Statement Shoes for Spring 2008
Peep-Toes to Wedges and Platforms - This Season's Designer Trends
2008 sees the emergence of the "Statement Shoe". No longer just supporting and complementing an outfit, this year shoes are making a statement of their own.
Shoe designers have had enough of their limelight being sapped by the "It-Bags" and are now fighting back. Handbag designers have had it their own way for far too long.
Put away the ballet flats and boring black patent courts. Leave them lurking in the furthest recesses of your closet. To be truly on-trend it’s time to make a dramatic statement with chunky wedges, platforms, T-bars and an updated retro version of the peep-toe shoe. Pointed toes are so last season. Softer, curvier more rounded toes are back in vogue.
In an effort to regain pride of place in the fashion market, shoe designers have come up with imaginative and inventive ways to mix styles, materials and colors. Lucite, suede, silk, patent leather, studs – the wackier and chunkier the better. Adorned with heavy buckles, bows, fringes, feathers, jewels or petals. It seems that for 2008, anything goes!
The three keynote phrases for this season’s statement shoes are Big, Bold and Break the Rules!
Big
- Chunky wedges, lucite heels and platforms have seen a strong revival and are set to be in vogue for several seasons to come. A perfect accessory to the maxi dress, chunky wedges complete that flowing, feminine look, giving height and density.
Bold
“This season is all about wearing art on your feet”, say the editors of Eve magazine, in their January 2008 issue. One of the biggest fashion trends of the season is heel ornamentation or what Paul of theshoegoddess.net refers to as "modified heels", in his 29th December 2007 blog "Best Shoe Trends." This "wearable art," consists of jewels, studs, bells, baubles and petals, providing a unique and very individual look for 2008.
- Prada’s hot pink, to-die-for satin shoes with petal-style heels are, for fashionistas, “the one thing to invest in this month”, according to Eve. Feminine and flaunty, petal heels feature in a number this season’s edgy Prada collections.
- For sheer sex appeal and originality Christian Dior’s sky high Metallic Platform Sandals are the superlative in modified heels.
- Sexy studs, not only on heels, are a celebrity favorite. Alberta Ferrenti’s Studded T-Bar or cross- bar shoes are big and brazen, referred to as “Shoe Porn” by FashionKitty on thisnext.com.
- Manolo Blahnik's latest creations for Spring/Summer 2008 feature a fushion or Turkish architecture and Finnish Marimeko prints.
- Long live metallics – they are versatile and easy to blend with any outfit. This season colors are bolder and never boring, from pink pumps to red vampy courts. All the colors of the rainbow for Spring and Summer 2008.
Break the Rules
- Peep-toed shoes used to be matronly and frumpy, but no longer. They come in all shapes and sizes from ballet flats and shoe-boots to chunky wedges and stacked heels.
- The fashion faux pas of combining peep-toes with opaque tights is well and truly laid to rest in 2008. Far from wearing sheer stockings, pairing open-toed shoes with seriously textured tights is right on-trend.
- Booties or the shoe-boot hybrid continues to break the rules by becoming even more popular in 2008. Part boot, part shoe, this strange looking fashion footwear has emerged as the surprise superstar from last season. However, the shoe-boot is not without its critics. In her article "Celebrity Fashion Victims", fashion guru Liz Jones of the Daily Mail refers to them as “the worst fashion trend of 2007”.
With so many shoe styles to choose from it is also important to think about how they match your body shape.
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