Casadei Shoes

Casadei Cutout Platform Sandals, $1320 via Neiman Marcus

Every now and then, a shoe comes around that makes me bemoan the lack of cutouts in current footwear. Sometimes it’s because the shoe is dearly in need of one in order to provide any kind of visual interest, other times it’s because a shoe has them and reminds me of what an awesome design element a cutout can be. Obviously, the Casadei Cutout Platform Sandal falls into the latter category.

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You know that the popularity of platform stilettos is on the wane when even Casadei, one of the most platform-happy brands in fashion, starts to shy away from them and incorporate more shoes where your feet stay firmly planted on the ground. Well, the fronts of your feet, anyway. Casadei Fall 2011 is full of stilettos, just as expected.

None of these shoes are absolutely knocking me off my feet, but I do like almost all of them quite a bit, particularly the staid camel pump with a surprise detail on the metal heel. That’s a great touch to update a classic look for a modern customer, and if the remainder of the fall collection includes subtle flourishes like that one, Casadei’s going to find itself with a lot of new customers.

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As with many shoes that take on a silhouette similar to the Casadei T-Bar Sandals (that’s such an innocuous name, is it not?), I may not personally like them, but their existence certainly makes the footwear world a more interesting place. The Italian brand is known for its exuberant sexiness and in-your-face high heels adorned with patterns, rhinestones and everything else that you can think of, and as far as embellishments go, I guess that a heel that can double as an ice pick is pretty convenient.

What’s more interesting, though, is that anyone thought to make a pair of platforms befitting a Professional Pole Technician in the image of the wood-heeled clog, which may, in fact, be the least sexy style of shoes this side of Crocs. Whatever drugs that person was taking, I’d like to buy some. They clearly make the world a fascinating place.

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As much as some people seemed to believe that leopard print would be nothing more than a flash in the trend pan, it looks as though the timeless print is indeed here to stay for quite some time. And with good reason; when worn correctly, animal prints can be used as a neutral that’s far more fun to wear than any actual neutral.

And certainly, “neutral” isn’t a word that comes to mind when you see the Casadei Leopard Print Ankle-Wrap Sandals for the first time. It’s not even on the list, but that’s what makes shoes like these so much fun – you’ll actually get some wear out of them, if you’re the heel-wearing type.

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The phrase “one bad apple” spoils the bunch always struck me as needlessly lacking in nuance, but in the context of good design, it’s absolutely true. I was on board with the bicolor, grow-up sexiness of the Casadei Chain Platform Sandals until I got to the bottom. In the words of The Fug Girls, these shoes are a scroll-down fug.

That chain. I don’t even think it’s a real chain. It looks like silver-painted plastic molded on to what would have been a perfectly lovely plain black platform. But Casadei isn’t good at leaving things plain, for better or for worse, even though this detail sticks out like a sore thumb and has nought to do with anything else that’s happening with the shoe’s design.

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At first, I didn’t really understand Casadei Spring 2011. The collection features everything from leopard-print stilettos to peach suede 70s-style platforms to dainty lace kitten heels, not to mention denim-look knee boots that feature what can only be described as a tromp l’oeil fly. Where’s the common thread?

After some thought, though, I’m not sure that cohesion within a shoe collection really makes a lick of difference to consumers. How well one shoe matches the rest of the shoes with which it was produced seems more like fodder for critics than a serious consideration for customers, and most of these shoes seem like they’ll have at least some kind of audience. Even if their audiences are all quite different.

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Sometimes, you look at a shoe and you just know. Usually, that sense of knowing is related to your intense personal need for whatever you’re looking at, but in this case, I looked at the Casadei Triple Platform Pumps and just knew that Victoria Beckham would look perfect in them.

I have yet to find any record of her actually owning or wearing these shoes, but they hit all the usual VB marks. They’re extremely tall with an enormous platform to match, they’re closed-toed and they’re neutral. She seems to favor closed-toe shoes and has been wearing on-trend beige and nude colors lately, so I feel like it’s only a matter of time before she collides with these shoes in a bit of fashion fate.

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