Chanel Slingbacks

I'm obsessed! I love these heels by Chanel, I have seen them all over fashion bloggers instagrams and I have recently noticed them being filtered through to fast fashion stores too.  Kitten block heels are totally on trend, and have been for the last season and Chanel have totally nailed the style. Sling backs and squoval (square and oval) fronts are totally in too, so there is no wonder the fast fashion brands are quick to emulate this trend. I think this will be an iconic shoe for Chanel, one which will be perfect for the summer paired with cropped jeans.

Haute Couture Shows AW16/17 - Paris

Couture shows are mesmerising, they emphasis the skill involved with making exclusive custom fitted clothing thats constructed by hand from start to finish. Since I've been hand making leather products - be it shoes or bags I've noticed that the process is more or less the same as clothing. They essentially use the same technique in that they start from a pattern taken from the shape of a body and then made from a selected fabric because of its qualities. With footwear, measurements are taken from the foot (well certainly in bespoke footwear) or a last and the design is drawn onto of the masking tape (the masking tape covers the whole last) until eventually the masking tape is cut out and placed flat on a piece of paper and cut out to make the pattern, which is then (yep you guessed it) placed on the leather or the chosen material to be cut out. The couture shows don't only pay attention to the clothing, the shoes are just as much part of the package and so far I have been extremely impressed, so I leave you with just a few that have stood out to me so far!

Alberta Ferretti

Alberta Ferretti

Chanel

Christian Dior

Christian Dior

Giambattista Valli

Giambattista Valli

Valentino

Mademoiselle Privé

Saatchi Gallery

For those of you who missed out on this insightful exhibition fear not, I recorded almost everything I could through photos. The exhibition; held from the13th October to the 1st of October had a relatively short run in comparison to most other travelling installation exhibitions. It was inevitable that if you weren't up for the queueing outside you would miss the whole thing within a blink of an eye. In short the exhibition highlighted the growth of the Chanel brand from Mademoiselle  Chanel (Gabrielle Chanel) to the current Karl Lagerfeld era. Though most of the exhibition concentrated on Gabrielle Chanel and the  symbol codes and icons of the brand my favourite part of the exhibition had to be the small artisan workshops that showed the skills and craftsmanship behind every intricate detail on certain iconic items Chanel created. I tried to take as many images as I could for those of you that missed out. I hope they do the exhibition justice.