Architectural Digest has nothing on this

'Ello world there's a song that I'm singing...
Come on get happy!
A whole lotta lovin' is what someone is bringing
VOGUE's October Issue has made me [super] happy!


Excuse the extra words in the last line, I was not made for rhyming, but I got really excited when perusing vogue.com. In their new issue Carey Mulligan is photographed in some of the winter Couture wonders.... and you're supposed to go: 'Wait, no way, I've seen those before!' and I reply: 'Yeah, you did... ka-POW.' If I'm spouting nonsense check back to my Avant Garde post. I'm excited that something I liked was actually on trend. Anyway, here are some of the shots and their runway counterparts:

From top to bottom: 1 - 3 are all Dior, 4 is Chanel, 5 is Armani Prive and 6 is Valentino. All are from the Winter 2010 Couture season... if you want to see more go here.


Next order of business,

What is this, you ask? Well on the left we have the Burj al Arab - a hotel in Dubai that is designed to look like a sail and on the right we have 30 St Mary Axe - also known as the Gherkin, a building in London's financial district. Two very iconic buildings because of their daring design and their complete destruction of the 'architectural mold'. I chose these two buildings because they are in no way conventional, but very structurally unique. They are defining pieces of architecture, as are today's subjects:

Shoes


Yes, shoes. As architectural objects.... yes. I'm not insane. These Fall 2010 Balenciaga heels are pretty geometric and sculptural. I see lego, I see skyscrapers, I see building blocks... I see architecture. Again, Nicholas Ghesquière, fashion's darling has come up with something new and interesting to satisfy shoe fetishes everywhere. Let's draw a comparison to the butterfly shoes of Alexander McQueen, there is nothing 'natural' and feminine about these shoes, they are all substance and form, they are hard and androgynous. This is Ghesquière's appeal; his sci-fi, futuristic, machine aesthetic.

Please tell me you can see the similarities between the shoes and Hong Kong's skyline (photo courtesy of diserio.com)

I had had had to include these other Balenciaga shoes from the Fall of 2007... they've been named the lego shoes. See the relationship? Lego, Building? Bah 


The shoe designer I want to talk about in depth today is Nicholas Kirkwood. I don't know a lot about shoes, other than the fact that I like to wear them, but these are special. Kirkwood doesn't make shoes, he builds them as you will see by his marriage of geometry and architecture. Like Ghesquière, Mr. Kirkwood designs eccentric and structurally insane shoes. I love everything about them: the colors (bright and bold), the height (super high), the styles (booties, cut outs, peep toes, sandals) and the shapes (wedges, triangles, diamonds). 


Check out some of his stuff:

One of my favorite pairings: Gladiatorial, buckles and cut outs. What more do you need? Ankle support, shmankle cabort.

Favorite pair numero dos: how sick would these be with an LBD? Minimal accessories, black dress and then... POW... the brightest, baddest shoes you've ever seen. Me likey

Unfortunately I know that I am not leggy enough to pull these booties off, but they're works of art. The patterns are beautiful; the brown suede and silver foil & the white reptile (don't know what kind) that seems to be peeling off the shoe.

Some more favorites right here: again we have some sandal action going on, they're very different styles but similar. You've got the heel action which is incredibly structural and then the similar weblike matrix of the front.

Classy pearls in the platforms contrast the height of the heel. I don't even want to imagine how I would totter around in these. They're very chic and fashionable (I say that because they probably cause massive blisters, so yes they are fashionable).

You can't tell me that the boot on the left is not a piece of art...

I tried my best to match up all my favorites and I think I a pretty good job until the last two or three... I hope that was enough evidence to convince you that Kirkwood is one of the master shoe craftsmen of the moment. Louboutin, Choo, Blahnik and Atwood are all legendary and hopefully Kirkwood can carve his niche next to them.

In addition, Kirkwood has combined forces with several designers to design the footwear for their runway collections 

Peter Pilotto Spring 2011

In action, as shot by Tommy Ton for Style.com and his blog Jak and Jil. At first when I saw these out of context of Kirkwood's designs I thought that the socks were part of the shoe, but eventually my Sherlock Holmes skills came into play and I realized my error. Socks and open heels are a trend for winter... so anything goes. 

Erdem Spring Summer 2011

Probably his most well known collaboration is with the Mulleavy sisters, the duo behind one of my absolute favorite brands: Rodarte.

Spring Summer 2011 - the inspiration behind this collection was the redwood forest and there was so much visual information I'm going to need some time to wrap my brain around it. Stunningly intricate wedges in four key designs: a delft blue, golden gladiatorial and two brown, tree influenced designs. 

I see a bit of a similarity between these and the blue Pilotto heels

Fall Winter 2010 (our present season)

This dreamworld collection rooted in Mexico was capped off with shoes where the heels were designed to look like melting candle wax, as though the sleepwalking models had walked too close to the sun, like Icarus... although he was flying and in Greece. Here's an example of the socks open toed heels trend.

Spring Summer 2010

Back to the future... primitive cavemen craftsmen working in the future is what I got from these shoes.

Once upon a time I wanted to be an architect... and now I've come to the conclusion that you don't have to build buildings to be one. Become a shoe designer.

One last thing before I sign off today. I've made it obvious I'm a lover of platform heels and towering stilettos. These are my new babies from Town Shoes... they are extremely minimalist (I'm trendy! Phoebe Philo aren't you proud?) and they are extremely fun to wear. Just cause I feel as though I belong to the power set.

- Life is good

Listening to: 'Funny The Way It Is' - Dave Matthews Band (THANKS DAD!!)

Observations: Missed the college clothing sale for the second year in a row

Craving: A seat at tonight's Leaf's game with my baby sister and brother