Running alongside London Fashion Week is Eye 2 Eye, which is predominately an accessory trade exhibition. I came across loads of amazing new shoe designers from all across the world (I never realised how well Brazillians understood footwear!) but my favourite find had to be the home-grown Ruby Shoo, a brand new company launching their first collection for Autumn / Winter from the highly glam Waltham Abbey in Essex. These 'chiffon' boots are to die for. Contact them directly for sales.
At Robert Cary-Williams show, models strutted to music full of obscene language, with lights that went up and down like a yoyo, highlighting the concept clothing that'll never make it past the catwalk - huge mirrored cummerbunds, dresses containing plasma screens, and huge accessories made from what looked like antique boat sails (or perhaps they were kites). The shoes, however, were slightly more wearable, and the good news is the fabulous calf-length grey boots and high heeled D'Orsays were from the Robert Cary-Williams for Topshop range (not yet available, of course). Affordable shoes from the LFW catwalk? Now that is a result!
We all know that press and celebs aside, there's only one other group of gorgeous ladies who we should be taking style tips from, and that's the models. These ladies get to see (and wear) the latest designer clothes before anyone, so it's no surprise that they look as stunning off duty as they do on. I snapped (or should that be stalked) some of the girls leaving the Robert Cary Williams show at London Fashion Week, in their unofficial uniform of worn-in jeans tucked into worn-in leather boots, perfect for this freezing February.
Those in the fashion know are already working the wedge trend in a winter way with wedge boots. It's not a look that's easy to do, but these funky suede numbers, spotted on a fashonista at the event, prove it can be done, and when it works, it looks stunning. Wear them with boho skirts a la Sienna Miller if you can do that gypsy chic thing without looking like a Stevie Nicks impersonator. Otherwise, play safe with jeans or opaque tights and a denim mini.
Of all the shows I've been to so far, Bora Aksu's sticks in my mind the most where shoes are concerned (and clothes, but that's a different story). There was one predominant style replayed in different variations on every model. It was a casual boot which, depending on the height of the model, hit somewhere between calf and knee, in brown leather with a wraparound section that buckled over the top - think of those fur shoe wraps you can currently buy, but in leather. The shoe underneath was high-heeled, but with the wrap worn low down, they looked like slouchy wedges. A unique combination of pirate boot, work boot and cowboy boots (or 'arrrggh, ooh arrrr, yee ha!' if you want me to be clever) and no doubt soon to be seen on Kate, Sienna and the boho brigade. So much nicer than Mukluks. Pictures can be found here.
The first show of London Fashion Week (that I could drag myself out of bed on a Sunday morning for) was Ben De Lisi, best known with non-fashionistas for dressing Kate Winslet at awards ceremonies. For a full show rundown visit my special LFW blog (and tell your friends). But who am I fooling? You want to know about the shoes, don't you? Well, let's put it this way - there's a reason there's no picture with this entry. The shoes weren't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I get the feeling if I put one more pair of gold strappy sandals on this site I may lose my job. So I ask you to use your imagination. They were gold, they were strappy, they were gorgeous.
Ladies. If you do anything this week (besides reading these LFW updates and getting all excited over the new bag & accessory blog), buy some gold shoes. If you hadn't grasped this trend by now you need to climb out from under that rock!
Shiny Media, creator of Shoewawa, is pleased to announce that its first new blog of 2005, The Bag Lady, is set to debut on February 14th.
Those familiar with our wonderful shoe blog Shoewawa will know what to expect: snappy, sassy and slightly sarcy copy, but instead of it being shoes under the Shiny microscope we will be trawling the web to find the coolest bags and accessories.
Just like Shoewawa, The Bag Lady is written and edited by our very own style obsessive and long time web fashion editor Gemma Cartwright. We are kicking off this week with live coverage of the London Fashion Week.
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