Diane Von Furstenberg Shoes

Even though we prefer to focus on the lighter side of fashion, it’s ultimately a numbers game. Like any creative industry, the key word is “industry,” and millions of people worldwide depend on it for employment. When you consider that, it’s exciting to see brands and retailers take chances on very taste-specific pieces, particular when the brand is a contemporary one like Diane von Furstenberg.

Contemporary designers have different customers with different needs than more expensive lines, so the pieces we tend to see from them are more mainstream. When they’re not, I can’t help but squeal a little bit in sheer delight that somewhere out there, some businesspeople decided to take a risk. The Diane von Furstenberg Phoebe Boots are certainly a bit of a gamble, but aren’t they fun?

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When I say that something reminds me up upholstery and window treatments, I almost always mean that in a bad way. After all, how many times is that ever a compliment when you’re talking about something that you’re supposed to put on your body instead of your sofa? When talking about the Diane Von Furstenberg Voleta Rope Tie Sandals, though, I can’t help but make the comparison between the shoe’s elaborate rope ties and decorative fabric trim. And yet, I still quite like the shoes.

The gold and black color scheme of the design is quite nautical, which distracts a bit from the more common uses of this kind of rope, and I’m sure that contributes to my appreciation. But more than anything, I like these shoes because they don’t look like anything else that’s going on in the footwear world right now, and originality is hard to come by these days.

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If there’s one thing for which you can always count on Diane von Furstenberg, it’s color and lots of it. In that regard, Diane von Furstenberg Footwear 2011 didn’t disappoint in the least; if you’re jonesing for a pair of cerulean knee-high suede boots for winter, you know just where to get them.

DVF’s fall line took a decidedly Western turn from the hats all the way down to the shoes, so if fringe is conspicuously missing from your shoe wardrobe, it needn’t be any longer. Leather insets? Von Furtsenberg has those too. Perhaps most interesting, though, are the collection’s heels – thick, sturdy and usually in a different material and color than the rest of the shoe. These designs aren’t for shrinking violents, but on the right girl, I think almost all of them could look great.

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It’s extremely rare that a design can truly pull double duty as two completely different shoes. Because of the structural nature of footwear and the necessity that it supports weight and stands up to a fair bit of abuse, changing a shoe substantially without compromising its functional purposes is a difficult design trick to manage.

The Diane Von Furstenberg Flama Scarf Tie Platform Sandals seem to do it with at least a fair bit of success, however. The shoe can be a plain, high-heeled black mule without the scarf, and since the wrapping technique means that you’re actually looping it between the heel and the sole of the shoe when you’d like an ankle strap, there are no empty buckles or loops when you’d prefer to go strapless.

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Well. It looks like someone got the memo about multi-colored shoes and accessories this season. Before the trend became truly fleshed out by the Italians at Milan Fashion Week, Diane Von Furstenberg Spring 2011 showed shoes and accessories as bright as the prints on her iconic wrap dresses.

The looks have a minimalist note to them that tempers some of the color, but the verve and exuberance that one has come to expect from DVF is all there. If you’re looking for a serious kick to any outfit, shoes as attention-grabbing as these are surely a way to get it, and they’ll likely set you back far less than the multicolor Fendi and Prada shoes we’ve seen on recent runways.

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If you’ve shopped for evening shoes lately, you probably noticed that they can get a tad pricey very quickly. Paradoxically, not only are strappy, delicate evening shoes usually made of less overall material than regular pumps or boots, but the materials are usually less expensive – even fine silk doesn’t cost nearly as much as the kinds of lambskin that most high-end brands use.

Labels seem to get opportunistic with pricing in hopes that women will view the shoes as a one-time splurge and be willing to stretch their budgets, but unless the shoes are beaded by hand or otherwise finely crafted, high prices are rarely merited. Luckily, there are shoe designers out there making things like the Diane Von Furstenberg Grant Slingbacks. At less than $300, these shoes could serve a multitude of evening functions and go with everything from tights and a tunic to a much dressier cocktail frock.

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If you’ve been a fashion fan for any significant period of time, you know that the times in which clothes, bags and shoes are released usually have nothing to do with what’s going on outside or what you might actually need to buy for the season. Despite the fact that it’s early July, we’ve been featuring a lot of boots and other closed-toe shoes in these parts recently, mostly because those are the new, cool things at most online retailers. We want to be timely, so we cover stuff as close to when it hits the internet as possible.

Except, uh, no one in the Northern Hemisphere is buying boots right now. Duh, we forgot. If you’d like to talk about some shoes that you might be able to wear right now and for several months ahead, may I suggest the Diane Von Furstenberg Opal Wedges?

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I’m of two minds about kitten heels. Part of me thinks it’s great when lower-heeled shoes become trendy because it makes trends accessible to more women, specifically those who don’t have lifestyles that allow them to wear heels constantly or regularly. The other part, though, thinks that the line that kitten heels create for a shoe is kind of odd, and a true heel or a true flat would both be more attractive than the mini-heel hybrid that a kitten heel creates.

If you’re going to go that direction, though, the Diane Von Furstenberg Lilly Boots aren’t a bad place to start. Finding a cute ankle boot without a sky-high heel can be difficult, and this pair fulfills a couple of fall trends while still being totally walkable.

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