Louis Vuitton Shoes

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about shoes this season, it’s that the platform isn’t dead, it’s just different. Several seasons of traditional pumps may have fooled you, and although the platform stiletto is done for the time being, shoes with upwards of five inches of height are going nowhere soon. Ladies who need the extra five inches (or just like having it), rejoice! The rest of us will be over here, icing our ankles.

From Miu Miu to Dior to Prada to Louis Vuitton Fall 2012, the platform was reconsidered, this time with a heel that’s thicker than those we came to know during the mid-2000s but no less vertiginous. In fact, between these snub-nosed Vuitton shoes and those featured at Prada, which had several models struggling to make it down the carpeted catwalk, heels may be bigger (both literally and figuratively) than ever. Check out our gallery, after the jump.

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Images via Vogue.com

So it looks like fashion is going to try and make mules happen again, perhaps because that’s the only shape that the industry hasn’t encouraged us to buy in the last three years and the powers that be are running out of ideas. The first mention of the possible trend I remember was a tweet from Elle fashion person extraordinaire Joe Zee during Milan Fashion Week, and now both Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu have both shown them during the same day.

Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 relied on variations of the shape almost entirely, and although I like a lot of the lines and color combinations that Marc Jacobs used, I just can’t support the mule as a good option for anything more than a few moments’ wear. From a practical standpoint, their incredibly dangerous to walk in and give the wearer basically no support, which is important when dealing with heels of such a precarious height. If you plan to buy into this trends, I suggest doing some ankle-strengthening exercises while you wait for this trend to show up at retail.

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There are winners and losers in ever fashion season, but now that the last show has walked and the last runway vacated, the kings and queens of Fall 2011 are beginning to emerge. Unquestionably, Marc Jacobs sits atop that list for both his celebrated eponymous collection and his immaculate set of upscale fetish gear for Louis Vuitton Fall 2011. The pre-show notes indicated that Jacobs had been thinking about hedonism, addiction and excess when he conceived this collection, and what could hit that note more precisely than wildly expensive, perilously tall knee-high rubber boots?

Nothing, that’s what. The collection included an entire range of vertiginous, thick-heeled shoes with a note of kink that looked like something Bettie Page might have worn. The sexual discipline was more apparent in some designs than others, and the vast majority of the footwear was subtle enough to wear in everyday life if you can handle the height. On the other hand, some of the designs definitely weren’t – the rubber boots and pumps that tied all the way up the leg were not for the faint of heart. But then again, my favorite shoes never are.

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Armchair fashion critics have accused Marc Jacobs of many and various shortcomings during his time at Louis Vuitton, but so far as I can remember, no one has ever complained that he’s just too subtle. When the man designs a collection, particularly one for Vuitton, the viewer is never left with any doubt whatsoever of what was on Jacobs’ mind during the creation process.

The same holds boldly and exuberantly true for the shoes from Louis Vuitton Spring 2011. It wasn’t enough to just give the show a strong safari theme, Jacobs actually heeled the majority of his shoes with animal legs, hooves and all. In case that didn’t get the point across strongly enough, a few of the shoes actually had literal jungle animals incorporated into the straps. As always, Vuitton is bold, inventive and very taste-specific. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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The Louis Vuitton Beauty Pumps have been controversial since their debut on the Fall/Winter 2010 runway in Paris earlier this year, just as I’m sure Marc Jacobs intended. One camp sees them as silly and matronly while the other prefers to think of them as inventive and unique in fashion’s current landscape, and I happen to be a part of that second group.

Stilettos aren’t going anywhere, of course, but it’s always nice to have a new shape and silhouette to add to the shoe landscape. The combination of a velvet upper and crystal-encrusted heel only makes this shoe more appealing in any color.

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Is it just me, or are shoe designers suddenly expecting us to lace up all kinds of shoes that shouldn’t really need to be tied? I think that it’s likely an offshoot of the menswear/oxford trend that’s all over shoes right now, but it seems that more and more shoes are getting laces of various materials and functions.

The Louis Vuitton Hug Me! Sandal is the French brand’s latest entry to the trend, and it’s at least moderately successful. The purple-and-brown color scheme is a bit bland because suede tends to mute almost any color, but the shades work nicely together anyway. What’s really bothering me, though, is the heel – why isn’t it taller?

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