Call it the footwear heatwaves. This past year saw a slew of designer debuts, jaw-dropping collaborations and more on the runway. Here are 2016’s most controversial and conversational shoe moments. Scroll down for the highlights.
Hood By Air’s Shayne Oliver thrives on fashionable disruption and creating a stir on the runway. His spring ’17 show pushed a new footwear idea: surreal double-faced cowboy boots in a clever collaboration with classic American bootmaker Frye. Just when we thought the Wild West couldn’t get any wilder.
As the world mourned David Bowie, designers Dean and Dan Caten sent out a spring ’17 men’s collection rife with Ziggy Stardust references, right down to glittering heels.
Vetements x Lucchese
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For its latest joint-gender collection, which was shown during the Haute Couture season in Paris, design collective Vetements took a decidedly collaborative approach with footwear. Luxury riding and cowboy-boot maker Lucchese’s signature snip-toe boots were recolored in crayon brights.
Saint Laurent
Or is it YSL again? With Hedi Slimane out, new designer Anthony Vaccarello had big shoes (and sales targets) to fill. Unfortunately, his spindly stilettos lacked a fresh POV.
Talk about an odd couple: The experimental Scottish designer teamed up with the most unlikely of brands. The vented clogs were embellished with raw gem stones for Kane’s spring ’17 collection. Suddenly Crocs are cutting-edge.
Céline
When mismatched meets misguided. Is Phoebe Philo’s bag of tricks empty? How else would the label explain this forced styling trick on the spring ’17 runway. Pumps, toe-ring block-heel sandals: This was not her best foot forward. Sheer hosiery made matters worse.
How to elevate the humble jelly shower slide from campus slacker to street-style staple? For Miuccia Prada, the answer was bursts of ostrich feathers for spring ’17.
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