I wrote about the trend for leopard print clothes over at The Fashion Police last week, but while animal print is currently flooding my favourite clothing retailers, for footwear fans, it’s a trend that never really dies: in fact, I don’t know about you, but I’ve always viewed a simple, animal print pump as something of a “classic”, and also something of a neutral – I’ve worn my leopard print shoes with just about everything, and when I’m not sure which shoes to wear with a particular outfit, my leopard pumps are generally the ones I’ll fall back on.
Animal print booties, however, are a little bit harder to pull off, and not quite as “classic”. I don’t lust over them the way I do over the same print of shoes, but I must say, I really love the way Nicole Richie is wearing this pair from her own House of Harlow 1960 line. I’m a fan of Nicole’s style in general, and I think this outfit is the perfect combination of simple dress and slightly “wild” shoes.
What do you think? Would you wear these? They’re $296 at Shopbop, if so!
Now, I’m not saying the shoes on the right are copies of the shoes on the left. Well, I mean, I sort of am, I guess, given that I’ve placed them right next to each other to emphasize the similarities, and have titled this post “Shoe Deja Vu”. I still wouldn’t describe the New Look shoes as “copies” of the Louboutins, though – or, if they are, then they’re really bad ones, let’s face it – but when I first saw them I got that niggling feeling that they reminded me of some other shoe, and a couple of days later I remembered what it was: Christian Louboutin’s Canon 140 booties.
These both have mesh, spotted uppers, they both have little ruffles down the front, and they both have platform soles, very high heels and peep toes. Despite this, they both look very different, especially when you see them side by side, but if you wanted to recreate the ‘Canon’ look, but only pay £24.99, say, they could just work – and they’re also available in navy if you don’t like the black version.
Look! These boots can levitate! How amazing is that?!
OK, maybe not. They’re still a great pair of boots, though: I, of course, can be relied upon to appreciate the bow at the front and the nude uppers, but I’m also really liking the cap-toe trend that we’ve seen a fair bit of recently, and these are a nice, smart pair of boots that you’d be able to wear to dress up a pair of jeans, or with a skirt or dress, too. They’d look particularly nice peeping out of the bottom of a pair of wide-legged trousers, and the colour should make them very versatile, too.
Yup, it’s sequins. Yes, AGAIN. And sorry, but you’re probably going to have to just resign yourself to seeing a whole lot more of them, because trust me, they’re here to stay. Well, until Christmas at least which, in fashion terms, is more or less forever.
Even although there’s a strong whiff of “peep toe boot” from these Charlotte Russe booties, I find I can forgive them for it, probably because the asymmetric shape reminds me of the Dolce & Gabbana ankle boots I showed you back in May. Of course, the shape is all these have in common with their designer cousins, but while the gold and silver versions don’t do much for me, I think the black ones have potential as a party shoe, and at $29.99, they don’t cost too much, either. If you’d like to give them a whirl, you can pick up a pair at Charlotte Russe.
Shoeper points to the girls at Fashion Me Fabulous, who spotted these strappy booties at Wet Seal, which bear more than a passing resemblance to L.A.M.B’s ‘Hunter’ booties, although in style only – as with so many “designer inspired” shoes, there’s definitely no danger of anyone mistaking these for the real things, is there?
I loved the L.A.M.B originals, although not the $375 price tag. Wet Seal’s $34.50 is definitely cheaper, but I think it shows, and if I was going to buy a knockoff version of these, I’d probably go for Bakers’ ‘Cleo’, which is $79.99, but pretty close to the original:
I had thought the time to be looking at anything that could even remotely be described as a “boot” had long since passed this year, but the awful weather we had over the weekend has persuaded me that, actually, a good pair of ankle or shoe boots could actually be a very sound buy at this time of year, when the weather is wet, but not cold enough for “proper” boots.
These asymmetric shoe boots by Dolce & Gabbana would be my first choice of such footwear, if only my budget could stretch that far. They’re cut high on the foot, and are made of patent leather, so your feet won’t get soaked in a summer shower, but they don’t compromise anything on style – in fact, quite the opposite. They’re sleek, sexy, and will work with everything from pencil skirts to skinny jeans: well, you have to justify the $550 price somehow, don’t you?
Then I started to see them on the feet of the stars, and they actually started to grow on me. Not enough to spend hundreds of pounds on them, of course, but enough for me to have noticed every time another high-street version of them has come out. Which has been a lot, let me tell you. In fact, I suspect these may be one of the most-copied designer shoes of the past couple of seasons, so I’ve used my x-ray vision to seek out just a few of those designer “inspired” versions. You’ll find them all under the jump…
Yup, it’s sequins. Yes, AGAIN. And sorry, but you’re probably going to have to just resign yourself to seeing a whole lot more of them, because trust me, they’re here to stay. Well, until Christmas at least which, in fashion terms, is more or less forever.
I had thought the time to be looking at anything that could even remotely be described as a “boot” had long since passed this year, but the awful weather we had over the weekend has persuaded me that, actually, a good pair of ankle or shoe boots could actually be a very sound buy at this time of year, when the weather is wet, but not cold enough for “proper” boots.
