writing from London . . .
Feeding the Power
Something happened. I have somehow crossed into the category of people who can handle the high platform shoes with aplomb. No more intrepid stumbling around. No more looking like an awkward child wearing mother's shoes. No more carrying flats around in my bag. Yes, the higher, the bigger, the chunkier the better.
Wearing my Sergio Rossi humongous wedges, I skipped (around Bloomsbury Square), hopped (doing an impression of my friend who arrived at my flat mate having lost one shoe) and ran (for the bus) all day and night without so much as a wince of pain. Is it like when you suddenly discovering you can't wear a 'training bra' anymore? As it just suddenly happened that my feet are now void of feeling the pain from super high, super chunky footwear.
So seeing as I'm never going to conquer the spindly stiletto, I shall now have to invest in the ultimate homage to the high high platform to really flaunt my new found ability. Seeing these alluring shots of Terry de Havilland shoes, now sold in girly girly boutique Sera in a designated Venus Palace area, they get a big googly-eyed yes from me. Havilland has said he designed shoes whilst on acid, dope and mescalin and I can't comment on his present substance intake but there is definitely something of the wacky with his shoes that is perfect for doing all my skipping, hopping and running. After all, the feet no longer hurt!
Look what you get when you fantasise...
I always wished I was one of those people who had the imagination to become out of touch with reality. When Mikio Sakabe showed his graduate collection at the Royal Academy in Antwerp last year, which I went to, I was sort of fixated by his vision of cityscapes and jealous that he saw that kind of beauty in such bleak buildings. Shining colours, bright lights, windows flickering at night on skyscrapers are all present again in Sakabe's AW07-8 collection. Entitled 'Resort Mood', Sakabe has wishfully imagined refined European ladies visiting Asia on holiday and wearing something languously decadent and luxurious yet also mysterious just as for the Western world, in a cliched way, Asia still piques curiosity.
It's silk all the way with silk linen, silk jersey, silk velvet and silk cotton. Where fashion is becoming almost seasonless with the weather playing havoc, Sakabe has taken full advantage of that and given us clothes to promenade slowly under the sun whilst perhaps carrying an antique parasol. It sounds strange to say but both formal and relaxed elements are there. I particularly love the jewel encrusted shirt because there's a lot of 'meat' on it, 'meat' being lots of chunkyness going on with the gems.
Ultimately though, it is all about escaping into those mind-warping prints and yes whilst being jealous, such images don't formulate when I'm staring at grey cityscapes, I'm glad Sakabe takes me to the softly glowing colourful city with his vision.
I always wished I was one of those people who had the imagination to become out of touch with reality. When Mikio Sakabe showed his graduate collection at the Royal Academy in Antwerp last year, which I went to, I was sort of fixated by his vision of cityscapes and jealous that he saw that kind of beauty in such bleak buildings. Shining colours, bright lights, windows flickering at night on skyscrapers are all present again in Sakabe's AW07-8 collection. Entitled 'Resort Mood', Sakabe has wishfully imagined refined European ladies visiting Asia on holiday and wearing something languously decadent and luxurious yet also mysterious just as for the Western world, in a cliched way, Asia still piques curiosity.
It's silk all the way with silk linen, silk jersey, silk velvet and silk cotton. Where fashion is becoming almost seasonless with the weather playing havoc, Sakabe has taken full advantage of that and given us clothes to promenade slowly under the sun whilst perhaps carrying an antique parasol. It sounds strange to say but both formal and relaxed elements are there. I particularly love the jewel encrusted shirt because there's a lot of 'meat' on it, 'meat' being lots of chunkyness going on with the gems.
Ultimately though, it is all about escaping into those mind-warping prints and yes whilst being jealous, such images don't formulate when I'm staring at grey cityscapes, I'm glad Sakabe takes me to the softly glowing colourful city with his vision.
