KEY POINTS:
The unusual designs and materials associated lately with handbags are being emulated this season in footwear, with innovative designs such as backward heels from Marc Jacobs and knee-high gladiator sandals by Chanel. It is being predicted that women will soon be investing in fewer but more expensive shoes; and there is a growing trend to name shoes after celebrities, just as Luella Bartley named her tote after the supermodel Giselle.
Italian fashion designer Giambattista Valli has made the Victoria shoe in honour of Mrs Beckham; Calvin Klein's Suri shares a name with Tom Cruise's daughter; and the Amy shoe - a favourite of Ms Winehouse - has helped to launch Jonathan Kelsey's label.
"I wanted to name my shoes," said Kelsey, "and as it was my first collection I named everything with the letter A. I chose the names of girls who I wanted to wear them - and Amy wore them to death."
Kelsey has also just shown his first shoe collection for Mulberry - a sign that the British brand synonymous with It-bags is diversifying into shoes.
"They've wanted to do shoes for a while," said Kelsey, "and they've picked up quickly on what's going on within the industry. They want to do with shoes what they've done with bags."
Certain It-shoes, such as the Tribute stiletto by Yves Saint Laurent, which has been worn by Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez, are selling out fast. Upmarket British department store Harvey Nichols reports a 15 per cent rise in shoe sales this season and a higher demand for catwalk heels - the towering shoes which models wear in the fashion shows - than "selling" heels, shorter, tamer versions normally sold in stores.
"Most of the shoes we're selling have 140mm heels," says Joanna Jeffreys of Harvey Nichols. "Two seasons ago, 100mm seemed high. And people are buying into new names. We've stocked Alejandro Ingelmo's Terminator. It's 140mm high, it's fierce, and we've only got one pair left."
A survey by pollsters Mintel recently forecast an 18 per cent fall in handbag sales, which has been the fastest-growing accessories sector of recent years. It also predicted that, while women are going to buy 7 per cent fewer pairs of shoes annually over the next five years, more shoppers will invest in more expensive footwear.
Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Ten and a self-confessed "shoe pig", is impatiently awaiting the arrival in-store of this season's Balenciaga gladiator sandals. "Shoes are less of an investment than a 2000 (NZ$5000) bag that is worn by every celebrity,' she says.
But for all fashion's enthusiasm for the It-shoe, will it ever dominate like the It-bag?
A quick survey of Friday afternoon shoppers in Selfridges in London's Oxford St found the public is yet to be convinced. One shopper admiring a Marc Jacobs Serafima bag said: "I used to buy good shoes; now I buy good bags. They make me feel more confident."
Another, inspecting this season's Prada collection, also says she opted for bags over shoes. She's not tempted by the It-shoes? "Not with my calves, dear."
- OBSERVER
