5 of the Best: These Jazz Age shoes will have you Charlestoning in no time

Ankle strap? Check. Peep toe? Oh yes. Stiletto heel? And how.

Right now, the high street has got some high heels on offer that are so retro style-y that they wouldn’t look totally out of place on a dance floor in the 1920′s. Maybe it’s the Great Gatsby effect – Baz Luhrman’s remake is out in less than a month now – or maybe it’s an offshoot of the nineties ankle strap heels trend, but whatever the reason, I sure do like them. The open-toe style and manageable heel height make them a decent investment for wedding season, because let’s face it, a strappy sandal goes with almost anything, plus you just know you’re going to end up doing the Macarena with your Nan/little cousin/unidentified drunk relative at midnight so you may as well get your dancing shoes on. Here are five of my top picks.

GUEST POST | Author Shoes and all that jazz

Last week Naomi and Million took at trip to the Jazz Age at the Author Shoes party…

NAOMI:

If like me you’ve been roaming around the streets of London in desperate search for the perfect pair of handmade brogues, look no further: Author shoes is the place to go to.  Located in a 19th century building in the heart of the City of London, this lovely little store was once property of the Fox family (hence the sign) and used to sell what were known as the best umbrellas in London. The windows and wooden floors haven’t changed since the 1920’s, making it the best art deco building in the Capital.

The theme for the launch party of Author’s new footwear collection was (no wonder) the roaring 20’s.  Everything from the ragtime music to the staff geared up in classic flapper gowns and curly finger waves made me feel like I was part of Louise Brooks and Zelda Fitzgerald’s jazz age.

After being served a very bohemien cocktail of absinthe and cordial, I headed to the upper floor where Leila, a make-up artist with a passion for vintage and silent movies, was kind enough to give me a 20’s inspired makeover.

I was so overwhelmed by the atmosphere I ended up staying there for a good three hours, treating myself to a beautiful pair of handmade leather mocassins:

Needless to say, I will definitely head back to this little treasure trove, wether it is to shop some genuine British footwear or just listen to some good classy music.

Aside from their omonymous label, Author also stocks brands such as Church’s, Vivienne Westwood for Melissa, Hunter, Blink and Lola.

MILLION:

Author Shoes is an exquisite vintage shoe shop based near the London Wall. When I arrived at their launch party, which had a twenties theme, I was taken aback by the beautiful old facade of the building, which I later found out was built in 1864. The building has barely changed, inside or outside, since then, with the wooden floors and windows having survived two world wars.

As soon as I walked in, I was greeted by a girl dressed in a sequinned salmon pink tassel dress and with dramatic 20′s style make-up, handing out flutes of champagne. To see everyone taking the theme so literally – I saw a  man dressed as an authentic 1920’s paparazzi, complete with camel trench coat and big camera in tow - was brilliant. On show at the party were lots of beautiful vintage shoes, while make-up artists and hair stylists were on hand so you could shop and get your hair and make-up done, all the while sipping champagne and nibbling on canapés.

Author sources vintage shoes from various designers, including Vivienne Westwood for Melissa, Ted Baker and many more, as well as designing a limited range of shoes in house. I loved the collections on show, so much that I left with a pair of Melissa black patent, tribal patterned wedges.

TRENDS | Starry eyed

My proudest vintage find ever has to be a 1920s star hair pin that I bought at an antiques stall in Oxford one weekend a few years ago. I had been looking for something a bit like the hair pin Keira Knightley wears in Atonement, and it has really come into its own recently.

I’m a bit of a Justine Picardie addict, and particularly loved her column about how stars are super on trend the other month. (I’m slightly loath to link to it, because it’s such a great piece that I almost feel no one needs to write anything else on the subject.) I’ve loved stars ever since the days of unicorns and rainbows, of course, but there’s something about stars that crosses over from the whimsical and childlike to grown up glamour and sophistication. They are that rare thing: fun and classically, elegantly stylish.

