Party flats and a boot bonanza
Sasha Slater catches up with the big footwear trends in Milan
Avery welcome side-dividend of today’s preoccupation with equality and sexism is the effect it’s having on our wardrobes. After all, you can’t fight for equality if all you can think about is how much your feet are killing you, how long you’re going to have to stand up and whether those stilettos will give you bunions.
Milan’s designers seem to have taken this on board and they’ve produced a huge range of party shoes whose glamour is, for once, married to wearability. Emporio Armani has Riverdance-worthy black Irish dancing shoes and a dear little black slipper sewn with pearls.
Pearls also feature on a knockout Jimmy Choo cream mule that looks fit for Sheherazade. Bally’s monochrome flattie with a sleek pointed toe and buckle would work equally well for day and night. At Armani proper, evening tailoring came paired with lace-ups encrusted with crystals. In any event, candid photos of models toppling over and tripping up in unmanageable platforms are a thing of the past.
Spring felt very far away in Milan, as snowflakes drifted past and a bitter wind blowing straight off the Dolomites cut through the fashion crowd’s decorative but flimsy outerwear. On the catwalks, almost every designer proposed a solution in the form of boots. Thigh-high leather lace-ups at Armani, knee-high and buccaneering in burgundy shearling or olive green ostrich at Salvatore Ferragamo, slouchy disco-friendly and with a zip at Versace… there was something to fit every occasion – and leg.
At Jimmy Choo, there’s a two-inone alternative of a neat ankle boot with a clip-on sleeve that converts it into a chic knee-length option. Back at Versace they also came beaded, fringed, thigh-high and tartan, which ticks off about five trends in one. Tod’s offered cinnamon-coloured rubber-heeled ankle boots with a shearling cuff, which looked just right for a very stylish dog walk – fair enough since a number of models had accessorised with chihuahuas, spaniels and bulldog puppies.
As for heel shapes, it’s time to say a big howdy to cowboy boots that appeared everywhere from Fendi to Armani and will certainly filter down to us on the high street. And for really heavy weather there’s always Prada’s white rubber fisherman’s welly with drawstring mint green plastic top.