WHY, PRADA, WHY?

It is a shame that Prada seems not to be selling the spring/summer 2011 shoes as they appeared on the runway, because I love them SO much. The version which you can buy, available in a range of different coloured leathers, is not the same as the runway version: the soles are much thinner, and as a result the lines and proportions don't work as well. They lack that certain something that the runway ones possess. It annoys me when things which are shown on the runway (and shot in all the magazine editorials) are not produced for sale, or are only made in watered-down versions.

From runway to retail, the women's ones became somewhat less exciting too:


I don't understand why you can't order the runway version, because the non-runway ones have to be made-to-order from Italy anyway. I persuaded the (very helpful) Prada sales assistant to say I was a VIP customer (ha ha ha) who wanted the runway verson, but he couldn't get Italy to send a pair. The runway ones surely can't be that much harder to make, not least because every Prada shop has mannequins wearing them, but no Prada shop in London or Paris sells them..

Image from Designare magazine.

The runway version of these shoes is SO GOOD. After Raf's SS08 footwear, they are my favourite shoes ever.. the perfect balance between minimal clean lines and madness. I really hope I can find some way to get my hands on them..

Related posts:
A Moment of Prada
Why I love Prada
The Prada Fall/Winter 2010 Look Book
The Prada Spring/Summer 2010 Look Book
Prada Studded Shoes

JAPAN

Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave takes on a horribly poignant new meaning.

It is almost impossible to comprehend the scenes in Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami which struck last Friday. Even the most talented Hollywood set designer would have a hard time imagining scenes as apocalyptic and viscerally horrifying as those which have been broadcast around the world since the catastrophe unfolded. From the footage of the black wave of death crashing onshore and tossing around huge boats as if they were toy models, to pictures of lone figures calling out the names of missing family members among the devastated landscapes where their homes once stood, the horror is unimaginable.

When you work in – and live and breathe – fashion, it is often difficult to fathom the disconnection between the fripperies of the fashion world and serious events going on in the ‘real’ world. I was looking at my Twitter feed a moment ago, and the juxtaposition between my tweet on the Japan situation and another about the holographic masthead on Vogue Italia was startling. How irrelevant all the speculation about which designers might be heading to which Parisian fashion houses now seems. What can you do though? It is a philosophical conundrum which is not easily resolved. Dropping all personal projects whenever something awful happens in the world is hardly a practical, or useful, solution. It does pay, however, to take time to stop and think.

And here’s something practical that you can do. Japan is a prosperous, proud nation which has in the past recovered from unimaginable horror, and will doubtless recover from this catastrophe, not least thanks to the attitude of its people, which has been utterly remarkable and admirable since the disaster, but at present it is still a country in dire need of help. Further aftershocks and the possibility of a second tsunami loom on the horizon, as does the spectre of a nuclear disaster. There are hundreds of thousands of people without homes and with limited access to basic necessities. You can make a donation to the Japanese Red Cross via the homepage of your own country’s Red Cross.

|American Red Cross | British Red Cross | Australian Red Cross | Canadian Red Cross | French Red Cross | Italian Red Cross | German Red Cross |

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA & B STORE

I had a bit of a shopping moment yesterday, and bought a pair of Raf Simons shoes online (will post when they are delivered), as well as these amazing Maison Martin Margiela line 8 sunglasses, with thick acetate frames and 'wrong sized' lenses. Last week I met the commercial director of Maison Martin Margiela; he gave a presentation at work, and told us (among many other things) that the numbers for the different Margiela lines were chosen at random, except for '8' which was specifically assigned to eyewear because the number looks like glasses! The Margiela shop in London is an impressive space, but these glasses are £35 cheaper at Browns, a 10 minute walk around the corner.

Margiela sunglasses are produced by London eyewear specialists Cutler and Gross. Their production methods have barely changed since the brand was launched in the 1960s. The frames are assembled entirely by hand in Italy, and the acetate is treated and polished in a wooden barrel with resin chips and olive oil for 4 days (bizarre but true) before it is cut into shape.

Somehow I ended up buying a pair of b Store desert boots too..


I never say no to a (much needed) extra half inch of height...