My heart is red, not my sole

It might come as a shock to most of you, while being a prolific shoe collector, I own zero pairs of Louboutins. It seems strange, why wouldn’t I have at least one pair penned by the designer du jour in the shoe world. I admire the man, I adore what comes from his pen, but I’ve always had a mental block from buying them. Those red soles seem so unnecessary, they don’t add anything to the shoes design or craftsmanship, if anything it devalues the work that went into the shoe as most people simply gawp at the red soles, and cannot see past the real joy and pleasure of owning and wearing luxury shoes.

We live in the perfect time for luxury shoes, with money tight since the 2008 global recession, fashion has become about strategically deploying luxury investment pieces rather than filling ones wardrobe with high end purchases. There are so many hot designers all over the world, and you’ve already seen a number of my favourite pieces. Most of these are British, but interestingly they’re all made in Italy.

Even Louboutins bear the Made in Italy mark.
Modified and used under Creative Commons License from work by Arroser

Italy has long been the home of luxury shoe manufacturing, they’ve preserved and built on the craft and experience of Salvatore Ferragamo, and produced and inspired generations of designers since, from Casadei, to Sergio and Gianvito Rossi, to Giuseppe Zanotti, amongst many others.

Zanotti is quickly gaining a reputation for outlandish and barely wearable designs, to rival his French counterpart. There are many who claim his shoes are unwearable but actually both of mine are really easy to wear, and do look amazing. I love the way the chunky buckles offset the delicate nature of the stiletto heel, and that distinctive Zanotti arch.

My regular readers may notice this photo has been used before, these are my Sergio Rossi Love Collection Wedges, I haven’t worn them yet and there is a slight problem is that I don’t actually know where they are…I have waaay too many shoes.

I think I understand why many people complain about Italian shoes, they do typically run ½ to a whole size narrower than French and British designed shoes. Typically I’m 40-41, but I’ll start from 40.5 and can go up to beyond 41.5 for both Zanotti and Sergio Rossi. Casadei and Gianvito Rossi are even narrower.

Much as I love my Italian shoes, my biggest soft spot is still for my British designers, there’s something in the culture which gives them a rebellious and quirky streak that makes them so exciting to wear. I urge you my dear readers, don’t be a sheep, don’t be a Kardashian clone, rebel against the mainstream and think for yourself. Theres so much more to heels than a red sole.

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