It’s a little bit of a shame (for us, although obviously not for her) that Sarah Michelle Gellar is walking towards the camera, rather than away from it, in this photo, because the back of this shoe is where all the action is. Or where all of the gold is, anyway.
These are B Brian Atwood‘s ‘Blayne’ pumps, which come with a black suede upper and gold leather heels. I feel like I’ve been a bit unfair to the front by focusing so much on that heel, so here are a couple more views for you:
Black pumps are so easily dismissed as “boring”, but sometimes all it takes is to see someone actually wearing them to change your mind: I must have seen these dozens of times on Shopbop, but this is the first time I’ve really stopped to look at them, and all because I finally got to see someone wearing them!
I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that I’m a huge fan of a simple, skin-toned pump, and it looks like Kate Beckinsale is, too: here she is wearing a pair of Brian Atwood’s ‘Maniac’ pumps to a photocall for her new movie, ”Underworld: Awakening” in Madrid.
These shoes are a celebrity favourite, and have appeared on the red carpet numerous times now, on the feet of various stars: despite being very plain, they still somehow manage to be absolutely stunning…
Now, you all know Brian Atwood is a shoeperhero of mine. And you may also know that I can be partial to a bit of raffia on a shoe – it reminds me of summer, and really, anything that reminds me of summer gets the thumbs up from me right now. Almost anything, that is.
These shoes, though? These shoes make me want to get the scissors out and give ‘em a haircut. And trust me, I’m really, really bad at haircuts.
I don’t want to just dismiss them out of hand, though, so I’m placing the decision in your hands, shoeper readers. Are these shoes Shoeperheroes or Shoepervillains? Tell me!
I feel like I need a pair of sunglasses just to look at these shoes, don’t you?
Now, I love Brian Atwood, and I can even deal with colourblocking (in moderation), but fluorescent colours are one of my all-time pet hates (Yes, ALL fluorescent colours. Even green.), so I don’t think there’s any danger of me suddenly deciding to splash $761 on these. When a shoe goes to so much effort to catch the eye, though, I always think it’s a shame not to give it its moment in the spotlight, so let the record show that these are available at Neiman Marcus, in all of their orange, green, yellow and pink glory.
OK: I think it’s time for shoe designers to step away from the platform-making machine, don’t you?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m a big Brian Atwood fan. My love for his shoes is almost as big as… well, the platform on this one, basically. But these? These look to me like they’ve just eaten something. Something HUGE. Something they really shouldn’t have eaten, because LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THEIR BELLY PLATFORM!
Either that, or these are actually pregnant with lots of little shoes. That would be… kinda cool? OK, no, you’re right, it wouldn’t.
Is it just me? What do you think of these, folks? Shoeperheroes, or Shoepervillains?
Well, quite a few people, actually, if the comments I receive on some of my blogs are anything to go by: we may be happy to combine red and pink, navy and black, or all kinds of other “forbidden” colour combinations, but some people do still seem to baulk at the idea of mixed metallics – especially in jewellery. What about footwear, though? Well, I think these B Brian Atwood pumps are the proof that it can be done – and to stunning effect, too.
These have a gold upper with a silver heel and platform, and a slice of bronze, just for good measure. The shape is pretty close to perfect, too, and while I’d probably like them even more with a slightly smaller platform, the fact that this one is so beautifully done makes me love it, too.
These are from the B Brian Atwood diffusion line, which I’ve featured a few times recently, so it’s fair to say I’m a fan! They’re $350 and you can click here to buy them at Shopbop.
Most of the brightly coloured shoes I show you here tend to have suede uppers, which are beautiful, but not exactly the most practical, especially if you find yourself dealing with wet weather on a regular basis.
It was refreshing, then, to see these B Brian Atwood slingbacks pop up at Shopbop then, with a croc-embossed leather upper, and in my very favourite shade. Now, I still wouldn’t recommend wearing these in the pouring rain, of course, but they should be at least a little more hard-wearing than suede, without compromising any of the impact of the colour.
I think the embossed upper creates a really interesting effect with these, don’t you?
Here’s a good example of a shoe which looks much better when worn than it does in the product photo. These shoes looked pretty cute on the Brian Atwood website:
but personally, I think they look even nicer on Zoe Saldana in the image above: the pink suede just looks brighter, bolder, and far more appealing, somehow.
Zoe wore these to the premiere of Machine Gun Preacher in L.A. this week. What do you think of them?
