SHOES | Monochromatic Docs

Dr. Martens calls this model the 'refined',it's a slightly slimmer shoe than their originals. For this season they decided to dip them in several colors so that the sole, leather and shoelaces become one monochromatic whole. It reminds me a bit of barbie shoes; which I imagine are made from coloured plastic poured in a tiny shoe-shaped mold. But as you can see these babies are everything but pink, tacky or plastic. Get them here.

SHOES | Simone Rocha Footwear

At London Fashion Week I got the chance to see items that I only know from images saved on my computer. Simone Rocha's little corner was one of the highlights of what designers where showcasing at the Sommerset House; two racks with the most unusual materials, and of course her famous footwear; the elevated oxfords from last season in leather and transparent plastic. And these grey, cheetah printed, pony skin derbies with transparent sole for next autumn. Seeing and touching the craftmanship, detail and smart designs left me in complete awe.

SHOES | White Pointed Wedge

Those Spaniards at Mango and Zara sure know how to make great leather goodies. These two streamlined sleighs on my feet are from Mango.

Do you like the concrete floor of my almost finished new workspace? I've been cleaning and painting the shed(schuurtje) to transform it into a space for writing, working, blogging and making stuff. Now I'm off to Ikea to get some curtains, can't wait to show the end result.

SHOES | Transparent Jellies

ankle cuffs courtesy of Backstage

Remember having these as a kid? And how you always wanted the ones that came with glitter in the plastic? They bring back so many childhood memories of summer. But these clear jelly shoes are probably also the most adaptive footwear that exists, that go with every outfit and every color as it almost looks like you are bare footed.

Update: I got mine at the Albert Cuyp market in Amsterdam. But online you can find a pair of similar ones here.

SHOES | See By Chloé FW12

images: fashionology & Studded Hearts

What´s so curious about See by Chloé is that this more affordable sister of Chloé does not have a head designer. Apparently it´s not as important for this line to have a specific story or message like Clare Waight Keller creates at Chloé. But rather to make sellable and wearable pieces in which I must say this anonymous team has succeeded; the black ankle booties that came down the runway are on top of my fall wishlist.

I thought white marble was for kitchens only but I guess it's for runways too. The black on white marbled deccor was almost identical as that of Acne fw12.

SHOES | Acne Resort 2012

Now that changing your wardrobe completely each fashion season is becoming out of fashion and outdated, giving more attention to resort collections would seem like a logical thing to do. Resort or cruise collections that were initially designed for the wealthy customer who fled to warm resorts during the cold season, have now become more of a year-round-prêt à porter. Designers are showing collections that resemble their state of mind and overall aesthetic with previews of their next seasons instead of just making vacation clothes with anchor prints and aloha shirts. So this is my first piece from a resort collection, a pair of not so basic heels from Acne.

SHOES | Won Hundred Flatforms

Next season Won hundred will bring us a new version of their infamous flatforms. Ones that will leave an alien-like trail! From the side they look somewhat like traditional Japanese shoes but underneath hides a surprise; the shoe rests on three separate platforms. Shaped like... footprint of a hooved animal? something extraterrestrial? dance shoes that have a seperate front and back sole? the anatomy of our feet?

SHOES | En Pointe at Monki

Just look at this quirky take on ballet flats by Monki for next spring. The sight of these pointe shoes on the grey showroom floor just took me right back to my ballet days. I remember it always looked quite akward when the girls would walk on flat feet with the elongated hard pointe shoes on. But as soon as they would stand on the tip of their toes the akwardness instantly dissapeared and their movements became elegant. On these Monki shoes we won't be walking on the tip of our toes though. But I do look forward to adding a bit of odness and akwardness to my outfits with these pointe-ballet flats.

SHOES | Back Zip, Chunky Heel

Dina boots, courtesy of Miista footwear

The lovely Laura Villasenin send me one of her designs, these boots with a back zipper, chunky heels and a massive hidden platform at the front. Laura is the founder of the shoe brand Miista which is based in London. What I really like about this pair are the details like the leather that overlaps the platform, the little cut out of the back of the heel but also their comfort; I could run a marathon in them.

NOVELTY | Simone Rocha

image credits: SimoneRocha.com , Colette

Graduated just last year from CSM, Simone Rocha(1986) presented her third collection in London. Visual illusions that she created with cutouts and transparent materials have become signature to her work as they were again present in her vision for next year's spring. Her genius elevated brogues were also again incorporated in the collection, this time in transparent and colored versions. “I love the tradition and masculinity of a classic brogue, but elevating this into a high heel makes it fresh.”

Rocha's elevated brogues with perplex wedges from last season have already been available at OAK and Colette since August. And in collaboration with Topshop, Simone Rocha also designed a capsule wardrobe that is available now online and in stores.

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SHOES | Pointed

Acne, Alexander Wang, Theyskens' Theory

A surreal shape with a benden heel, a shoe with a rabbit fur tail, 10cm wedges in ombre burgundy suede that fades into patent leather. Are you serious? Yes they are seriously breathtaking pieces of craftmanship.

