Trendy Footwear Guide

Spring/summer 2016

Espadrilles, sandals on high platforms, and slippers became a hit this summer.

Espadrilles are shoes made of coarse fabric with soles made of jute rope.

“Designed in 1920, they were considered to be shoes exclusively for men. Women began wearing them a bit later”, Tim Gunn, the fashion consultant, narrates in his book “The Fashion Bible”. This summer, the girls who have taken a fancy to this footwear for its lightness, comfort, and beauty, prefer them to court shoes. At the beginning of the 20th century, only the poor wore espadrilles, which were then made of ordinary canvas cloth; nowadays, this type of footwear can be decorated with beads and lace work, or made of real leather; it can be seen on virtually any fashionable woman. This summer, Chiara Ferragni, Alessandra Ambrosio and Miranda Kerr all graced the covers of fashion magazines, wearing espadrilles. They go perfectly with slit-fit pants, jeans, or sundresses.

Sandals

We’ve been familiar with shoes of this type since childhood. Strap shoes were popular this spring and summer, with gladiator sandals on flat soles with heels, which lace up to the knee, standing above the rest. Depending on the look you’d like to create, they can be worn with tunics, shorts, short and long skirts, jackets with a relaxed fit, complemented with accessories (hat, clutch, jewellery).

Women also appreciate flatform sandals for comfort and convenience. They allow easy freedom of movement, they are simple to wear, and they add a couple of centimetres in height, which is useful for girls who are not very tall. Sandals in a sporty style on platforms will stay trendy for the next season.

Slippers

Slippers, footwear with an open heel which look like house shoes, perfectly correspond with the overriding theme of this past summer, which could be summarized as “Comfort in everything”. Designers offered a vast range of such models: they could be made of velvet, leather, or chamois with silk straps, lace work, large sequins, pompoms, beads, or chains. This type of footwear goes best with classic white T-shirts, jeans, and trendy midi skirts (below the knee – editor’s note).

Slip-on sneakers

Shoes on thick rubber soles have stayed trendy for many seasons in a row, and throughout this summer they have beautified the legs of stylishly-dressed women everywhere. They are a variation on the “semi canvas sneakers” without laces which gained popularity thanks to Vans – the company which, in the late ‘70s, released a clothing line called Vans Slip-ons which enjoyed an instant popularity.

Slip-on sneakers look harmonious in combination with jeans, hoodies, shorts, and A-shorts, as well as with aggressive leather jackets and delicate coats. Slip-on sneakers will continue to appear on catwalks in the spring/summer of the next season.

Fall and winter 2016/2017

Oxford shoes and brogues

These stylish and comfortable shoes made of leather and chamois, which previously belonged only in a man’s wardrobe, will be perfect for the early fall. The only difference between them is that brogues have a perforation (multiple holes which create various patterns – editor’s note). These shoes should be worn with classic suits, dresses, and casual outfits.

Knee-high boots

“The more flamboyant, the better”, the designers and their muses have decided, and they have decreed a trend for this fall in line with this decision. Boots with high collars, which were previously worn only by military men, can now be seen on Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, who combine them with shorts and hoodies, slim fit dresses, and bodysuits. This provocative and sometimes aggressive style has caught the fancy of Rhianna, Gigi Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, Miroslava Duma, and other celebrities. They have no hesitation about combining skin-tight, knee-high, high-heeled boots made of leather and chamois with short knitted dresses, leather skirts, and shorts. Knee-high boots with low heels in combination with classic coats, dresses, and skirts, which cover the upper part of the shoes, are a simpler, though no less fashionable, alternative.

Chelsea boots

Chelsea boots are footwear which is predominantly made of leather, ankle-high with rubber insets on the sides, without laces or zippers. They were designed in the UK during the reign of Queen Victoria and became famous thanks to the famous musicians who wore them on numerous occasions. Nowadays it is a “unisex” style footwear; men can wear Chelsea boots with classic suits, turtlenecks, clothing with V-neck, and carrot pants. Women can wear classic black Chelsea boots with slim-fit pants with turn-up ends, combined with long coats, like Victoria Beckham, or with black stockings, dresses, and skirts.

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