A New Way to Stand

There are only so many ways to create and decorate a moderately wearable shoe.  But, some of the best designers are finding cool new ways to decorate them!

The FW09 Dries van Noten show was pretty blah.  It looked like poorly reworked several seasons old Marni.  Not awful, but nothing that will make me lay awake at night dreaming of it.  Far and away, the best part of the show was the shoes.

What really made the shoes cool was the creative decoration of the bottom arches of the shoes.  In the one pictured, it is done in matching python!  Generally, that is the most neglected part of the shoe, normally just plain leather except in a very few other designer's work.  It is cool to see Dries thinking of new ways to rethink fashion items!  Now, if only the rest of the collection was as exciting...

Picture from style.com

Black Is Still Classic

Every season someone always say "red/pink/hippos/whatever is the new black!"  Well, is it?

Not so much!  Black is one of those colors that really is classic and is the ultimate neutral.  It really does look good on most people and really does go with basically anything.  

One of the things that every woman must have is a pair of beautiful black heels.  The pair pictured by Jil Sander is the ultimate luxe version.  They are black python peeptoes!  Sexy yet demure and appropriate for almost any occasion.  The shape of the heels are as classic as it gets and python is always in style.  They are one of those pairs of shoes that any woman will wear until the local cobbler can repair them no more!

Picture from monamoore.com, currently on sale.

A House Divided

One of the major divides in the fashion world is the use of potentially cruel materials, and one of the major materials in contention is python skin.

Python is used on just about everything--shoes, bags, coats, clothes, accessories, you name it.  The reason is because of the naturally beautiful and lux look of the skins and their exotic nature.  People have been wearing snake skins for thousands of years, so this is nothing new.  But, what makes it so controversial is the scale at which it is being used.

Pythons are internationally recognized as endangered and are strictly regulated.  The python skins used in fashion are supposed to be from farmed pythons, but because of the tremendous demand of the skins by the fashion industry international organizations are skeptical that laws are being followed.  Most python comes from Indonesia and it is thought that many of the supposed "farmed pythons" are actually wild pythons that are being poached from the rain forests.  Because of the decimation of the python population, their natural prey, the rat has gotten out of control in parts of Indonesia and are busy spreading the plague.

As if the poaching of endangered species isn't bad enough, it is also the method of death that the pythons suffer from at the hands of some "farmers" that has people up in arms.  Pythons can be skinned alive or their head is nailed to a tree and then they are inflated for ease of skinning.  These inhumane practices aren't done everywhere, but because the method of skin harvesting is not disclosed, one cannot be sure how the snake was treated.

Python is beautiful and will always be part of fashion.  There are many ways to enjoy python products without participating in the cruelty.  One is to inquire as to what country the skins came from--pythons are also raised in countries like Brazil, where they are not wild.  Also, one always has the option of buying vintage!  Because the skins, if properly maintained, can last for a very long time there are many wonderful options to choose from, such as the one pictured.  It is a vintage 1960's python clutch!

Picture from vintageskins.com which is hands-down the best vintage bag retailer on the net!