I love the story behind the design of the Acne heels. They are inspired by 1980's kitten heels. Imagine stretching out an image, like when you're enlarging an image in photoshop and it goes wrong, you get an elongated misshaped figure. Imagine stretching out a 1980's kitten heeled pump, this is what you'll get.

SHOES | Acne Pixel Boots Welcome Home!

bar stool IKEA, boots ss11 ACNE

Found one pair left at the Acne sale, just in my size and color!
Welcome home darlings!

SHOES | 2007 Givenchy

Although fashion is all about the now, it would be so irrelevant to design something that will lose its beauty within one season. These are one of my first designer shoes I've ever bought and I still love them dearly. After having abandoned them for more than year, I took them out of their box yesterday and today. It made me realize even more how much it pays off to invest in quality and design.

SHOES | A Broken Heal by Josefina Larsson

A broken heel? A healed heel? Either way an amazing shoe inspired by something ordinary and turned into a surprising design.

'The Broken Heal shoes are inspired by just that; shoes with 'broken' heels you often see office ladies wear without knowing, where the heel sort of bounces back as they walk' so explaines Josefina Larsson, who graduated from Central Saint Martin's last year with a collection that included these heels.

Josefina is opening a webshop this September where her collections will be sold. The broken heals might be available there, but not for certain as they are limited edition and could run out before the webshop is launched. Until then, orders can be placed directly with Josephina via info@josefinalar.com

DIY | 15 Minute-Two Toned Platform Heels

Back in January I did a guest post for the lovely DIY blog A pair and a spare about my two toned heels. After my previous posts I got a few emails about the heels, so here's the tutorial on how I altered them!

Stripper heels?
I found these babies at a secondhand market. Their perfect shape struck me immediately and reminded me of a pair of pointy Jil Sander platform heels. Though their silver color in combination with their heel- and platform height made me doubt about the possibility for them to be part of a tasteful ensemble. Did they used to belong to a Spice Girl or a stripper? Yes the shiny silver had to go. Or at least half of it.

Materials
These heels are made out of a synthetic satin-like material. Special fabric paint would probably work best on cotton, canvas, velvet or any other real fabric coated shoes. For Leather shoes there are special leather paints for sale at any shoe maker. But this cheap material almost feels like woven plastic, a permanent marker was perfect for the job. Permanent marker also works like a charm on faux leather.

How to
Draw a line along the exact middle of the shoe with chalk. If you have a very steady grip draw along it immediately with the permanent marker. Else you can always stick a piece of tape along the line to avoid making mistakes. Then fill in all the color, remove the tape and Voila! Two tone heels!
I don’t care to which 1995-stripper, -Spice Girl impersonator or drag queen they used to belong, with this 15 minute alteration they became a nice addition to my shoe collection!

SHOES | AW 11 Alexander Wang

image credits: 5 inch and up, fashion toast

Alexander Wang fall winter 2011 shoes and a beautiful black rack in one if his stores.

Shoes | Insane 1990's Platform Ankle Boots

Filippa K shirt worn as dress, vintage snakeskin briefcase, 1990s heels

Screw all those overprized heels that do not live up to their expectations in quality and whose designs are rip offs from what the big houses are making(yes I'm also talking to you Jeffrey Campbell). It is possible to walk on well made heels that are higher than the regular safe and mainstream height of seven to ten centimeters without breaking the bank. You can thank The Spice Girls among others for that; setting a trend of platform shoes 15 years ago(god I feel old). That footwear is now to be found in every single thrift store. I got this pair for €10 on the Queensday market and speaking about numbers, they increase my height with 14 centimeters.

SHOES | Platform Ballerinas

These are ballerinas that give me that 9 extra centimeter in height. (Which I need badly considering that I measure only 1.58m) I ordered them from Nelly.com, a Scandinavian websita that recently also started shipping their products to The Netherlands, Germany and Austria.

SHOES | Ets Callatay, Real Craftsmanship

images from Ets Callatay

Twenty-five hours of work is what it takes to make a pair of Ets Callatay shoes. The full process from designing, patternmaking, prototypes, model manufacturing takes place in Joachim De Callatay’s Parisian workroom and is done entirely by hand. The result of this precise labor-intensive process is a beautiful modern piece of craftsmanship. A breath of fresh air in this era where this is so rare.

Check Ets Callatay's finished platform lace up wedges

DIY | Flat Ankle Boots

before



after


These biker boots have been sitting in my closet for years without being worn.
But with a few simple adjustments they will serve their purpose again; these boots are made for walking.

Almost every boot is technically made up of a shoe with an attachment to cover the leg. I carefully cut along the seem with sharp scissors to separate the shoe from this upper boot-part. From the left over leather I cut two strings to make long Balenciaga-like tassels. The silver studs still made the boot look a bit too cowboyish for my taste so I decided to hide them by painting them black with a lick of nailpolish. Lastly I decided to incorporate a bit of my latest obsession, rose gold. Copper thread in a gold rose color can be purchased at any hardware store.