Shoes reach a pinnacle of decoration

Tag : fashion women's shoes
Artworks for the feet: shoes reach a pinnacle of decoration, bulkand height Janice Breen Burns June 21, 2008 Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View

WOMEN'S shoes are evolving like artworks for the feet: taller,chunkier and more elaborate than ever.

"Heels are getting higher, more work is going into sculpturalaspects of the shoe, and designers are virtually reinventing,reinterpreting what a shoe looks like," says Shane Carroll, seniorbuyer for high-end shoe chain Evelyn Miles, part of the 200-storeFiggins group.

Mr Carroll says the trend is counterbalancing a stream ofminimalist, monotone and sleekly tailored fashion. "But, womengenerally just love a platform heel. They'll buy a mid-heel forwork and everyday wear, but they're getting harder to find. Now,it's either sky-high, or flat."

In Evelyn Miles' Toorak store yesterday, high-heel devotee BeatrizMontes showed why chunkier and ornate shoes were becoming aspopular as the slim-toed stiletto high heel. She tried on fiveeye-popping pairs of Prada and Marc Jacobs shoes, some as whimsicalas pantomime costumes.

"You can get much more height with a thicker platform," sheexplained, stepping onto heels that elevated her a full 11centimetres — 13 centimetres taller than her stockinged feet.

The shoes' extra bulk and height were slightly — charmingly— cartoonish on Ms Montes' naturally slim ankles, making themappear even slimmer. The shoes also immediately proved one offashion's oldest maxims, that by increasing a woman'sheight-to-weight ratio, high heels buy the illusion of one lesskilogram per centimetre of heel.

Evelyn Miles store manager Vanessa Orders said women have had eightseasons to become accustomed to shoes with more height, decorationand chunkiness. "We saw them first for winter 2006 and they were sodifferent to the fine stiletto that had been in already for fouryears. So new."