My seven pairs of shoes are all lined up and ready to go in this order: Rene Caovilla Gold Sequined stiletto slingbacks with electroplated gold heels, Sergio Rossi taupe plaform mary jane pumps with gold link detailing, taupe patent Giusepp Zanotti stilettos with architectural heel, Christian Louboutin white satin ‘maragrita” stilettos, Jerome Rousseau black strapped sandals, Jerome Rousseau multi color suede purpler, red gold and blck pumps, and last not least, the ever handy grey python platform pump Azzedine Alaias.

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Arrived in Milan Monday afternoon at the Sol Melia, the epicenter for all things ANCI this week during the shoe show. Enjoyed the best pizza I have ever had, and then tucked in to try and catch up on sleep from the 16 hour journey from LA. Tuesday had a wonderful lunch of the most divine branzino and pinot grigio, with Philippe in the canal district on Milan (they have two canals, thank you very much). Wandered about and bought a new pair of 70’s sunglasses at the marvelous Superfly on Ripo di Porta Ticense — a little vintage shop chock full of well-edited pieces like Thierry Mugler dresses, vintage belts, skirts, accessories . . .Janinine the proprietor has a fab eye for unusual prints and well-cut silhouettes. Kept wandering down the streets across the canals to the Naviglio, where the stones on which the washerwomen did the laundry still cluster at the edge of an offshoot of the canal. There we had the most amazing discovery — at first we thought it was a gallery, full of the most ethereal chiffon creations, but after we wandered inside, discovered to our surprise and pleasure it is the four week old shop of Selene Giorgi, a former stylist with a background as an artist. Her one of a kind creations feel like a sumptuous Issey Miyake meets Audrey Hepburn sensibility, and the space itself is full of rough hewn details worthy of a top-notch gallery. She doesn’t make patterns, only drapes to create her forms, and I fell completely in love with a silk white empire waist full length dress adorned with the most interesting origami pleats up the front. After a short visit with Selene, we kept wandering and Philippe dropped me off on Via Montenapoleone where I had the pleasure of meeting Stella at the Gianmarco Lorenzi showroom. Surrounded by hundreds of some of the most fantastical and amazing creations, we chatted about Gianmarco’s design sensibility, global expansion (kuala lumpur and korea) and their new manufacturing facility in Marche where their 80 employees birth shoes with as much anticipation and excitement as people birth babies. I love the idea of giving birth to a new shoe creation, Italians always know how to express these things! After being wowed by a python platform mule with citrus flower detailing, among other squeal-worthy items, I wandered down the street and stopped into Casadei, giuseppe Zanotti (ankle cuff flat grecian sandals I had a moment over), Rene Caovilla (love the color I am seeing there), Sergio Rossi (think sorbet), Hogan, Ferregamo, Prada. . . then happened upon an outlet store claring American gospel music and selling everything from Maria Cornejo to Marc Jacobs to Prada to Cavalli to Lanvin – all half off. Had a moment with an ivory Cavalli dress and then the light was falling and time for me to head back to the hotel. Bought three “bellissima” roses from a street vendor and hopped on the subway home. When I got out at my subway stop, I inadvertently caused a frenzy by looking lost — about eight people proceeded to help me find my way to the hotel, all arguing with each other about which was the best way and who spoke the best inglese. After about 20 minutes, when it was decided the way I should go, I was off through the darkening foggy night back to warmth and Sky TV at the Melia.

Now have just arrived here at MICAM and am salivating getting ready to go inside. More updates soon,
ciao!
Meg

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Check out this wonderful multimedia montage below — and keep a close eye on the women who deploy one of my favorite Stiletto Strategies(C) — keeping a pair of flats in your bag and swapping out. Me-ow!

It’s all about the shoe Groundswell On the Street with Bill Cunningham.

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Give it a listen and you will hear us talk Giuseppe Zanotti and why I prescribed Shoe Therapy Prozac (aka Christian Louboutins) to the girls.

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Do you think Stilettos are cause for celebration? Or are they just a way to keep women in pain?

