There are exciting new trends in shoe accessories for the summer of 2008. Moreover, you will see a glut of attractive shoe designs at affordable
high st. prices.
Here are some examples of shoe accessories you might find when
shopping. Start by choosing Gladiator sandals or platform shoes with Grecian ankle straps. Alternatively, buy designer look, cut out wedge heels,
vivid bold brightly coloured shoes or floral, patterned and animal print footwear. You could also choose from contrast piped shoes, two tone heels and toe caps, suede, patent and laser cut out
lace leather pumps. Or, put on the glitz and opt for jewel gemstone stud effects and colourful bead button fastenings.
For summer 2008 the high street shoe shops have a treat in store for women as they add their latest shoe fashion trends. Look for outrageous heights in heels, interesting wedge styles and eye
popping shots of colour. To sum up - there is shoe fashion trend choice, and more choice, with classic styles, lower heels, and absolute flats.
These three shoe accessories are just a sample of the many designs
available for Spring and Summer 2008.
Above Left - Shoe 1 - Red Herring Gladiator Sandal - £25
- Debenhams Spring/Summer 2008 Women's Accessories.
Above Right - Shoe 2 - TRIBE Range - Stud ankle strap style Lante £60
- Faith
Footwear.
Bottom Right - Shoe 3 - Faith Footwear - Style 'Holdin' Wedge in
red/black/grey/cork - £55.
In summer 2008 shoes of any style, any heel shape, from curving stiletto, solid cone,
wedge, or ultra flat are equally acceptable. The selection of
available flat or low footwear is good. Of
course you can always buy your shoes online if you are fully
aware of your sizing in a particular brand. Check the
online store size guide to ensure you understand their sizing
and find out if it is using British, Continental or American
measurements.
Left to right:- Shoes 4, 5, 6 - Details below
Left - Shoe 4 - Clat platform animal print shoes with red
heel and red platform sole - £70 Faith Footwear.
Centre - Shoe 5 - A show stopper Mary Jane shoe - Nanny's
Treasure - £60 from Office Ladies Collection for Spring 2008.
Right - Shoe 6 - Shelly's Joanne red high sandal at £45 from Shelly's Spring/Summer
2008 range.
More novel styles are now a norm in UK high street ranges, like Faith
footwear, who have designer led selections that are hot on trend. They sell for
example, a designer range of shoes with complex styling and
currently have some great wedges with cut out
heels. Until recent times, only exclusive high end designer
footwear brands stocked such to die for shoe temptations.
Right - Shoe 7
- 'Nine West' white wedge with cut out heel available from John Lewis.
Wedge and chunky cone heels demand attention. Printed
pattern footwear whether it be stripes, florals or patchwork
is often set against raffia wedges, wooden, or Perspex
heels. Gold, silver and bronze footwear is now mainstream,
even for daywear. Shoe 8 centre above, is also
available in silver.
Left - Shoe 8 - Basket weave
raffia floral wedge shoe £10. In store beginning of April - Primark Summer
Collection 2008.
Centre - Shoe 9 - J Jeans by Jasper Conran shoes £40/62
Debenhams Spring/Summer 2008 Women's Accessories
Right - Shoe 10 - Patchwork wedge shoe Cuba, £135/195 from
Spring/Summer 2008 - Dune Ladies & Accessories.
Pattern and print are not the only interesting aspects of
fashion trends in modern
shoes. Taking a cue from the catwalk, shoe manufacturers have
introduced some lively ombre and tie dye effect shoes.
Far Right - Shoe 11 - Ombre dye patent yellow and coral shoe -
Spring/Summer 2008 - Dune Ladies Accessories.
It feels as if 'It shoes' have at last really arrived on the
high street.
This is not surprising, since retailers who have survived the
pace of fast fashion changes have had to adapt to fresh ideas
and produce designer led footwear styles.
Dolcis, the UK high st. shoes and bags chain, disregarded the change in
consumer habits for must-have desires and so lagged behind
general fast fashion retailers. In January 2008, it found
itself in administration and since then a deal was reached where
the Dolcis shoe brand name has been sold on to another footwear
retailer. A year or so ago the same fate happened to the famous Stead and
Simpson brand.
Just like all the
brightly coloured bags in a store
near you now, brightly
colours for shoes and sandals are prominent in every
footwear range. Bright colour can also be patterned.
This high end designer Dolce&Gabbana patchwork shoe (Style 12),
near right, features some of the main fashion colours for spring 2008
and utilise orchid pink and crocus tones. The high street
alternative includes these Aegean blue patchwork style shoes (Style 13) from
the New Look Spring Summer 2008 Accessories & Footwear range.
