Tagged: Loafers

January 28, 2015

Treading Lightly..

Yesterday I went to see the lovely Claire from Air and Grace at her new pop-up store on the Kings Road to catch up on all her latest news and styles. Claire started her label after spotting a gap in the market – she wanted shoes made for women, designed by a woman who understood what we really want – the true concept of beauty: style and comfort. It’s that word comfort that gnaws at something primal..

Her shoes are gloriously re-thought and inventively told, the tone is juicy streetstyle: classics with more than a twist..These are the Coachella’s with their glorious tan souls and beautiful stacked heels..the perfect ankle boot that’s been a hole in my wardrobe for forever…dress up, dress down..they cover all the bases..

And they have to be the most comfortable boot I’ve ever tried on. It’s rare you can walk a shoe out of a shop and spend all day urbanly running in them..but that is the beauty of these babies..

It’s all to do with the quality of the leather, the clever design..and what goes on inside each shoe..the focus of quality engineering that give feet what they really need.

Her range is impressive..but there’s more to come – The long stretch boots of my dreams? She’s doing them! the Coachella in ox-bood? Yes! The Coachella in leopard? Yes, yes, YES! Claire has a waiting list already..and I’m not surprised.

Seductive talking, well-heeled shoes for walking..dancing..and living. Isn’t the identified love the most powerful of all?

If you get the chance, all I can say is pop down to Kth & Kin boutique at 330 Kings Road and see for yourself..

Laters, Kate x

March 20, 2013

A blast from the past…

Do I detect a whiff of spring in the air? A frisson of change? Better bloody hope so…I’m starting to lose the plot with tights (blurgh) socks/balaclavas/the-general-togged-up-michelin-look..I want to have bare legs, bare feet and feel the breeze on my sun-starved skin without dying of hyperthermia. But which shoes are best for that tricky transition into summer? After seeing this picture:

I feel the pull of the loafer again – there are certain things that are designed to a point of perfection – the tube map, Laduree packaging..the horse bit on a Gucci loafer. Having said that, this is a pic of a mans loafer which definitely has an edge: more chunk n gravitas. Anyways, I was discussing this man/woman design conundrum with Anna last night, over a herbal tea and a dress pattern when she remembered writing a post about her loafer obsession in the 90s. And then, as if there was fashion magic in the air, I turned on my computer to see Amanda Brook’s post about Loafers…wooooah – this is all too much! – like Harry Potter is living in my hard drive…But odd things happen, sometimes for a reason and this has compelled me to re-find this lovely post from our archives….unfortunately the edit gremlins won’t allow me to space it properly, but hey, sometimes we have to suffer for our art…

At the risk of reminiscing I’m going to tell you a bitter sweet fabulous fashion moment. Picture the scene: I was a fashion student at the Royal College of Art and I’d won an internship at Karl Lagerfeld in Paris.OOH! what to wear? Every day was a massive ordeal to concoct an outfit. And OH! how I lusted after these Gucci stilettos. I even had a picture of them on the wall of my Paris attic apartment.
For 3 months, everyday, I scrupulously composed outfit after outfit from my vintage finery. I strived that each look would achieve just the right mix of style, insouciance and fashion forecasting, and that whilst wearing it I’d be being able to perform the tasks of a fashion design intern without falling over, sweating to death or (the worst!) looking DULL!
One day preshow Liz Tilberis came into the studio to preview the catwalk looks. She was then Editor of Vogue. I had only just got over my daily awe of Karl and now had Liz Tilberis standing right there in the black version of my object of desire-these shoes. After my initial’ hello, how do you do?’, imagine my surprise as I heard myself launch into a stream of concsiousness ”I love your shoes, I’m saving up to buy them, they are my favourites, I love the new look Gucci, blah blah blah… I continued , as LT incredulously looked on at me!Eventually, my diatribe faded as Karl said something like ”So, Ve look at the clothes,no?!”
and I sat, uncomfortably, down, silenced, staring at my rather lacking footwear.
Anyway I HAD been saving and I bought the shoes ( in tan- although I still wish I had them in black!!) and as you can see I wore them just the other day again for the first time since those days of youth and crippling embarrassment. Now I’m only crippled by the shoes! They just look right again…
I’m wearing them with a vintage fur jacket( type unknown) and my current favourite jumper a gold knt from Zara topshop Baxter skinnies