*Please note, I spent 11 hours last Tuesday night in these 5-inch Stiletto platforms.

“In Celebration of the Stiletto

Stilettos are the shoes most charged with multiple different layers of meaning. From their birth from a nameless Florentine artisan for Catherine de Medici so she could make a stunning entrance into French court when she married her husband Henry II, to the story of the Little Mermaid, to the Roger Vivier comma heel, to Betty Paige, to Christian Louboutin’s revolutionizing of the stiletto by adding the hidden platform and skyrocketing heel heights, there is no shoe more fraught with desire, passion and conflict than the stiletto.

There are women who want to wear Stilettos but find them too wobbly or painful, there are women who find Stilettos offensive, there are women who are Stiletto girls only and cant wear flats because their Achilles tendon has been shortened, there are women who wear their Stilettos only for special occasions, women (and men!) who wear them to the bedroom, women who never have worn a pair at all. They are infused with erotic desire, with high fashion silhouttes, and cultural symbolism. They are objects of lust among die-hard shoe fanatics, they are mini sculpture, works of art. The thousands of women I talk to every year about their shoes, all have at least one Stiletto story: whether it be the ones that make them feel like a queen, the ones they fell out of or the ones they hate. Nothing incites a woman’s opinion more quickly than when you bring up the topic of a Stilettos. We all have a passion for them – whichever way our passions lay.

Stilettos and The Modern Woman

There is an episode of Sex and The City where Carrie goes to a baby shower. Looking fabulous as usual in a flowy dress and silver stilettos, when she arrives at the door she is asked in acid tones by the sister in law to remove her shoes in the foyer, as the hostess “doesn’t like dirt in the house”. Carrie is flummoxed for a moment. Someone is asking her to take off her shoes which, of course, are a foundational piece of the ensemble she has carefully assembled to present herself to the world – as she does every day. But, after a moment, and with a helpful glance from her best gay guyfriend, she complies with her usual can-do attitude. She gamely slips off her metallic Manolo Blahnik d’Orsay peep-toe pumps with magnificent silver buckles glistening with rhinestones and leaves them by the door as everyone else does. She goes in with a smile to enjoy the party, see her friend and celebrate the baby.

A few hours later the party is winding down and she returns to the foyer for her shoes as she says her goodbyes. To her shock and dismay her shoe have disappeared and are absolutely nowhere to be found. Someone has done the unthinkable and nicked her stilettos at the baby shower! And as the fact sinks in, Carrie’s fallen face is the epitome of glum. She is not helped at all by the grungy Converse Chuck Taylors her dismissive hostess gives her to get home. A few moments later we see a forlorn Carrie walking home in the black, wornout Chucks, her spirit diminished, shoulders slumped, a light gone out.

In her usual Carrie way, Carrie goes on to reflect on this incident throughout the episode. She tries to track down her shoes, hoping someone realized their mistake (or succumbed to their guiltiness), to no avail. Her friend continues to be dismissive, almost patronizing in her behavior towards Carrie, and truly aghast when she offers to replace the shoes and learns their price, a fact that irks Carrie and sends her into an exploration of why certain people and certain cultural or societal moments are treated with such reverence – a marriage, the bridal shower, the baby shower – yet for those who do not participate in these societal markers, or may have different events to celebrate – like a launch of a book – are not rewarded similarly.

After much contemplation and, of course, discussion with her best girlfriends Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte, she decides to “register” herself at Manolo Blahnik for the pair of heels that were stolen. After all, more than a decade of bridal and baby shower gifts totals much more than the cost of her shoes, and maybe now it is her turn to register for something.

She leaves a message on her friend’s answering machine, letting her know she has registered. Her friend does the right thing – goes to the store, purchases them and sends them to Carrie, who is ecstatic when the box arrives.” Read the rest of the essay here.

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The carpet was strewn with Swarovski crystals — thousands of them everywhere. . . . I wore Giuseppe Zanotti teal patent platform Stiletto pumps — for 11 hours. I do get a prize for that? don’t I? hello? a prize? . . . someone?

