IN A WORLD FULL OF NOTHING
Posted on August 28, 2012 by Teresa Cannata'
Oh, the predictable and boring world of fashionistas! Most of them just go with the fashion flow: they don’t really choose their objects of desire but focus on what others say and act accordingly. No one can deny that many so-called “it” shoes are objectively ugly, yet lots of girls around the world buy them because they make someone else look cool. I know talking about personal taste is like walking on quicksand, but relying on someone else’s taste is not always a good idea. As for me, I have very few firm points: some of them are questionable but I’m sure one is not.
This time I’m not introducing the latest creation of a famous shoe designer, but I’ve decided to take a walk down memory lane to show you a masterpiece of shoe design. In the mid 2000s Nicolas Ghesquière was the talk of the town: what he was doing at Balenciaga was incredible, an excellent example of how one could turn the archives of a historical maison into fashion-forward statements. His fall 2005 collection included a pair of velvet sandals which I think are the most perfect shoes ever.
These sandals are made of nothing – just velvet straps, stiletto heels and sparkling ankle bracelets – but isn’t this nothing breath-taking? Ghesquière took a bow-shaped crystal brooch originally designed in the 1960s: he turned it into a set of jewellery (bracelet, belt and brooch, part of the Edition accessory collection) and used it as ornament on the simplest pair of sandals one could imagine. The result is beautifully balanced mix of minimalism and sparkle, where an echo from the past and a totally contemporary shape influence each other.
If I were lucky enough to have these beauties in my closet, I would wear them with a draped dress of the same collection or a with a pair of black cropped pants and a white shirt. Whatever your taste, you should pair them to a very simple outfit, so as to let them shine as they deserve.
Copyright © The Harlow 2019