The other week at London Fashion Week we saw a starry theme emerge at the Mattijs show, and people were wearing sparkly star head bands and prints all over the place. But perhaps the most obvious reason that stars are really having their moment right now is because they come hand-in-hand with the 1920s trend that’s sweeping the fashion floor this year. Think vintage Chanel jewellery and a cheeky finishing touch to your sophisticated Little Black Dress.

Like all the best trends, the trends that we really take to heart and enjoy, this one has all sorts of poignant associations for me. The blue domed ceilings of late Medieval Italian churches dotted with gold stars, star gazing with my father on clear nights in the countryside; a diamond broach on my mother’s dressing table, nestled in a pile of scented silk scarves.

Why I was disappointed with Midnight In Paris (SPOILER ALERT)

Everyone kept telling me I should go and see Midnight In Paris. A Woody Allen film set in Paris with appearances from literary and artistic giants Hemingway, the Fitzgeralds and Picasso, you would think it would be right up the street of a Paris-obsessed English Literature graduate. The truth is, I thought it was pretty bad. The script was poorly written and stumbled along as I cringed at heavy-handed stereotypes, caricatures and cliché after cliché. The concept was sweet and fun – not particularly original or anything, but it had potential. But, being relatively new to Woody Allen, I expected such a famous film maker to be able to at least… I don’t know, make a good film.

For one thing, he presented a very black and white view of Americans versus the French. In this world view, Americans (except for Gil, the protagonist, who one assumes is heavily modelled on Mr Allen) are obnoxious and don’t appreciate beauty and culture even when it hits them in the face. The French, on the other hand, are sexually liberated, sensitive and artistic people. From the start of the film, it was very clear that Gil’s fiancée and her parents hate Paris and don’t want to be there, complaining about the barbarism of French politics and turning their noses up in disdain at the thought of strolling around the city to see the sights. There was nothing sympathetic at all about Inez, Gil’s fiancée – she was a one dimensional character through and through, doing nothing but complain and belittle her fiancé the whole time. It was completely unbelievable that they would have ever got engaged in the first place. As Gil says at one point, the only thing they seem to have in common is that they both like pita bread.

But the caricatures don’t stop there. When you meet Hemingway, he quotes his own books, downs a bottle of champagne and then shouts ‘Who wants a fight?’ at no one in particular. We get it, Hemingway was a macho alcoholic. The most appealing characters were Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, and I found myself wishing they had been given more screen time. Or that it had been a film about them, instead of the dull, gormless Gil Pender who eyes up every woman who came in his vicinity but has the shocked look of an innocent puppy on his face when his engagement falls apart. Really, you didn’t see that coming? Really?

But what’s strange about this film is that all the critics seem to love it. Did no one at Cannes notice the awkward and clumsy script? It has been hailed as a return to form for Woody Allen; I’m far from an aficionado on the subject (I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona and thought that was terrible too), but if this is a return to form, I dread to think what he is like on a bad day.

Want to make up your own mind? Midnight in Paris is in cinemas now. If you’ve already seen it, let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Trend Alert: 1920′s reign supreme

There is nothing like a major motion picture to spark off a solid catwalk trend.  I do believe this may be one of the first seasons in a long while where there’s not been any reference to Alice in Wonderland (thank goodness).  So I have not been overly surprised seeing the shimmering 1920′s influence hit the catwalk running. 

Already emerging as a key player for SS12, the likes of Alberta Ferretti, Caroline Charles (as my noted colleague Sophie Caldecott has already pointed out) Mark Fast and Spijkers en Spijkers, all got in to the swing of things at London and Milan Fashion Weeks.

It is no secret that Baz Luhrmann’s epic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ would have no doubt triggered this trend in to place, and no doubt will trickle through in to the next few seasons as well.  The decadence and the romanticism of the 1920′s make it a powerful aphrodisiac for inspiration, and it is already clear so many designers have slipped in to bed with it for SS12.

With Paris Fashion week the last stop in the calendar, let’s see how many times we can play i-spy Gatsby in the coming week.

Images courtesy of style.com.