I < < 3 Y O U S O

This week's shoe lust is proudly brought to you by Raf Simons.

This pair i like best (at the moment at least) I like the crisp strip of pink a lot, and the thicker band cloer to the opening of the shoe is really beuatiful. I think these would look really great worn with a bunch of Comme des Garcons or Yohji Yamamoto and be harmonious, but still Raf.


Same again, but in blue. I feel blue is a little safe.



The platformed variety from the same collection are kind of amazing. I can imagine Ashley shopping at Barneys in a pair of these, and if there's one thing to always remember it is that one should always aspire to be an Olsen!
This is the perfect time to pause and remember Simons' other tribute to the creeper:

THOSE JIL CREEPERS

This whole SS11 collection was amazing and clinical and collagey just like good Raf should be. I found it interesting though that such a clinical collection have similar details as the Prada collection for SS09. In particular the banding of shoes.
I have wanted rubber bands around my shoes ever since seeing these and cannot put to words the disappointment when i hurredly walked into Herzog& deMeuron's Prada in Aoyam hoping to lay my grubby little mits on a pair to call my own, to love and to hold forever and ever.
I actually adored a lot of the elements of that Prada collection. It was the one that made me start taking note of Miuccia's vision for the modern man.



Prada's take on the elastic banded shoe.


Raf's with blue elastic on the runway.



I loved the use of suspensory straps on the inside of the garment allowed to peak into public view. Very subversive.

Raf didn't use straps but zips up the back. I feel that both are really quite feminine details, the Prada one being reminiscent of a bra strap peak-a-boo and Raf's being a clear reference to the fastening techniques usually reserved for womenswear.





I loved loved loved the loooong polo shirts so much! Again, not stocked in Sydney ( i was too silly to know about Proxy services at that time, also). However, i managed to find a copy of it at good old General Pants by Vanishing Elephant that came with a dandy bow too. I still wear it sometimes (sans bow)
This is the Raf look that reminded me most closely of the long polo, due to the overall styling and layering.



LATEX COAT! i would sell my soul for this! (not even kidding.
Patrick Ervell's latex pieces for SS10 were REALLY nice too, but i never saw it anywhere for sale anywhere.

Cry me a river.

I should probably segue into something about "elastic architecture" here and try and teach you something new, but it seems the most appropriate thing to do would be to show you how elastic the buildings in Japan are.
Watch them sway after the quakes.
It's awfully unnerving to even think the very structures we take for granted as being solid could infact have such elastic properties.
Engineering genius.
But terrifying.