Japanese designer Kei Kagami's extravagant shoes are a mixture of fashion and architecture. The footwear was designed as a work of art. However, A Shaded View of Fashion asked the designer whether the shoes could be walked in and Kagami had this to say:
"Yes, you can walk in these shoes in the same way that you walk in a pair of normal platforms. The basic structure of the shoe is the same. The actual pitch is not that steep, so it would be much easier than walking in a pair of Vivienne Westwood platforms. The sole has a 3.5 mm metal plate which is hidden in the leather sole and it is very strong. The new shoe collection looks similar to the last one in the fact that there are no heels. However there was a new challenge to design the bottom of the shoe. I enjoyed working on this collection."A couple of weeks ago, Trend Hunter showcased a Nina Ricci collection which featured heel-less 11-inch shoes. We've also published many, many posts on attractive but dangerous upmarket shoe collections in the recent past. Are these extravagant examples of footwear a sign of things to come?
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Extravagant Footwear
- Opportunity for disruptive innovation in creating increasingly bold and artistically designed shoes.
- Heel-less Shoes
- Potential for disruptive innovation in developing comfortable and stable heel-less shoe designs.
- Fashion-architecture Fusion
- Opportunity for disruptive innovation in merging elements of fashion and architecture to create unique footwear designs.
Where This Applies
- Fashion
- Innovative designers can explore disruptive shoe designs that push the boundaries of fashion and style.
- Footwear
- Manufacturers can embrace disruptive innovation by experimenting with new materials and construction techniques to create extraordinary shoe designs.
- Art
- Artists can explore the intersection of art and fashion by creating wearable artistic pieces that challenge traditional footwear design.
