Only High Heels » Nicholas Kirkwood

Keith Haring Collection by Nicholas Kirkwood

Goddess Tasha — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:41:58 +0000

Nicholas Kirkwood Red Peeptoe Stiletto Sandal

Goddess Tasha — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:14:22 +0000

I love the fire engine red color of these patent leather peep-toe sandals by Nicholas Kirkwood.

Although they look like classic high heeled peep-toe pumps from the rear, they sure show-off the fierce sandal from all other angles.

They feature a 1-inch high sculpted platform in the front and mean 5.5-inch stiletto heels.

Currently on sale for $462 at farfetch.

Goddess Tasha

The Highest Heels Rely on Technology to Reach the Sky

Goddess Tasha — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:58:08 +0000

The special report below by Elizabeth Hayt from the New York Times Fashion&Style section is very interesting and insightful for high heel lovers:

Special Report

The Highest Heels Rely on Technology to Reach the Sky

By ELIZABETH HAYT

Published: November 17, 2009

The pale gold carpet in Bergdorf Goodman’s shoe salon was pockmarked with hundreds of small indentations one recent Thursday afternoon.

Christian Louboutin, the French shoe designer, was in town and about 200 of his faithful clients had come to pay homage — most of them in the designer’s skyscraper stilettos, which not only soar to more than $3,000 but have heels that top out at 160 millimeters, or a little more than 6 inches.

“I go to work in them. I go out at night in them,” said Angela Russo, 30, a Manhattan attorney who was wearing Louboutin black suede platform sandals. “I think they’re amazing, incredibly sexy and they’re comfortable. The construction is impeccable.”

Over the past decade, technical advances in materials and fabrication, combined with designers’ skills and desire to innovate, have pushed many dress shoe heels beyond the traditional 70 millimeter to 90 millimeter range in recent years. But as anyone who has broken a heel knows, the higher the elevation, the more likely it is to snap.

“The technical must-haves for designing a stiletto are a strong heel to sustain the weight of the wearer and a reinforced shank — the instep, which is the curved part of the sole — so the shoe won’t collapse,” said Elizabeth Semmelback, curator of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto.

Many give the credit for that stronger heel to ABS, or Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, a polymer developed by a U.S. government team working on synthetic rubber after World War II.

“The most important innovation in high heels is the ABS molded high heel,” said Nicholas Kirkwood, 29, a shoe designer who won the British Fashion Awards emerging star prize last year. “It’s what allows them to be really high and come in multifaceted shapes.”

It is the material used by many designers, including Mr. Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik, a pioneer in the contemporary shoe designer pantheon, although Mr. Blahnik draws the line at 115-millimeter heels. “115 is the highest heel to walk properly and comfortably,” the British-based designer said. “You have grace and femininity.”

Mr. Blahnik’s heels, which he likes to describe as “spindly,” have a central steel rod surrounded by ABS plastic and a polyurethane tip at the bottom. And to attach them firmly to the shoe, artisans in his factories position five nails, each one at a 7-degree angle and about 8 millimeters apart, a configuration that looks something like a martini glass.

A compressed-air gun is used to hammer the nails into place and, as a finishing touch, a screw is driven through the insole and into the heel, a sort of metaphorical olive.

The insoles most commonly used for Italian-made high heels are produced by Texon, a 60-year-old company, which makes a cellulose base from cotton fibers, for moisture absorption. Several other materials then are glued on it to form a kind of sandwich, with the area under the toes and ball of the foot designed to be soft and flexible while the arch and heel are made for strength. Part of that design is a stiff strip called the shankboard, which creates the arch, and a pair of spaghetti-thin steel rods that run from the heel to the ball of the foot, to help maintain the architecture of the shoe.

The front of the insole has an added layer of Latex foam for comfort.

Mr. Blahnik also adds a layer of felt, for extra cushioning, inside his shoes — “to make sure you avoid the ‘Princess and the Pea’ effect,” said George Malkemus, the president of Manolo Blahnik. “The cushioning is higher at the heel so you don’t feel the nail heads and gets thinner towards the front of the shoe because you need room for the toes.”

When it comes to the design, Mr. Blahnik said, “balance is the most important aspect of creating a 115-millimeter heel. To achieve it, I use a compass, a ruler, my eyes and my hands.” Some designers now use a CAD, or computer-assisted design, system in their work but Mr. Blahnik said he would rather do everything himself — “I am a traditionalist,” he said.

