Every high street shoe chain seems to be having a go at 'doing' Nicholas Kirkwood at the moment, and who can blame them? His iconic styles are red hot right now and well out of the price range of the average shoe addict.
Aldo's strappy black and electric blue platform sandal (pictured left, if you hadn't clocked that) gets a thumbs-up from me as a great designer inspired shoe that's not hiding its influences but isn't relying too heavily on copycat tactics either. The vivid colour palate and exposed platform is very Kirkwood, but the straps bring a more relaxed tone to the shoes that would make them very wearable. £85 at Aldo (or £655 for the Nicholas Kirkwood pair in black, Browns)
Related: Cheap vs. Chic: Nicholas Kirkwood vs. Dotty P | Cheap vs. Chic: Faith takes on Christian Louboutin
Plenty of high street stores are rolling out 'own brand' versions of the Nicholas Kirkwood butterfly shoe, and today's chic or cheap challenger is Dorothy Perkins.
Let's be honest: I'm not going to be handing out prizes for correctly identifying the designer shoe here, but I do think the high street homage is a good buy for £40. It's been made in a blue that's a lot more 'trendy' than the shade of the original, with quite a differently fashioned butterfly motif but one that that leaves us in no doubt what it's referencing. Most importantly of all, the exposed platform is close enough to clinch the stytle. Nice work! £40 at Dorothy Perkins
Related: Cheap vs. Chic: Aldo take on Givenchy | Cheap vs. Chic: Faith does Louboutin | Nicholas Kirkwood butterfly shoes
When I spotted Aldo's 'Guerette' sandal (right) in their shop window this weekend, I knew I'd seen it somewhere before: somewhere very much like the Givenchy catwalk, in fact, as the shoes share a lot in common with a style seen in the designer brand's A/W 09 collection.
Aldo's 'homage' has some superficial design variations (i.e. more straps) than the original, but is as close to the look as you can get without being a straight copy. As I loved the Givenchy shoes, I decided to give Aldo's version a try yesterday and was an instant fan: the shoes fit snugly and comfortably and have a pleasing 'weight' to them. So if you can't afford Givenchy, this would be my tip for an on-trend alternative. Guerette at Aldo: £90.
Related: Cheap vs. Chic: Faith Vs. Christian Louboutin | Cheap vs. Chic: Topshop vs. YSL
You don't want fakes knocked-up in a sweatshop, but you're equally reluctant to remortgage your house to pay for the real deal. What can you do? Why, show your appreciation by buying an obviously Loubintin-inspired pair of shoes on the high street for a fraction of the price, of course. And that's where brands like Faith come up trumps.
Their pewter 'LeCloud' peep toe slingbacks will never quite rival Louboutin's iconic, metallic peep toes, but I've got to give them 7 out of 10 for effort. Yours for £65 at Debenhams
Today's cheap or chic challenge is not a difficult one to guess, but it is interesting to see an original style turn instantly generic in its high street incarnation. One of these styles is a Marc Jacobs original costing £450, the other is a strangely familiar £70 shoe from Aldo.
Looking these two pairs so close together does help you to appreciate the extra work that goes into the designer style, and it's reassuring for those who fork out the extra cash to see how strongly the quality shows through. But if you think this is a style for one season only, it's good to know you can capture it at a fraction of the cost.
Read on over the jump if you haven't figured out which is which!
Related: More cheap or chic challenges
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There's been quite a few designer shoe copies that are truly scandalous of late, and maybe bordering on the illegal. However, this is one case where we can call it inspiration instead of flagrant theft.
One of these is Kurt Geiger's Credible shoe, and the other is the Diablo by Moda in Pelle. I think it's pretty evident purely from the photography which is which, but more interesting is what shoe do you prefer? Are you going for designer chic or cheap and cheerful? Price details are over the jump.
Related: Steve Madden does Christian Louboutin | More cheap or chic
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I'm not going to bother asking you to guess which one of these is from the high street and which is designer, but it is interesting to see that even a year after the Yves Saint Laurent 'Lou Lou' platform wedge hit the shelves, Topshop is still happy to use it as inspiration for an affordable alternative. In this season's yellow, the strappy cross-front high wedge is yours for £60, a far cry from the hundreds you would have paid for the designer originals.
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