Forget ‘it’ bags – footwear sales are soaring and designers are rising to the occasion
Next month Selfridges will be hosting its very own “Shoe Carnival”. The London store has plenty to celebrate, now selling 10,000 pairs of shoes a week on average (yes, really) since the unveiling of its 35,000 sq ft women’s Shoe Galleries in September 2010, an area which carries more than 150 brands. And as a, er, footnote, Selfridges also boasts the world’s largest men’s shoe department, where sales have increased by more than 100 per cent since it opened in November last year. Rival department store Harrods, meanwhile, devotes a whole 22,750 sq ft to women’s shoes, featuring 75 brands, a multi-brand “Shoe Salon” and no less than two Manolo Blahnik boutiques.
Globally, the footwear market is expected to reach $195bn by 2015, with sales exceeding 13bn pairs last year alone, according to Global Industry Analysts, Inc. It’s hard to imagine there are so many shoes in the world.
“Shoes are bestsellers online, both in terms of speed and lowest return rate,” says Federico Marchetti, chief executive and founder of the online fashion store Yoox, which launched shoescribe.com last March, an online store devoted to women’s shoes, complete with a “shoe subscription” service that offers customers free shipping, free repairs and 50 per cent off a pair of shoes on their birthday. Marchetti notes its parent company Yoox has sold more than 5m shoes since 2000. “Needless to say, it didn’t take much for us to want to fill that gap in the market.”
As a result, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that shoes are the new “It” bags – and indeed, as with that phenomenon, designers and brands are rushing to satisfy demand for shoes. The following is our guide to the brave new world of footwear, from fresh names to the old guard, the hottest men’s styles, and other titbits from the frontline.
Edgardo Osorio is the Colombian-born, Florence-based shoe designer behind one of the hottest shoe labels of the season. Osorio was already working for a local ready-to-wear brand from the tender age of 14, and - via Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion – landed a job at Salvatore Ferragamo at just 18. After stints at Sigerson Morrison and Roberto Cavalli, he set up his own label, Aquazzura, in 2011. Fancy a pair of pineapple-motif courts, lattice python heels or flat snake slip-ons? Osorio is your man. Pineapple motif heels, £635, www.aquazzura.com
Graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2010, Sophia Webster worked as design assistant to Nicholas Kirkwood. After being his “right-hand woman” for two years, Kirkwood himself helped Webster launch her own label at London Fashion Week last September, with a crazy installation involving real-life “Barbie dolls” in giant boxes. Picked up by the world’s most influential retailers, Webster’s designs are a riot of creativity in neon colours, polka dots and plastic. Flamingo shoes, £485, www.sophia-webster.com
British-born footwear and accessory designer Paul Andrew has a long line-up of illustrious names on his CV including Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Narciso Rodriguez, as well as a decade at Donna Karan as vice president of collection accessories design. Launched in New York last September, his own US-based label Paul Andrew Design covers everything from metallic flat sandals to spike heels in a patchwork of colour-blocked leathers. Snake heels, £1,250, www.paulandrewdesign.wordpress.com
After studying law at university in Milan, Giorgia Caovilla spent the next 10 years learning her craft in the family business; her father just happens to be Italian shoe maestro René Caovilla. She now lives in Riviera del Brenta, just a few kilometres from Venice, and has her own shoe line, O Jour, which she launched in 2011. Lady-like ribbons of colour for day and satin bow-backed court shoes for after dark are key looks for spring. Sandals, £495, www.ojour.it
Born in France and working in Paris, Laurence Dacade trained at the AFPIC School of Shoe Design. She went on to create shoes for Givenchy for five years before moving to Chanel. Dacade has also designed for Matthew Williamson and Nina Ricci. She started her own label in 2003, offering designs with an avant-garde edge: think deconstructed, raw-edged denim ankle boots and metallic ribbon ballet pumps for spring. Silver boot sandals, £680, www.laurence-dacade.com
Started by designer and former film director Paola Bay in 2007, this Italian label’s luxurious shoes are hand crafted by artisans from all over the country – from beechwood carvers in a cowshed in Lombardy to velvet weavers in Emilia-Romagna. Based in Milan, Bay designs just eight pairs of shoes a season in limited runs of 400. Think bold colour, towering platforms, snakeskin and patent shine. Snake ankle strap shoes, £490, www.zoraide.com
A member of the influential Dellal clan – model sister Alice and gallery owner brother Alex are regular London social fixtures – Charlotte Olympia (Dellal) studied at Cordwainers (the school of accessory design) and interned at Giambattista Valli in Paris before setting up her own label a few years after graduating in 2006. She then opened her own boutique in 2010 in London’s Mayfair, creating a permanent home for her witty/sexy/ultra-glamorous designs. Her Glamazon cruise collection takes tropical to fabulous new heights with bird of paradise feathers and bamboo platform heels. Dolly feather heels, £995, www.charlotteolympia.com
Born in Germany, Nicholas Kirkwood studied at Central Saint Martins, and, after a chance meeting with Philip Treacy on a skiing trip to Klosters, went in to hats. Thankfully he swapped hats for shoes five years later, setting up his own label after a brief stint at Cordwainers. Kirkwoood is now an award-winning shoe superstar, most recently adding the BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund prize to his list of trophies. Two-tone court shoes, £585, www.nicholaskirkwood.com
