As much as I love bold designs, bright colors and fashion fearlessness in general (and in particular when it comes to footwear), I took one look at the Brian Atwood Hamper Elaphe Pumps on the Net-a-Porter new arrivals page yesterday and couldn’t help but think, “Wow, are we still doing that?” Not that the “we” should really matter to any particular person when picking pieces that you love, of course, but colorblocking has been so saturated for what feels like at least a solid year, maybe longer, that can’t we give it a rest? Read More…

Brian Atwood loves a three-dimension shoe. His most preferred methods of going above and beyond the normal dimensions of the foot are feathers and embroidery, but that doesn’t mean Atwood isn’t willing to experiment with all kinds of embellishment when it comes to designing a new pair of shoes. At first glance, I thought that the stuff hanging off of the Brian Atwood Twinkle Chain Fringe Booties was wispy little bits of feather. Read More…

In addition to industry leaders like Christian Louboutin and Giuseppe Zanotti, Brian Atwood is the latest designer to come out with a shoe whose platform defies both belief and the strength of most people’s ankles – behold, if you dare, the Brian Atwood Alesha Leopard Platform Pump. Read More…

In grand Atwood fashion, though, the over-the-topness of the Brian Atwood Brigitte Platform Sandal kind of totally works, though. With the thick proportions, bold leopard print straps and contrasting turquoise and tangerine trim (one of my favorite contrasting color combinations ever, especially for summer), this shoe is a veritable party unto itself. It aims for off-the-rails, and it achieves exactly that. Read More…

One of the biggest reasons that both Christian Louboutin and Brian Atwood have been so incredibly successful in the shoe game is because they know how to take a sexy base and twist it – sometimes just enough, sometimes until its completely bizarre – to make it stand out from the increasingly crowded ranks of high-end designer shoes. Lovers of these kinds of designs usually like both Louboutin and Atwood but prefer one or the other, and while looking at the Brian Atwood Adara Lace-Up Suede Pumps, I can totally see where the Atwood devotees are coming from. Read More…

On Monday, we brought you the first picture of the much-anticipated Christian Louboutin Red Strass Sole – the rest of the shoe will also be red strass, giving the design a wrap-around sparkle effect. Louboutin wasn’t the first person to have that idea, though; in fact, the overwhelming popularity of his red lacquer soles have lead lots of designers to experiment with how they can best embellish the bottoms of their own shoes. Read More…

Relative to his usual exuberance, I think it’s fair to say that Brian Atwood was feeling a little bit subdued for fall. It’s not that Brian Atwood Fall 2012, or at least as much of it as we’ve seen so far, lacks luxury – there’s embroidery and thigh-high boots and embroidered thigh-high boots. Compared to the kinds of bold, zany flourishes that we’re used to seeing, though, this group of shoes feels decidedly more grown up. Read More…

I’ve never entirely understood why more shoe designers don’t take advantage of the full spectrum of prints available to them. Particularly when a shoe involves a heavy platform or large heel, the opportunity is ripe to embellish the shoe with print and pattern to make it stand out, and perhaps more importantly, to make it look special enough to merit the designer price. Read More…