Manolo Blahnik 

New Shoes 

So this book, I received on Christmas day and has given me hours and hours of inspiration, and pleasure. I love going to this book for the intricate details, and since I'm a shoe maker and not solely a designer I find it increasingly difficult to get my ideas onto paper because my head is already figuring out how to make them with the tools I have around me. BUT, when I do have to design which is becoming  a necessity with the collaboration I'm working on, conveying ideas and designs is so very important. This is the book i turn to, so for all my readers who are designers I 100% recommend this book, make it your next purchase and notice your designs go from 0-100 REAL QUICK! ;)

The Book Review: 10/12 October Edition 

#Girlboss

by Sophia Amoruso

Where do I start with this book? Maybe a disclaimer since the most recent news on Sophia Amoruso doesn't bode well with the great review I originally wanted to give this book. Since Amoruso declared bankruptcy a couple weeks back I have been contemplating writing this review at all, since the whole book advocates savy spending, and the rise of the Nasty Gal empire that all started from selling a stolen book on Ebay. The book should be classed as a motivational yet down to earth guide on how to make money responsibly, I was shocked by the bankruptcy news especially since reading the book made you perceive Amoruso as highly intelligible and a business minded woman. In all honesty I wouldn't be surprised if this 'bankcruptcy' was more of a smart money aware move like just like 50 cent had done a couple months back. Not to mention the looming netflix documentary thats set for release in 2017 - you know the age old saying; bad publicity is good publicity,

The Book Review: 9/12 September Edition 

Dangerous Girls

by Abigail Haas

I was recommended this book by my best friend, who devoured this book in all of three days, I had to get in on the action and see what all the hype was about. As you all may have figured out already I can be extremely impatient - I like to get to the end of the book as quickly as possible to completely review my judgement on the book itself. This book I have to say completely tested my patience (or lack there of) it took me a little while before I got into the book (Since I've decided that my preferred genre of novel is behavioural psychology and psychology books in general) but when I eventually did I couldn't put the book down. I guess that is the power of the writer - Abigail Haas, who so carefully carved this book into a really dark and wild book with ups and downs that have your heart pumping. I absolutely loved this book and would recommend it for a great fictional book that will have you on a roller coaster of emotions for all the characters in the book. (£6.99 with Amazon Prime)

Vogue - The Shoe

The holy fashion bible has released an awesome new coffee table book 'Vogue - The Shoe'. The reason I'm excited? - they will have the BEST of the best archive known to man an archive to be more than envious of regarding famous imagery of shoes, designers, campaigns and illustrations - this will be an absolute must have for shoe lovers around the world. Vogue had great success with their previous tomes on 'The Gown', 'The Jewellery', and the 'Portfolio' so this is bound to be huge bestseller for them too - especially since accessories are definitely having their moment and demand just as much acknowledgment as the clothing on runways. At £75 its not a book you buy on a whim but would definitely be a great present, for birthdays, Christmas (I know its early but good to get started) and possibly leaving gifts - available to buy now!

The Book Review: 5/12 May Edition 

Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

by Malcolm Gladwell

I LOVED this book, once you start reading its impossible to put down and I figured out the reason. Its a book (clearly) about your psychological state when making decisions, I related to the findings in this book because the examples used were situations that can and has happened to everyone once in their life (give or take a few examples). I also loved that not only was I learning from the book but taking what I had read and putting it in to action as Ive be known to be a procrastinator! So get reading, this set to change you into Miss/ Mr action instead of Miss Procrastinator.

Where have your January goals landed you so far?

One of my goals for this year was to read a book (or more - ha very optimistic) a month. I also said that they would have to be something different to the normal fashion books I usually read. One of the goals I have achieved (HURRAH!) - I've managed to finish the book I started on the 1st of January, BUT it was a fashion book! (boohoo!). However, the reason I let this one book pass, (I know there shouldn't be any excuses) was because it was a memoirs book. To be exact Grace Coddington's Memoirs. This book has been sitting on my shelf for the better part of two years now, if not longer and my aim was to get through it bit by bit. As it happens it turned out to be a book I just couldn't put down. Some of you will already know who she is, and if you do, then this book is super fascinating. For those of you who don't, its someone you just have to get to know by reading her book. Ill be the first to admit that I only started recognising her ever since she GRACED (haha! get it?!) our screens for the September Issue documentary. I was intrigued by her influence and passion for her job and how this connected to avid Vogue readers like me. I had no idea that she had so much authority over the main photo diary spread in each months installment of Vogue and this book pretty much covers every one of her favourite memories (and not so favourite) shooting with some of the top fashion photographers around, Peter Lindbergh, Mario Testino, Steven Meisel - you name it she's shot with them. I guess for me it was an insiders view of a job that was very much tailored to her but for every one else looking in a job that only she could do because of her eye for clothing and curating. I totally got lost in the pages for hours on end, when I really should have been sleeping but I think it was totally worth it! Definitely worth a read and if not for the reading then for the cute illustrations by Grace that are dotted through out the book.

Now, there was an endless list of goals that I wanted to achieve, daily, monthly and for the whole year, they all had different time frames on them - but its always good to look over the goals list regularly to get you in line for the next few days or months ahead! - you never know where they may land you!

Maud Frizon

Ever since receiving the Manolo Blahnik book for christmas I have been addicted to vintage shoes. The book is filled with pages of shoes that are now classed as vintage shoes, simply because they are 20+ years. I love looking at them for inspiration because it makes me wonder how designers maintained the appearance of the shoe yet still look so modern. A designer I recently came across (from my shoe calendar) Maud Frizon really had a way of encapsulating the fashion of her time. After doing some research on her I found  our paths weren't so dissimilar. She used to model for some pretty major brands and decided that footwear was her calling because she didn't like the variety of shoes that were available to the models at the time. (in those times models had to wear their own shoes and do their own makeup and were only supplied the clothes that they were modelling in) The Frizon archive for vintage shoe imagery is pretty small, I have searched high and low and it was only yesterday I managed to land on a pair of her shoes that I absolutely adored. So today, she is not only the designer review post but the Shoe of the Week post too. Frizon, hailing from Paris of course had fashion in her bones, the epitome of class she created a range of shoes that depicted her unique character and her love for fashion. Ive had to dig deep for some amazing shoe shots. The ironic thing is that I couldn't have come across her range at a better time. The style of shoe  she regularly used had high enclosures around the foot like much of the fashion around at that time and it  almost became her familiar signature style. This style of shoe has recently graced the catwalks (last AW16) - fashion always goes in cycles and it just so happens to be reoccurring now. To this day the business still runs in paris with very similar designs. They seem to be going through some rebranding so I'm excited to see whats in store for us. I have put the links to the website and social media outlets below the images.

W - www.maudfrizon.com

F - Maud Frizon

T - @Maudfrizon

I - @maudfrizon

Shoe: Contemporary Footwear 

by Inspiring Designers 

Olivier Dupon

I LOVE a good coffee table book, I mean who doesn't? This book ticks all the boxes, it covers 32 designers that are currently working world wide and the pages are full with sketches, swatches, illustrations and samples of the very shoes that have graced our phone screens (at some point) scrolling through Instagram. I could flick through the pages for hours, the descriptions compliment the pages perfectly; there is just the right amount of text - these books are all about the imagery and why the hell not when they feature such beautiful shoes. Personally, this book has been an eye opener and has certainly inspired me with design and if you're not a designer this book is perfect for guess what? a coffee table (ha!) so you can sit and adore shoes to your hearts content. The book is available on Amazon at £43.20 - perfect for a christmas gift or a stocking filler.