Proving that good design is in the genes, Gianvito, son of legendary shoe designer Sergio Rossi (with whom he trained for 20 years), set up his own label back in 2006. Using the skilled craftsmen of San Mauro Pascoli in central Italy, Gianavito’s focus on classic, covetable design has won him an army of fans, especially for his elegant pumps in cool colours and exotic skins. Spring styles include architectural spike heels and knee-high gladiator sandals. Red sandals, £760, www.gianvitorossi.com
Alvaro Gonzalez is the go-to designer for classics with an updated kick; think 1920s-inspired ankle-strap Mary-Janes in colour block leathers. The Spanish-born Royal College of Art graduate spent 16 years at the design helm of Valentino and Jimmy Choo before being brought in to head up Stuart Weitzman’s latest shoe venture SW1. Zig-zag ankle strap shoes, £392, www.sw1.it
Super-cool English-born stylist Tabitha Simmons is a contributing editor at Vogue, and regularly styles for the likes of Dazed and Confused and Another magazine. She also designs shoes – really great shoes. Simmons set up her sought-after shoe line back in 2009, but still manages to hold down the day job, and is the go-to name for hip-girl, edgy appeal. Metallic point-toe shoes, £495, www.tabithasimmons.com
An advertising drop-out turned Cordwainers graduate, Rupert Sanderson visited Italy to work for Sergio Rossi and Bruno Magli before returning to London to set up his own label in 2001. Sanderson now has two London stores, one in Hong Kong, and another in the Palais Royal in Paris. Look out for shoes that shout classical elegance married with cool wit. Lip motif heels, £435, www.rupertsanderson.com
The shoe designer’s shoe designer, Manolo Blahnik was encouraged to move in to shoes by none other than legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland while studying set design in Paris in the late 1960s. He first designed shoes for close friend Ossie Clark in 1972, opening his destination boutique on Old Church Street in London’s Chelsea a year later. The rest is the stuff of fashion legend – and many a very well-heeled woman’s wardrobe. Blue cuff heels, £595, www.manoloblahnik.com
Malaysian-born Jimmy Choo learned how to make shoes from his cobbler father and went on to study at Cordwainers in London. He opened his first shop in Hackney, east London, in 1986, becoming a Vogue regular and the favourite shoe brand of Princess Diana. So far so fabulous, but it wasn’t until an accessories editor at Vogue, Tamara Mellon, approached Choo to make a ready-to-wear range that his name really took off globally. Choo sold his half of the company to Robert Bensoussan of Equinox Luxury Holdings for $30m in 2001. Now owned by Labelux, the luxury group that owns Bally, Mellon remains chief creative officer. Snake tassel heels, £895, www.jimmychoo.com
Born and raised in Paris, Pierre Hardy originally studied fine art and dance before moving into shoe design. He made his name at Christian Dior and later at Hermès before setting up his own label in 1990. Collaborations with Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga from 2001 cemented his superstar shoe status with futuristic Lego-inspired heels, and enabled him to open his own boutique in 2003 in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris. Colour block heels, £480, www.pierrehardy.com
Paris-born Robert Clergerie revived the long established shoes factories of Joseph Fenestrier (established in 1885) – and launched a line under his own name in 1981. He opened his first own-label store in Paris the same year and quickly expanded across the world. Many awards later, Clergerie retired in 1996 only to buy back his company in 2004. Roland Mouret was appointed as the new creative director of the brand in 2011 and continues to hone the label’s legacy of chunky heels, wedge sandals and masculine-style lace-ups. Platform sandals, £500, www.robertclergerie.com
French designer Christian Louboutin gained his fixation with ultra-high heels while dressing showgirls at Paris’s famous Folies-Bergère nightclub. Armed with a portfolio of shoe drawings, in 1981 he got a job at Charles Jourdan, later becoming an apprentice to Roger Vivier. After freelance turns for Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, he set up his own label in 1991. With last year’s London Design Museum retrospective under his belt, Louboutin can now comfortably claim fashion icon status. Wedge sandals, £375, www.christianlouboutin.com
Sergio Rossi learnt his trade from his father, who was an artisan cobbler, and went on to study shoemaking in Milan. Starting his eponymous label in 1966, he made his name working with Gianni Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Azzedine Alaïa. In 1999, the Gucci Group acquired 70 per cent of the brand, opening shops in London, Tokyo and Paris, and in 2005 they bought the remaining 30 per cent to give them full control of the Sergio Rossi name. In 2008, Francesco Russo was appointed creative director. Sergio senior now works for his son, Gianvito Rossi. African motif heels, £650, www.sergiorossi.com
Born in 1989 in Bonito, Italy, the 11th of 14 children, Salvatore Ferragamo made his first pair of shoes aged nine for his sisters to wear at their confirmation. After studying shoemaking in Naples, he eventually made his way to Hollywood and quickly established himself as “shoemaker to the stars”. In 1927 he returned to Italy and settled in Florence, where his designs – including the much-copied wedge heel and metal-reinforced stiletto – drew such glamorous clients as Eva Perón and Marilyn Monroe. Ferragamo died in 1960, and his six children took over the company and continued its global expansion. Cage block heels, £895, www.ferragamo.com
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