And the goal is achieved when the toe of the shoe and the tip of the heel strike the ground at the same time, with the weight evenly balanced over the shoe.

Mr. Louboutin also has hidden a microplastic platform under the ball of the foot, to give a bit of bounce and “to make the woman look good with a maximum of comfort for that type of height.”

“You measure from the top of the heel to the top of the platform inside the sole and that’s the height of the heel that you’re really walking on,” the designer said. So while his heels may look particularly high, “at the end of the day, it’s the same as a plain pump with a single sole.”

While fetish drawings from the late 19th century show very thin high heels, it wasn’t until the post-World War II era that the technological advances leading to today’s stiletto first became common.

“Stiletto,” a history of the shoe by Caroline Cox, a visiting professor in cultural history at the University of Arts in London, notes that Roger Vivier, working for Christian Dior, created the classic silhouette in 1952 — but his heels were wood. “With wood heels, you can’t go high without them breaking,” Professor Cox said in an interview.

By 1954, Mehmet Kurdash, a shoemaker with a small business in London’s East End, “figured that, if you put in an aluminum stem, you can go high without the heels breaking,” she said.

Mr. Vivier then devised the “talon aiguille,” or “needle heel,” which was reinforced with steel. And by 1956, designers at an Italian trade fair presented the basic composition used today: a central metal stem enclosed in a plastic shell.

Today, “It’s about balance, shapes and proportions,” said Mr. Kirkwood. “It has to fit the foot and different feet. It’s not just an objet d’art.”

The BootBitch

Nicholas Kirkwood for Roksanda Ilincic Shoes

Goddess Tasha — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:07:08 +0000

Kirkwood for Roksanda Ilincic

Check out these Nicholas Kirkwood for Roksandra Ilincic shoes. They look glamorous and elegant.

The BootBitch

Fierce Nicholas Kirkwood for Rodarte Sandals for S/S 2010

Goddess Tasha — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:51:44 +0000

We have just entered the fall season but the designers have already started to come out with their spring/summer 2010 collections.

Nicholas Kirkwood collaborated with the Rodarte sisters and this collaboration resulted in very interesting shoes for the Spring/Summer 2010 season.

The industrial looking materials such as nuts, bolts, and scrape metal combined with the tribal inspired cut out leather design and sharp studs create a futuristic look for these stiletto heeled sandals, which is sexy and attractive at the same time. It is a ‘work of art’ and a display of creativity. The Rodarte collection exudes primitivism with a blend of futuristic touch, and Kirkwood’s footwear designs complete this look perfectly.

One word describes it so well: Fierce!

The BootBitch

Unconventional and Sexy Designer Sandals

Goddess Tasha — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:34:07 +0000

When it comes to design a pair of women’s sandals, designers go crazy at times. There are no limits for their creativity in terms of shape, materials, color, purpose when their goal is to display the female foot perfectly to reflect its sexy shape. Below are some nice examples of unconventional sandals designs of some top designers. The designers include Alejandro Ingelmo, Alexander McQueen, Azzedine Alaia, Balenciaga, Bruno Frisoni, Dior, Emanuel Ungaro, Giambattista Valli, L.A.M.B., Louis Vouitton, Marc Jacobs, Nicholas Kirkwood, Roger Vivier, Stella McCartney, Studio TMLS, and YSL.

The BootBitch

My High Heeled Boot Favorites

Goddess Tasha — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:34:04 +0000

I must admit, I am a Boot Girl. I love boots and I can wear them anytime, even in the summer!

This year, a new trend emerged. Designers all around the world are creating styles that look like a pair of rather closed peeptoe pumps or sandals but they call them a bootie, “peeptoe bootie”, “open-toe ankle boots” or even a “shoe bootie” or “shoe boot” as in case of Fendi High Heel Gladiator Shoe Boots.

Whatever they are called, these styles are sexy and gives us ladies the chance to show off our well-pedicured toes, even in fall and winter! There is also a continuing trend for over-the-knee (OTK) and thigh-high designs and although most designers are looking for a fresh style, I love some of the retro look like in Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Miu Miu, and especially Prada OTK models.

Although there are some cute flat or low-heel OTK boots this year (especially some riding boot inspired models), I always prefer high heels and stilettos!

Below are some of my high heel boot and bootie preferences for this fall season. I will be posting more of this tomorrow.

The Bootbitch