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I thought I would have some fun and mix it up by wearing some especially hot times Giuseppe Zanotti teal patent peep-toe platform asymmetrical Stiletto pumps. If anyone can fit all those things into one shoe is it Giuseppe. They are what he says is “aggressive-chic” — i.e. made by anyone else they would have the potential to be tarty, but because they are Giuseppe they are instead, incredibly chic and super lux-y. I am honored, as always, to wear Giuseppe to a big event.

I am heading to CosmoRadio (on Sirus Networks) to chat about STC shoe scoop at 4:15 pm, and am going to Twitter from 3 pm onward — so be sure to keep missmeghan.com up on your screen and refresh often!

Tomorrow, Wednesday, I will announce the winner of week three of my Sex & the City Shoe Therapy contest — and also reveal the personal favorite shoes of SJP, Kristin Davis, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon from their own shoe collections — and how they feel when they wear them, so be sure to tune in. I will also be talking to EXTRA! about what everyone’s red carpet shoe choices said about them in Miss Meghan’s Celebrity Shoe-cam — they are sending a camera man to the premiere especially to film everyone’s shoes! How fun is that?
And Thursday, look for my essay on Stilettos in the New York Daily News — you’ll learn why fancy shoes are not just an amazing thing to have, but an investment in your own life choices as a woman.

So tune in and enter tomorrow for the final week of the contest! I have been loving reading everyone’s comments — so many amazing shoe stories — keep ‘em coming.

xo
Meg

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My interview with Giuseppe is up on JCREPORT. I had such a wonderful time meeting the master himself, he was just as creative and brilliant as you would imagine him to be and I came away totally inspired about life.  

At the end of the interview for JC, I asked, “Giuseppe, if you were to choose a shoe for me from your showroom what would it be?”  He sat quietly for a moment, and then he started talking, in Italian, very quickly . . . “it is summer, you are in a long silk dress, Giambattista Valli, black or charcoal, long and silk, delicately made, you don’t see the shoe, you just see a flash of color, ” then he got up and walked across the showroom to bring me a gorgeous knotted, royal purple silk stiletto mule, “to step in a silk shoe is almost like going barefoot, there are no constrictions with this shoe, you are loose, free.”  

And that my friends, is a true shoe prescription.

Read what he had to say about his inspiration, what it means to be Made in Italy and all about women and mood and shoes.

“JC Report (me): Where you do find inspiration for your line?

Giuseppe Zanotti: I try to understand the woman’s sensibility. Inspiration for the collection could come from many different places—simple pictures from Italian photographs from the ’60s and ’70s. I might be inspired by the mood, the makeup, the atmosphere, the time period, and then I take that and project it into future, like a time machine. I run from the past and the future to the secret women’s wardrobe—every woman lets me into their personal closets. I want to capture their secret desires both in private and everyday life—from shopping to cocktail parties—

to stop and study the little private details in a woman’s life. 

JCR: How did it help to just focus on shoes?

GZ: When I saw others do full collections—lifestyle, home, earrings, etc—this is business, I understand, I like this. But when we talk about shoes, it is a serious job—not many others are doing it at this level. I want to do a fusion of both creativity and production—

the correct way for this time, and then also the future. Timeless designs not for the fashion, but for a woman’s wardrobe forever. My mission is to do shoes and stay focused on that, to understand what I can do more for my women. I need to study more in shoes. Do I want to jump into another thing? No. I want to learn more about shoes, learn about myself and my identity. I do not want to outpace my company.

JCR: What’s your favorite new store?

GZ: Fifteen years ago, thinking about stores, [I] thought about different markets—it was very difficult—

NYC, London, Milan, Tokyo, we created the same store, atmosphere and mood across the globe, but the NYC Madison store and Sloane Street in London… there are more elements that are close to me from the studio in those stores because there is a bit more room.

JCR: How has Hollywood had an impact on your business?

GZ: Rock stars love to wear something more unique, sexy, sophisticated, super-crazy for the Grammys and for videos and concerts—

super-crazy but super-classy. Sometimes sweet, sometimes aggressive. ” Read the entire interview here.

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