You love those chunky boots don’t you? The ones which have served you so well through the past few winters. Do you wish that you could have the same comfort without suffocating your feet through the summer? While pretty shoes are hot now, you can still be pretty in a chunky heel.
While sample sales are often older designs being sold, Rupert Sanderson does keep classic lines going as well as refreshing seasonal designs with new finishes. Earlier this year I picked up these from the sample sales, the Ravenna is quite a retro look, with the velvet it reminds me of the glamour of the inter-war years. Best is they’re amazing under this season’s wide legged trousers! They’re currently available in a burgundy velvet at the Rupert Sanderson Bicester Outlet.
For 2016-17 floral patterns are also still going strong, a little switch from before is that they are inspired by interior styling. The key is a slighly kitschy look, think bohemian embroidered fabrics, or slightly hippy prints rather than the neater prints. Its a twist on the classic, but nonetheless florals are going strong, and I think they look even better with a chunkier heel. These looks are very now and should see good service through AW16/17.
The classic option, ever present is the classic stacked heel sandal, with or without platform, they will always make a good strong choice especially for a more casual wedding, a garden party or a BBQ. There are few things less elegant than that sinking feeling as your heels dig in, not a problem with these chunky heels. Personally I prefer the single sole look, it’s defininitely more elegant for a summer evening and won’t compete with lighter fabrics.
Summer doesn’t mean you have to abandon the chunky boot for flop flops, you can carry on in comfort with a chunky summer shoe. The trick with chunky heels is to avoid swathes of cow’s leather. Fabrics such as velvet or satin print are great, or get sandals which have that au naturelle look.
The great Lisa Fonssagrives as published in Harpers Bazaar in 1951Prior to the 1950s leisure time was rare, as such clothing was primarily driven by function, with the exception of the wealthy and aristrocratic who had the time and money to enjoy high fashion. Models and icons such as Marylin Monroe and Twiggy captured the imagination of the growing and aspirational middle classes in Europe and America, and it would soon become the most lucrative market to exploit. The 1950s was a period when people of the world were looking forward to peace and prosperity, in the West capitalism was bringing bigger and better things for less cost, meanwhile Communist countries were looking for inward stablilty with Khrushchev denouncing Stalin and Mao having just untified China under the Communist Party. It meant that in America and Europe we didn’t need to invest heavily in defence, and could enjoy the technology gained during the Second World War to allow machines to replace manpower, thus was born the concept of free-time, and disposable income. And what better way to get us to buy more than to turn models and screen sirens into icons, someone that we can aspire to?
As less time was taken up by household chores the first to become freed from drugery were the youth, without the resposibility of children of their own the youth were spending money on themselves, and finding their own contemporary role models. Breaking from the still aristocratic establisment, and they found in Marylin Monroe and Elvis to inspiring yet ordinary people, who were not born into high society but carved out a name for themselves based on talent. Naturally seeing the popularity of these people, the establishment knew that change had to happen for them to cash in, and for the next two decades this would remain the case.
Two peoples heroes of the time, normal people living the dream. Just like the Duchess of Cambridge today.
Public Domain Images
Similar changes to society were happening in the UK too, the Mods and Swinging London on once side, and the Beatles, and the Rockers on the other. Just as Elvis inspired a generation of Americans, it too was through music that youth in Britain expressed their rebelliousness, and naturally people wanted to express themselves by dressing as their heroes did. In the same way that the music was designed to shock, so were the clothes, out went drab, dowdy, heavy tailored pieces and in it’s place came simple more androgynous shapes, dominated by colour and showing ever more skin.
Just as Anna Wintour is the most powerful person in fashion today, her predecessor, Diana Vreeland was the one the pick up on the revolution happening in London and the UK. Who could be better to represent this shift society than the people at the eye of the storm, thus Mary Quant became the designer of the period, an Twiggy and the Shrimp the faces to represent it, all of which was imported alongside the Beatles, and the Stones to the States during the Brit Invasion. I was a cutting edge move in the 1960s, but nowadays it is normal to blur the borders between models, movies and music.
Modern icons have captured the imagination of today’s generation, just like Twiggy did in the 1960s.
Images used under Creative Commons License courtesey from left: Andrea and Tim Wilson, LGEPR, Eva Rinaldi
Today it seems the Kardashian family has an exceptional ability to connect with the most lucrative market in the fashion industry. So like it or not for the time being the Kardashians are here to stay because as talentless as they are, you must admit they have this magical ability to capture the attention of a certain demographic, and will remain at the top of the A-list until the next icon, I just feel sorry for them because they like many other celebs are actually being exploited.
To me this seems to be a really convenient tactic to distract from the bigger issues going at the same time, what about yesterday’s corruption summit? The one that just happened have it’s agenda severly watered down? Or what about the fallout after Snowden leaked those NSA documents? Or the way The Sun and The Times tried to whitewash the Hillsborough inquest verdict? We don’t need to look much further than who actually owns the newspapers, these people (and they are mostly individuals) do it to line their own pockets.
Anyhow, regarding this whole shoegate affair I do wonder where this takes us? Well heels are clearly an aesthetic item of clothing, but so are ties, hosiery, suits and other items considered de riguer in a corporate environment. If you take the issue of comfort and practicality all the way, perhaps we should just all turn up in our pyjamas or onsies.
There are really two schools of thought to this, being comfortable is important because you don’t want those clothes to be distracting you from work, it allows you to be at ease and focus, I do tend to write these blogs in my underwear, or in bed even (come on who hasn’t, laptops were made for this). On the other hand though being dressy can instill a degree of pride in what one is doing, so could increase the quality of the work that way. Interestingly, as much as I love my fashion, I honestly feel that I would be quite at ease if the way we dressed didn’t matter.
From a Distance
Before even looking into more detail, luxury shoes and bags have a certain presence to it. Shoes have a certain elegance and sleekness to them, bags tend to have good structure even after years of service. Leathers and fabrics will have a depth to their colour.
The Riviera Bag (left) was Made in England during the 1960s, 50 years down the line it’s structurally solid, zips and clasps all still work. Here pictured with Paris 105 by Yves Saint Laurent. The unbranded Snakeskin piece (right hand image) is likely to have been made in Germany in the 60s or 70s, and likewise still in exceptionally good condition.
To understand better, it would be useful to have a look at who owns who? Between two luxury power players, Kering, and LVMH, they own over 20 of the worlds biggest luxury fashion brands. During the late 1980s up to the mid 1990s intelligent mergers, aggressive investments combined with ageing founder-designers such as Cristobal Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent opened the door to easy pickings. By the turn of the millenium this put Kering and LVMH in prime position to dominate the luxury sector.
