Dolce & Gabbana usually isn’t a brand known specifically for its shoes, but the footwear of Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2012 is worth noting. If only the brand had applied the same kind of intricate religious embellishment to its handbags, I’d be a completely happy camper. As it is, I’m still pretty happy with the shoes.

After seasons of ever-rising heel heights, the thing that struck me most about this collection is that most of the shoes look like you’d actually be able to wear them for a little while without hating yourself for pulling them out of the closet. The heels are a few millimeters thicker and noticeably shorter than the stilettos that have been inescapable for quite some time, and Dolce deserves credit for making interesting shoes that perhaps won’t punish their wearers quite as much as they would have in seasons past. It’s a step, both figuratively and literally, in the right direction.

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Images via Vogue.com

Swan songs are always sad in fashion, but they’re especially sad when a designer has done work for a brand as wonderful as Raf Simons’ work for Jil Sander. News broke on Friday that Jil Sander Fall 2012 would be Simons’ last outing with the brand, which founder and namesake Jil Sander would take over starting immediately. The widely held speculation of the moment is that Raf is headed to Dior, but he was also rumored to be headed to YSL before ex-Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane was announced for that spot, shortly after Sander’s return to Jil Sander was announced. It’s been a week of very fashionable Musical Chairs, and it’s not over yet.

With that in mind, here is Simons’ last collection of shoes for Jil Sander. They’re very good, in a very Simons/Sander way – classic shapes with futuristic, utterly modern flourishes. Pumps with color-changing metallic accents. Slingbacks with neon piping. And yet, even with so many elements combined on each shoe, the look is still effortless. Here’s hoping that Raf Simons is announced at Dior very, very soon, as much for Dior’s sake as Simons’. I’d love to see his modern take on the New Look.

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Images via Vogue.com

For me, Prada Fall 2012 is one of those collections of shoes that must be embraced not in spite of its weirdness, but because of it. For fall, Miuccia took a decidedly 60s and 70s turn, and the shoes reflect that with their flared heels, harvest-y colors and retro patterns. Things got absolutely Fluevogian at times, except that the heels were so high that some of the models struggled to walk while sinking in to the bright purple runway carpet.

Likely the most controversial segments of the line will be the shoes that look like they were dipped halfway in molten wax and left to dry, creating a hard, matte halfshell around the basic leather shoe. As always, Prada gets points for originality; I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a shoe with exactly that kind of treatment before. The look is definitely of the Fashion People Only variety, but that’s always where Miuccia has excelled anyway.

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Images via Vogue.com

The shoes that Christian Louboutin provides for Mary Katrantzou’s runway collections every season seem to often end up produced at part of Louboutin’s standard line (which is more than I can say for much of Louboutin’s excellent work with Jonathan Saunders, sadly), so let’s take a look at Christian Louboutin x Mary Katrantzou Fall 2012, shall we? The shoes took on a fairly restrained look with winding laces, which provided a nice counterpoint to Katrantzou’s modern, incredibly graphic clothing.

When it comes to haircalf, I vastly prefer bright colors to tan, which tends to look a bit mangy and a little too uncannily like the animal from which it came. Brights, on the other hand, bring out the texture in the material without making it look equine. I’d say that all of these variations stand a good chance of hitting store shelves come fall.

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Images via Vogue.com

Why don’t we talk about Fendi shoes more often? It seems like every time I see footwear from the brand, I love it, but it seems like stores don’t push Fendi’s shoes as much as they do some other brands. Why not? I’m not sure. But I do know that Fendi Fall 2012 is a solid, colorful collection of boots that I look forward to seeing on fashion people in six months.

So I have a slightly-after-new-years resolution: We’re going to talk about more Fendi footwear around here in the future. The brand is certainly worthy of the chatter, particularly when they’re making unique and interesting shoes like these.

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Images via Vogue.com

I have three words for you: crocodile riding boots. Wait, four words: Gucci crocodile riding boots.

My only complaint with Gucci Fall 2012 is that I wish the lighting of the show and the runway itself had been brighter; all the better to see the inky black exotics that formed the basis for several pairs of utterly gorgeous flat equestrian boots. All of the collection’s shoes were black, with several variations on traditional riding options, plus a few pairs of versatile shoe-sandals. But really, those damn croc boots. Check ‘em out after the jump, along with the rest of the collection.

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Images via Vogue.com

I know that we haven’t yet seen what the powerhouse designers of Milan and Paris have to offer, but I’m going to go ahead and make a bold prediction: Nicholas Kirkwood for Erdem Fall 2012 is going to be my favorite shoe collection of the season. Kirkwood and Erdem have worked together for several seasons, and the way that the two designers marry Erdem’s masterfully modern prints with Kirkwood’s edgy footwear as basically unrivaled.

This collection in particular makes me want to get out my credit card now in anticipation of the coming pre-orders. The way that the lucite heel structure makes the body of the shoe appear to float above the blocky heel itself is both beautiful and achingly contemporary. With a collection as strong as Erdem’s, it would be easy to let the footwear fall back to a relatively neutral counterpoint; that we get these kinds of challenging, fresh designs instead is a credit to all involved.

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Images via Vogue.com

Save for a few pairs of oxford heels so minimal that they would have made Phoebe Philo proud, Reed Krakoff Fall 2012 was all about the boot. Specifically, the mid-calf boot, which is significant because the collections so far this season have proffered something of a resurgence of the non-bootie boot. Whether mid-calf or knee-high, it seems as though designers feel they’ve done most of what they can do with limited canvas of the ankle boot at the moment.

By contrast, Krakoff’s mid-calf boots were simultaneously luxurious and industrial; the larger workspace of a taller boot provided plenty of real estate for buckles, zippers and layers. Krakoff’s central theme came in everything from utilitarian black leather to rarified pale crocodile, the latter of which is enough to make anyone dream of lush ski resorts. The interiors of lush ski resorts, that is. Wouldn’t want to get those darlings wet in the snow.

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Images via Vogue.com

It’s over! It’s finally over. New York Fashion Week has officially come to a close, and it’s time for the PurseBlog and TalkShoes team to take our first days off in nearly two solid weeks. We need it, I tell ya; both Megs and I have caught the fashion flu (it’s a real thing and it is not to be messed with) and Vladi is in a darkened room somewhere, laying helpless under a toppled pile of photography equipment. We’re a mess.

You know who’s not a mess, though? Marchesa. (And how’s that for a transition, eh? EH?) No, Marchesa’s shows are always pristine and gorgeous, which sometimes makes me wonder why all of the brand’s stuff that ends up on Blake Lively and Lea Michele never looks particularly good. Where do all these undeniably astounding clothes go once it’s time to loan to those two? Anyway, that’s not what this is about. This is about the Christian Louboutin x Marchesa Fall 2012 shoes, which were pretty but still not as pretty as the dresses. That sort of happens every season, doesn’t it?

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Images via Vogue.com

There’s nothing I like more than sitting down to look at pictures from a show and being pleasantly surprised by what I find. It’s not that I didn’t expect Derek Lam Fall 2012 to be good; I’ve counted myself among Lam’s admirers for quite a while. I just didn’t expect to find shoe after shoe after shoe that I’d like to have in my closet immediately. It was as if he designed half of them with me in mind. We all know how much I love a mirrored oxford situation.

The designs were wearable, young and brimming with personality; just looking at the shoes along would give you a very keen idea of who the Derek Lam girl is. Come fall, I imagine that there will be more Derek Lam girls than perhaps even the designer himself had imagined. Check out our gallery after the jump.

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