Shoes are a major deal in Milan, stepping into the spotlight at Fashion Week where accessories are as, if not more, important than the clothes when it comes to sales. On the runways of Gucci, Prada, Fendi and Bottega Veneta, the press and buyers are concentrating on the footwear as much as they are on the clothes. Around town, major "Made in Italy" brands, including Sergio Rossi, Tod's, Gianvito Rossi and Giuseppe Zanotti, are showcasing their summer 2020 collections, as is British brand Jimmy Choo, whose shoes happen to be produced in Italy.
In the entrance hall of Aquazzura’s chic Milanese apartment showroom sit two models wearing the must-have shoe for any foot-weary fashion editor doing the rounds at Milan Fashion Week. They are multicoloured metallic platform sandals mounted on rollerskates – perfect for whizzing around town. The shoe design, without the skates, is the Aquazzura founder’s bestseller. Will he make them with the wheels? “Well, I am always open [to the idea] if someone wants them,” Edgardo Osorio says.
The Colombian-born designer is famous for his flamboyant party shoes, such as the Deneuve pump with its elegant knot on the heel that Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wears, and the Tequila sandal, a strappy design with coloured crystals. On display are his sparkly party shoe proposals for next summer: the Deneuve reinvented with a floral print, the Tequila in multicoloured crystals and many more Cinderella-esque shoes.
Since opening in Dubai and Doha, Osorio says Aquazzura's clientele has diversified. "As soon as we opened the Dubai store, we really saw an increase in Middle Eastern clients in our stores all over Europe," he says. "They like very rich shoes with a lot of detail and intricacy, but it's very much about the iconic silhouettes right now. They want something unique, and that's driving the business."
At Jimmy Choo’s presentation, creative director Sandra Choi talks about being inspired by nature this season, which sparked “organic patterns that you are familiar with, but twisting and distorting them”, she says in front of an immersive graphic installation featuring the latest designs. The new animal prints, for which the brand is renowned, are not true to nature – they are hybrids. “It’s twisting nature, like taking a leopard print, converting it to black and white, and making it a bit flowery.”
In a couple of weeks, Choi will be in Dubai for the global launch of the brand’s new JC logo. Chief executive Pierre Denis says the Jimmy Choo ticket items, which clients in the Middle East are snapping up, are the exotic skin leathers (fake and printed) and platform soles that give plenty of height. However, an interesting trend to emerge in the past year, he points out, is the new 65 millimetre mid-heel. “If a customer has gone massively into sneakers, no one is going to go straight back into high heels, so a mid-heel height is a logical step,” he says. “It is a way of transitioning.”
Meanwhile, Riccardo Sciutto made it his mission, when he became chief executive at Sergio Rossi three years ago, to make shoes more comfortable. “I told them the shoes should go down in height or, if they aren’t lowered, then they should be made more comfortable so that they can be worn all day long,” he says. “There are too many making shoes that are uncomfortable.” Now, 80 per cent of Sergio Rossi’s business is in shoes with a heel that’s lower that 75mm, whereas before, it was predominantly about ultra-high heels. Nevertheless, Sciutto is careful to balance the lower heel with a feminine-looking toe and materials, such as colourful metallics and crystal-studded mesh boots in the spring / summer 2020 collection, which will feature in the new Abu Dhabi store opening in The Galleria.
“Our clients there love sparkle and the special designs – the thing is to combine the lower heel with sparkle,” he says, adding that, in his opinion, “If a woman wants to show off, she goes for a high heel, and if she wants to be a bit more private, she goes for a lower heel.” Back in the early 1990s, the brand’s eponymous founder created the square-toe shoe, a style reintroduced three years ago. Now customers cannot get enough of it. The current bestseller on both Net-a-Porter and FarFetch are the square-toe Bottega Veneta pumps by Daniel Lee. “We are seeing an incredible reaction to the Bottega shoes with the new squared-toe styles selling out upon upload, which might be why they are all over fashion week – it adds an extra sharpness to the look,” says Elizabeth Von Der Goltz, global buying director at Net-a-Porter.
Celenie Seidel, senior womenswear editor at Farfetch, has also noticed an extraordinary reaction to Lee’s designs. “He’s really at the forefront of that return to sophisticated, elevated dressing, which our customers are really responding to.”
While trainers remain popular, Seidel is noticing customers moving towards more refined styles this season: ladylike pumps from Miu Miu and Burberry; knee-high boots from Prada and Ferragamo; and mules from Balenciaga. However, her pick for SS20 is the 1970s-inspired heeled loafers at Prada. "They are the perfect mix of classic and modern," she says.
There is no shortage of glamorous party shoes in Milan with their high-wattage razzle-dazzle, from metallic sandals with a Dali-inspired Bleeding Heart motif in crystals on the ankle and satin bow-trimmed mules at Giuseppe Zanotti, to iridescent slingbacks and plenty of graphic patterned platforms at Gianvito Rossi. So integral is the category at Net-a-Porter that it hosted a party to celebrate a special party shoe promotions online this autumn, in the run-up to the festive season, and also a special capsule collection with Jimmy Choo.
But when it comes to predictions for SS20, Von Der Goltz is spotting trends for flats, and Grecian sandals. “Look out for Bottega Veneta’s mules and zebra pumps, and especially the parade woven flat sandals [because] comfort is still definitely in.”
