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

A ghost upon the sands of the sea

Today has been a pretty good day, despite the fact that it is midterm season and my Latin exam threatens to drive me insane. To all of you unlucky students out there I wish you luck!

My day was good for several reasons: my mom and sister were here for a day as they spend their October break away from the UK and do their usual traveling circus gig (in typical Ishak fashion), I went to the library for the first time this year and hunkered down for several hours going over a dead language, I had three delicious coffees (caffeine rush) and I went to a supremely interesting guest lecture about Art Law (more on that another day). 

I realize that it's been a while since I've talked about something non-fashion related and I wanted to make it clear that I'm not just a fashion addict but a slave for anything visually unique. This is probably the reason I'm enrolled in the Arts, more specifically Art History; because while I enjoy making art, I love learning about it and seeing it more (I think). Anyway, at the beginning of last summer I enrolled in a month long course in Venice through school... for a full credit. I'm going to go on a brief tangent but a full credit at my university usually means a year long (8 month) course. So when this opportunity to A) go to Venice B) to study art history and C) gain a full credit arose, I leapt at it and made it mine. Before I left I posted that I was going to blog daily and have these amazing posts full of pictures and my daily activities. Well that didn't happen so I'm today is all about looking and reliving my life in Venice.

Before you jump in with me I want you to know that this was one of the best experiences I've ever had and I would recommend it to anyone who had the chance to go. That being said, please enjoy (caution, this is a super long post mainly of pictures... sorry)

First day exploring: our view from the hotel bridge of campo (square), Santa Maria Formosa... our neighborhood

Another view from the hotel: who know there was much green space in Venice, the concrete island? 

First day of classes and we headed straight to the heart of the city: Piazza San Marco. Here you're seeing the the Basilica di San Marco and part of the Palazzo Ducale - in English the Basilica (left) and the Ducal Palace (right)

Ducal Palace. Those two red columns are where the Doge (religious and political authority of the city) would come out and give a sermon, once a year.

The Campanile, this means tower in Italian.

Porta Della Carta, Ducal Palace. Teeny history lesson, the Doge can be seen kneeling on the left beside the winged lion, which is the symbol for the city and the icon of St. Mark - whose bones are interred in the Basilica next door.

One of the many intricate capitals of the lower colonnade of the Ducal Palace.

Much of what you see covering the surface of the Basilica is spolia - items that were stolen from previous sites and incorporated into a new setting.

When looking at the Basilica straight on there are three doors with mosaics above them... each tells a different story that I can't sum up without going on and on. But they're incredibly beautiful to look at amongst the different colored marbles.

Zoom zoom zoom. Attention to detail is immaculate, though the next is even better.

My fave fave fave... the colors are so incredible... just wait

Closer, yet not close enough. I need to thank my mum for her camera because there was no way I would have been able to get this level of zoom on my own dinky digital.

For centuries this little guy has stood there looking dignified and then rats with wings got there. Did you know feeding the vermin is illegal in Venezia? Well, unfortunately it still happens

Sorry to be cliche... masks in Venice, yes I know.

This drink that started in the city is still one of the favorites of restaurant goers. I saw locals ordering these for breakfast.

Pizza, masks what's next?

Oh yeah, a gondolier. You knew it was coming. I'm proud and sad to say I did not have a ride in one of these... though it would have been fun.

On our trip to the island of Torcello... population 13 and a new baby

He's so charming...

Fly by night, this shot went wrong but I love it all the more for it.

I'm pretty sure I sent a postcard exactly like this... quintessential Venice shot.

Ok there is a story to these two pictures... We had a restaurant we went to for our weekly meals, but on weekends we had to feed ourselves... boo hoo, feeding yourself in Venice, sounds good to me! Well the first Sunday we went exploring and I found this quaint restaurant two minutes from the hotel. We gave it a chance and I'm not lying.... some of the best food I've ever had. This dish above is spaghetti with clams in a butter sauce... so good, I can;t brag enough. The best by far was the polenta with cuttlefish in squid ink (a Venetian delicacy). I'm not kidding, I'm going back to Venice for the food and the staff. Below is my buddy Guido, our waiter who served us every time we went that month and on the last day it was his 40th birthday so we basically drank the place dry of Prosecco. I would be lying if I said that we weren't a little tipsy, especially after he brought us birthday grappa. 

I'm pretty sure I developed a window fetish while in that city haha 

Inside San Zanipolo 

One of my future waterfront homes... no big deal

Up the Campanile

Makes me wish I could fly

See, another window.... ahhhh. But it's a nice contrast of the old and new, the permanent and the temporary

Fruits and vegetables at the Rialto Market

Sorry, another window, but it's so quaint.

Ceiling frescos at the Palazzo Grimani 

I was trying to cut down on the images I was including because at one point I had 200 and so I stuck to mainly Venice but this mainland shot of the Villa Rotunda... Palladio is a genius. I was so sad we couldn't get closer. There was some diamond show going on... dang jewelry ;)

Back on the island a Santa Maria della Salute

To end with... a gondolier in the Lagoon...

And the Piazza San Marco by night after a flooding.

Off to bed...

- Life is good

Listening to: 'WARP' - Steve Aoki & Bloody Beetroots

Observations: Migraine from being awake so long

Craving: comfort food and my bed