Are shoes the new handbag?
Posted by v on May 12, 2008
Gwyneth brings back vertiginous, sky high heels. Handbags should be getting passe. I mean truly, how many handbags can you own before you start to get a little weary. I own 62 and only last week, did I get moderately excited by Gucci’s hysteria as a day bag, but hmmm! not gonna get it. Can footwear really match up to the power of the purse? (Significantly, Marc Jacobs re-launched the dead-as-a-Dodo idea of matching shoes and bag at Louis Vuitton.)
The transformation from sweet young mom to hotter-than-ever Hollywood property was mostly thanks to the choice of shoes. Paltrow wore tottering Alexander McQueen six-inch, or 15-centimeter, heels for the London premiere. And then in Italy, the apotheosis of current style, she chose lacy, racy shoes by the Italian designer Giuseppe Zanotti, with heels a (literally) staggering seven inches high.
Alexander McQueen
Suddenly, the shoe’s the thing. And it is mostly because the big brands that have made a killing with designer handbags have switched their attention to feet, where nothing is too fancy, frivolous, froufrou or fetishistic to fit with fashion.
Gladiator sandals are a favorite fashion weapon and are one of the rare practical looks this summer. You can actually walk on the flat soles with strips of leather climbing the calf - as opposed to the myriad fanciful shoes that require a car and driver to deposit you to a restaurant doorway and a minder/lover to help you negotiate the stairs.
Shoes are taking a trip in order to convince customers that they are as essential an accessory - and as ever-changing - as a designer bag. Hence all the colored snakeskin, animal print suede and hardware embellishment that have moved from purse to feet. Nothing better illustrates that message than Chanel’s platform shoes with matching mini-bag round the ankle.
