, to make a very pretty pair of party flats.
These are an extreme case, and while you’d have to view them as a case of two exquisite pairs of designer shoes for the price of one (they start at £795 for a pair without embellishment) there are other brands aiming to make high-to-low hybrid shoes for everyday.
A four-man team from Munich developed new label Mime et Moi when they noticed that, after a night out on the town, their wives and girlfriends had all taken their shoes off. “They walked home barefoot,” says Tim Haas, 31, co-founder. “We knew we should do something and make height-convertible shoes.” Christian Huber, another of the founders, was a mechanical engineering student and designed the brand’s patented clip-on, click-off heels as part of his university degree project. “After two years, the concept was ready, but it took us
another three years for the first shoe to be sold online,” remembers Haas. “We mainly used crowdfunding to plan the production and pre-finance the shoe manufacturing.” And their fundraising methods are testament to the demand for the product: “We raised about €300,000 on Kickstarter.”
For around £160, each shoebox contains a pair of uppers – the body of the shoe – with one set of stiletto heels and one of low block heels to fit, though more heel options can be bought, too. Changing the heels takes some practice, and strong nails – without the instructions to hand, our fashion team was stumped. But after a bit of experimenting, I was able to swap from high to low heels while standing on one leg. Which means you could transform your shoes in the street, on the Tube, in a cloakroom, or while perched on a bar stool, for example.
It’s also crucial to note that these are not ugly shoes that sacrifice style for function – having mastered classic strappy sandals in suede and nubuck, Mime et Moi is now moving into trendier territory, introducing rich velvets, floral embellishments and ribbon ties for winter.
Hannah Almassi, editorial director of Whowhatwear UK, is the proud owner of Mime et Moi’s Downtown style, in this season’s go-to fabric, velvet. “Other brands have tried to bring this tech to market, but the fact is, as someone who usually invests money in shoes from the likes of Miu Miu, design couldn’t be an afterthought for me, no matter how savvy the idea.”
But when it comes to getting the most out of your purchases, why stop at shoes? Double-duty accessories come in all guises now and carry endless styling possibilities. Larkspur and Hawk make convertible earrings, allowing you to add or remove sparkle to dial your look up or down in seven different ways – like adding length to office appropriate earrings to render them cocktail ready, say. Anya Hindmarch’s Modular Stack bag – a series of suede compartments – can be folded from backpack to tote to a more compact evening bag. The roomy front pocket of Mulberry’s new Amberley Hobo can also be taken off and worn alone as a neat little cross-body bag.
With our lives busier than ever, clever shopping should make getting dressed in the morning easier. Perhaps these clever new hybrids are the solution to those fabled desk-to-dinner sartorial dilemmas; after all, why stash a change of shoes under your desk when you can transform the ones on your feet instead?