New Look is one of the major sellers of footwear in the UK, with
most shoes being sold for under £30. A change of
shoe lace to black, might make these blue shoes look even more
similar to the Dolce&Gabbana designer version.
The blue shoe boots are not a precise copy, but
a great look-alike pair of shoes that have picked up on what
might become a major shoe fashion trend.
The colours for spring and summer 2008 are bold and strong even
in sedate styles. Orchid pink, yellow, and red footwear
is readily available in many styles. Right - Shoe group
14 - New Look Footwear
Strong contrasts in a shoe mean that black is important when
teamed with white for monochrome looks. This can be just a
simple piped, white edge to a black shoe, or a more vivid op art
look as shown below.
Contrasts also lead to multi use of piped edges and trimmings in
every type of footwear. This mixed selection of T-bar style
shoes (group 14) above right is from New Look. Each shoe
has three contrast tones to achieve what appears to be
a complex design colouration with a 1960s floral finishing touch.
Like the Mary Jane style the T-bar shoe is very safe looking
until its vamped up with a fancy buckle, lacing or wider band ankle strap, which can
almost move it toward the more exotic.
Left - Shoe 15 - Red Mary Jane shoe £44.99/ 75.50 - River
Island Clothing Co. Ltd., Womenswear Footwear SS08
Near Right - Shoe 16 -Yellow lace tie Mary Jane shoe
£44.99/75.50 - River Island Clothing Co. Ltd.
This T-bar
silver impressed skin sandal with wide ankle strap looks ready
to party all night long.
Right - Shoe 17 - Silver T-bar, Ιclair, ankle strap platform sandal from Barratts.
Stemming from the
Gladiator/Warrior
footwear shown on another page, are the ankle strap wraps
that take many shoes a step further toward fetish footwear
trends. This has created a range of high st. shoes heavy with
wrap around ankle straps, excessive ties, narrow or wide dog
collar ankle bands.
Some of the ankle bands are heavily decorated with studs as in
the header or are Swarovski
CRYSTALLIZED.
Left to right:- Shoes 18,19, 20 - Details below
Left - Shoe 18 - Marks and Spencers ankle strap red shoe in
mixed materials - £15.
Centre - Shoe 19 - Double strap shoe £60 and called Never Mind -
Spring 2008 Office Ladies Collection by Office.
Far Right - Shoe 20- Ankle strap black colour block shoe
£45/64 Women's Footwear Spring/Summer 2008 at NEXT.
Bright colour is clearly a strong fashion trend in shoes for this
Summer 2008. Red, yellow, orchid pink, purple, green and
blue are used through every range. The peep toe is also an
element of summer footwear and these examples illustrate
wearable shoes rather than shoes destined for posing only.
Peep toes also give the girls a chance to show off their new
pedicure. If you like to wear tights but want to show your
toes then an alternative is to buy the open toe summer tights
sold at Marks and Spencer.
Left to right:- Shoes 21, 22, 23 - Details below
Left - Shoe 21 - River Island True Blue Range - River Island
Spring Summer Accessories 2008
Centre - Shoe 22 -Post
Mistress Weather Girl £85 - Spring 2008 Office Ladies Collection
from
Office
Far Right - Shoe 23 - Purple shoe £44.99/ 75.50 River Island
Clothing Co. Ltd., Summer Footwear 2008
Finally these last two shoes are designed for tall women and so
go to longer foot lengths. I love the pale pink flat shoe which
is perfect for summer. The green wedge shoe is on trend without
adding too many inches to a woman who is aware of her height.
Lastly the sandal has not so much a Gladiator/Warrior feel, but
more of an exotic Cleopatra touch.
Left to right:- Shoes 24, 25, 26 - Details below
Left - Shoe 24 - Pastel pink jewelled slingback, £49 from Long Tall Sally Spring
20 08 Shoes and Accessories
Centre - Shoe 25 - Shelly's Spring/Summer 2008 - Green wedge
sandal called Brandy - £50 Shellys Shoes.
Right - Shoe 26 - Tan bronze Gladiator sandal with beads from
Barratts.
See also the main page on
Wardrobe
tips SS 2008 -
Colour Moodboards SS2008
Copyright use of images are courtesy Dune, River
Island, New Look,
Debenhams, Long Tall Sally, Faith Footwear, Shellys, Office,
Barratts, NEXT, Marks and Spencer, Primark and John Lewis.
Header Image is from Faith Footwear. My thanks to these
companies.
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This T-bar
silver impressed skin sandal with wide ankle strap looks ready
to party all night long.
