Agent Provocateur Mini Clubman

Vintage Boots

I must say I like these extremely high heeled laced boots with quite short toe box. They remind me those 50s fetish pictures with Bettie Page and other pinups.
Talking about boots, why don't you have a look at (and maybe take part in) my friend Shoegal's new Boot Contest?
It's fun, sooner or later I'll join too.

Don't Throw Your Boots Away

These two girls are evidently taking designers' current suggestions too seriously. If you think your pointed toes stiletto boots are out of fashion, hold on, they will be back en vogue soon, indeed, they have never gone.

Beware the eBay Auction

Those auctions and shops on eBay are always interesting and can provide real rarities and good deals. The link boxes changing in turn on this blog provide some valuable examples.
In the matter of vertigo heel shoes and boots, one of the brands en vogue, specially on eBay Italy or on the german version, is for sure that of Gianmarco Lorenzi, since ever the prophet for sexy luxury footwear.
The models are always fascinating and can be also quite pricy, like these two with platforms, really exaggerated in every sense. There is plenty of variety and browsing carefully one can find also good deals. There is something on eBay.com too, mostly among boots, and European customers can save something with the favorable change.

Last Boots

Winter, if it ever begun, is to finish. Boots bought on sale are still sported around for a few more weeks, and the latest models are bought at bargain price for the next year. Will summer boots be the trend as it was last year? I doubt so, browsing magazines and web sites only platform sandals and open-toe slingbacks are seen.
Global Warming consequences...
P.S.: Original video replaced with another by the same author, July 16, 2007.

There Is Something About YouTube

The recent purchase of extremely popular video web site YouTube by Google for $1.65 billion in stock is probably one of the biggest news to date in the internet world. The site, which was started by three 20-somethings last year, is a free video warehouse that allows users (something like 100 million a day) to upload or download movies. Rumors emerged that Yahoo was in the bidding war until very close to the end. Sequoia Capital, which funded YouTube with $11.5 million, earned more than 40 times what was invested in a company founded in February 2005. Other news report of CBS, Vivendi-Universal and Sony BMG joining a new branded channel on YouTube to deliver featured content.
On the other hand News Corp-Fox, which owns MySpace, the first YouTube competitor in the web video market, didn't hide sort of unease about Google's move, given the recent agreement for hosting Google ads on the famous social networking community. Last weekend, subtle changes occurred on MySpace’s homepage and user pages to make MySpace videos much more prominent and accessible. The default user profile page now has a video section that automatically displays a video if the user has one uploaded.
In other words the web video world is exploding, and the "viral" video technology invented by YouTube is the engine of this explosion. What's this "viral" stuff? It's the ability of embedding any YouTube video in a blog or web site just as simply as this...

The Heel Is Dead, Long Live The Heel!

This blog, in its first post, two months ago now, started with a de profundis for the stilettos. Stiletto heels lost designers' favour and above all you could see very little around. In the past years I sometimes played the game of counting girls walking around on high heel shoes or boots, and by the end of the day I always totaled a dozen if not more. This Winter they all bought flat motorcycle style or western boots, while only bimbos were wearing high heels.
But not everything is lost. I already spotted a few fashion magazine or TV editorials claiming the great return of high heels and high wedges for next summer and overknee boots for next year. In my opinion designers experimented on their own skin that high heels sell a lot better, and they are returning to the attack. We will see whether the audience will follow the trend or not.

Last Winter Bargains

Winter is coming to an end, but in the YOOX Fall-Winter catalog, with 70% off, there is some good bargain to grab. Take a look at these DIESEL boots for € 90 only. With their nonconformist design they can be good for these last colds but also for next year. Many other designer shoes and boots for less than € 100: Giorgio Armani, Gianni Barbato, Liz Carine, Celine, Costume National, Le Silla, Vicini, Vera Wang, Giuseppe Zanotti Design and more.

India Connection

Some time ago, I was in touch with a manufacture company from New Delhi, and we were planning to produce an embroidered boot more or less like this. Then I thought that it was too complicated to send the pieces to India for the embroidery and then have them back for further workings, so we made nothing. I also remember that the Indian mate doubted that "the market would accept this idea". Just have a look at these velvet boots from Sergio Rossi Fall-Winter 2005 collection, modeled by beautiful Adriana Lima, don't you think they look gorgeous? Just in case you are planning to buy them, consider that they are sold for $3,000 in the US, don't know how much in Italy.

A True Italian Story

Sorry for the Berlusconi-like title, nothing in common. After four years maybe it's time to make a little history and a summary of this meritorious activity. Around year 2001, using my skill and experience in CAD, I started designing the first pair of slip-on shoes. It was just for hobby, but in the end they looked cool to me, so I decided to publish them, and then this web site was set up since may 2002. Due to the remarkable success, I was convinced that there could be a market, and by the end of 2003 I prepared a collection of samples of boots and pumps, thanks to a firm from Parabiago (nearby Milan), which, after some insistence, sent me the goods "on one's word". You can see these gorgeous models on the cover from my home page. Unfortunately the first customer, this not Italian but Mexican, turned out to be a professional swindler and paid with a check that in the end proved to be false.

Although I keep receiving e-mails asking how to order these shoes, I could never sell a pair via Internet, nor find a shop or a distributor seriously interested in retailing them. I sold the remaining pairs to friends and relatives. The firm that produced the samples, by unanimous consent of excellent quality, was owned by Finpart financial group (holding brands like Cerruti, Frette, Moncler, Marina Yachting, Andrea Pfister and Colette). This holding went recently bankrupt, leaving a hundreds million gap, with accusations of rigging the market and fraudulent bankruptcy, and dragged in the storm also the Banca Popolare of Intra, that "generously" lavished its subscribers' money to knit the accounts. Probably those qualified craftsmen that made my shoes (which however I regularly paid for) are now unemployed. The usual "tricky guys of the neighbourhood" made other innocent victims. Another well known story, a true Italian story.