Lunedi Lunacy

Now surely - I know don't call me Shirley - neither one of my faithful readers thought for a moment that I would go to Milano and not take photos of shoes????   I mean come-on now!  It was my last chance to take a look at the gloriously outrageous over-the-top fashion statements that are scarpe in Italy and more particularly Milano.  I just know I'm not going to see anything like these on the Sparks Street Mall or at Bayshore let alone adorning the tender tootsies of les belles dames d'Outaouais.

Just a reminder that a left click on the image will give you - should you really want one - a closer look at the art of the calzolaio.

As I strolled past the high-end shops on Via Monte Napoleone and Via Santo Spirito I came across footwear that once again had me wracking my brain to image where or when they would be worn.  Or perhaps more accurately why?  And let's add the remaining interrogatives?  Who would wear them and how exactly do they manage on those bloody cobblestones?

It would appear that despite a few lighter items, obviously for the beach provided you don't actually go to the beach, ladies of fashion will be sporting lots of thick leather straps and buckles this season.  And a few will even be aping my grandmother by wearing high button (okay laced) shoes as street wear.  But it also looks like they'll be changing into the comfort of ballet slippers for those more informal moments at home.

If the colourful booties at Missoni weren't enough I knew I could count on Rene Caovilla across the way to feature a few little items to stimulate the imagination and empty the pocketbook.  And notice the ballet slippers - they really are becoming all the rage.

And the rain and an approaching train departure meant I had only scratched the surface of the quadrilatero della moda.  I never made it over to Via della Spiga or the side streets for a gander at some of the more outrageous windows.  I'm going to miss the crazy world of Italian shoes - it always made for entertaining viewing.

20 giugno - Sant'Ettore

But Are They Lined With Plaid?????

Okay let's get one thing very clear, if I said it once I've said it twice: I am not becoming a shoe fetish. Its just not easy to ignore footwear in this country. As I was strolling through a very high end shopping arcade in Bologna last week I stumbled upon this rather startling display of, I guess you'd call it "punk", footwear.




What made it even more startling was the store window they were displayed in. This is not exactly a brand name I'd associate with cutting edge or even things with edges that cut!!!!

Any guesses?

29 ottobre - Sant'Ermelinda

I Am Not A Shoe Fetish! Honest!

Its just I can't get over the shoes on display here in Italy. Not just in the high fashion centres like Milano or the slightly lower fashion (except in its own mind) Roma but in the high end shops in towns like Pesaro.

Though these are not as outrageous as some of the footwear on display in Milano I am still trying to figure out where the smart upper middle class woman would wear these in Pesaro???? Though for some reason I am seeing them with a multi-pleated thirties style dress in a soft brown with matching fur at the cuffs in a revival of The Women. I really must stop watching those 30s movies!

28 agosto - Sant'Agostino d'Ippona