Giuseppe Zanotti ‘Ester’pumps

Giuseppe Zanotti ‘Ester’ black bow pumps, $695

This is one of those cases where the sight of a shoe made my heart beat just a little bit faster. Or, on second thoughts, maybe it was the sight of the price tag that did that? In any case, these ‘Ester’ pumps are one of those styles that I instantly knew I’d be featuring here: absolutely no doubt about it. And now that you’ve seen them, I’m sure you can see why.

These are rather different from many of the styles Giuseppe Zanotti has been producing in recent years. He’s a designer many of us associate with extreme platforms, crazy shapes, and totally OTT shoes which look great in a magazine editorial, but maybe a little LESS great on the feet of someone who has to live in the real world, with a job, and a life, and all of those things that make outrageous shoes a little impractical.

Not that these black bow pumps are what you’d call “practical”, of course. They may be slightly more conventional in design than some shoes I could mention, but they still have a 4″ heel (Which is high by most people’s standards, but low by Zanotti standards…), a very pointed toe, and, of course, that over-sized bow on the vamp. Because of that toe/bow combination, these have that very “ladylike” look which always appeals to me because it works so well with my favourite full skirts and dresses. If they were mine, I’d wear them with something like this Karen Millen skirt:

Mind you, I’d probably agree to wear just about anything if it meant I got to own that skirt, so maybe just disregard that one. Happily, though, you won’t need a particular skirt, dress or anything else to wear these, because they’re the kind of shoe that won’t require too much thought to style: the beauty of the classic black pump!