I love design degree shows… why? Well, for the out-of-the-box, fun projects. Recent graduate, Gwendolyn Huskens at the Design Academy in Eindhoven (NL),  presented a series of six shoes titled ‘medic esthetic’, shoes made of bandages, fiber glass casts, plasters-bandaids and built-in splints. Her intended purpose was to address the social taboos around physical deformities, but I had different thoughts about the collection. At first I thought it may have been a reaction to the teetering heights of shoe trends, perhaps the Prada SS09 show where the shoes were so high, and from the looks of the photos, the models would probably need medical attention.

Either way, if I hurt my feet from 7″ heels, or a less glamourous way, sign me up for these… heck, I may even want to wear them in good health. You know kinda like when we were kids, and we’d wear the cartoon bandages because they were cool.

pic via design boom

Did you ever dream of being a ballerina? Was ‘plié and up’ the the furthest you got? Well, it was for me. I bailed out of ballet in the 2nd grade.

Did you ever dream of being a ballerina? Was ‘plié and up’ the the furthest you got? Well, it was for me. I bailed out of ballet in the 2nd grade. I did convince my mom to buy me ballet flats instead of the regular green and white Adidas I normally wore.

For those of us who never made it to dancing sur les pointes, Sonny Vandevelde captured the  Junko Shimada show where the most unusual ballet heels, not quite ballet boots or ballet flats, these are a bit more forgiving with plexi heels and a platform. On the models, they certainly give the illusion of dancing sur les pointes… without ALL the foot damage.

Besides, how can you go wrong with two pairs of shoes costing 6 EUR… total?

While looking for inspiration of what to do for the upcoming autumn, it occurred to me that maybe I should start looking at European sites for inspiration, so I started out with vogue.fr… just to see how they did their runway section. If you’ve been to style.com, the US version, you might note that while the runway shots are a valuable resource, the trends section is absolutely maddening. I was overjoyed, with my little knowledge of French to be able to navigate through lookbooks of logically organized trends. No more aimlessly looking around for booties, they have an extensive section that’s very easy to find.

Needless to say, I spent a few hours yesterday going through all the shoes… and I must say that I wasn’t drawn to any dramatically different shoe, I’m a booties and ankle straps kind of girl… there are some really gorgeous shoes to draw inspiration from:

Booties

Chloe, Balenciaga, Peter Som

Heels

Stella McCartney, Giambattista Valli, Galliano

Taking cues from IKEA might be the way of the future.
 Flat-packed shoes you can assemble yourself. Insert the reinforcements and cut costs for a lovely sustainable piece of footwear.

Who knew you could actually have origami pumps you can fold yourself? It’s one of those ideas that I slap my own forehead over. It would be interesting to see if these stick around, or if they would be easily customizable. Perhaps some kind of Open Source footwear?

I know lately, I’ve been showcasing a lot of designer shoes that are almost impossible for us mere mortals can afford… there are some brands that come out with reliable quality shoes, the ol’ standby, Nine West most consistently makes decent quality shoes, like my boots I’ve had for a few years are still in good condition after an intense winter of wear.

They’re also getting better at cycling over designer inspired footwear. Something you see more of in Europe than Stateside. I really like these lovely two tone peeptoe platform pumps. They are interesting without being too tied to a specific season.

Of course they aren’t gladiators… but we can’t do everything the fashion world dictates, can we?

Nine West Bilson pumps, $83 on Zappos

One of the problems I have with pumps is the odd size of my feet. I’m between a 7 and a 7.5 so 7.5’s are too big and slip off easily and 7’s are slightly too small. It’s a pain being unique. So thank god for ankle straps and cuffs and bits and bobs to secure your feet to your shoe.

This lovely pump has a bit of everything, a sculpted wooden heel, ankle cuff, peeptoe. Ellen Verbeek shoes available at Seattle boutique, Lambsear. I wish I could be there.

Gucci may have their fringes on the runway, but the ol’ moccasin standby has generally fallen on Minnetonka in the past, but if you want something a little different or something a little more vegan, I shall recommend Manimal. Vegan sure is a lot more guilt-free than wearing monkey fur coats.

Finding shoes that are practical and fun are hard to find. Well, for me anyway. Bernhard Willhelm’s Lea Bootie is fun and with a small wooden wedge it’s also practical. I love the yellow tip mostly because yellow shoes are hard for me with my olive skin. The chain, well, it’s just plain cool.