From the time I got off the plane, boots were all over place. Everything from ankle boots, to motorcycle boots, and probably the most present trend in Florence, in my opinion, was over the knee boots. Every other girl, woman, older woman had on a pair of over the knee boots.

Spring footwear was starting to come out in the stores, and there were also lots of boots for Spring.  Everything ranging from over the knee closed toe boots, over the knee open toe boots, slouchy boots, etc. I definitely saw more knee height boots than ankle boots.

Spring Colors were much lighter such as Lt. grey, Beige, Tan both light and dark, White  Red, Hot Pink, and Denim blue. Boots were mainly in suede or textile. Black was hardly present for Spring. It played more of an accent color.

Motorcycle boot looks

Boots with zippers

Open toe boots

Huarache style boots, lots of boots and sandals with thong ideas...oh, and you can't forget cowboy boots and shooties

Another trend included casual lifestyle footwear. During the time, I lived in Spain a few years ago, I would travel to Italy often, and it was not much of a trend to see  girls wear uber casual shoes. I always felt that Italy was a fashionable city with women wearing heels, dressier type  footwear like sandals with rhinestones, chains, wedges but  on the dressier side. However, this year I found casual footwear to be everywhere ranging from fashion athletic, moccasins, or Ugg boots.

Fashion athletic looks with hardware

Boot Moccasin looks

Uggs and Moccasins

More mocs and casual looks

More trends include:

Transfer Studded Hardware

Heavy Hardware

Slouchy open toe boots and booties

Slouchy/cuffed sandals

Clogs

Perfed/Laser cut natural leathers.

Mesh uppers/ Sport influenced sandals

Zipper detailing- two tone

Ruffles

Sock detailing

Strappy sexy heels with large rhinestone details

Men's wear inspired looks for women.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with my shopping excursion in Florence. Generally speaking, I found Florence to be small and limiting. Yes, the footwear has always been beautiful, well crafted, and designers like Prada, Ferragamo, and Louis Vuitton are always surprising us, but I found there was not much variety with categories. This time around, I was pleasantly surprised to see some changes and new explorations amongst the Italians. Sport is coming on stronger in the stores and with the people on the streets. Casual footwear is spreading ferociously. Dress shoes continue to be a strong suit for the Italians.  The one thing I will touch on lightly here is pricing. I found the footwear to be available for all pocket sizes. You can get a ballerina for 60 euros that was made in Italy and the design is very nice or you can buy a boot for 145 euros or a sandal for 500 euros. There were a lot of options and it’s something I see missing in the states. Stay tuned for more of that when I write about my shopping trip in Barcelona!!!

My first trip started with going to Portland for their materials show. Although, this show is small and is more athletic based than fashion, there were definitely some great suppliers. One supplier I enjoyed was Omnipel (www.omnipel.com) I really enjoyed their array of products and diversity of high tech and fashion materials, specifically textiles. The colors, prints, and overall quality is great. They are a European company that designs in Italy but makes products out of China, which can keep the price relatively down. I am very much looking forward to receiving my swatches very soon.

Another supplier I was really  inspired by is Ecco Leathers. They had the most beautiful camel leather, leathers that were amazingly soft and lightly shimmered, metallic’s that put to shame many metallic’s out there. The prices are great and have different ranges. I guess what more can you ask for from Ecco. As a company they always demand excellence.

Leathers by Ecco

My friend Jason Brown also represents a company called Shan Been Jeou, and I was quite surprised to find some great fashion pu’s and leather from them. It’s definitely worth checking out.

I really liked their print and textured leathers and pu's.

Right after the Portland Material Show, I went over to Bologna, Italy, and attended Lineapelle.  Talk about a candy store for designers and anyone who works with product. I can’t tell you how much I love this trade show. The show is complete and utter inspiration.  As you walk in, all you see are rows and rows of beautiful color palettes of textiles, uber luxe leathers, price point leathers and pu’s , hardware lasts, heels, wedges, trims and the list goes on and on.

I was amazed of how color is playing such a strong role in fashion in seasons to come…Hot Pink, Turquoise, Green, Orange. It’s all about brights.

I think the number one print I saw in both textiles, natural fibers, and leather was leopard. Leopard was EVERY WHERE. It was unstoppable. The leopard was played out differently which was refreshing.  The print was large, or slightly juxtaposed to look like leopard and it left you wondering, pony leopard, foiled leopard, leopard on natural fibers like raffia or woven material, laser leopard. I also loved how some of the companies sampled the shoes, mixing small leopard with bigger leopard print in monotone colors. It was quite exquisite. Here was one of my favorite suppliers- Abip in Italy.

Leopard in small print and sporadic. Also, in pony.

Leopard but less obvious and large.Other stand out trends include:

I am enclosing some  stand out trends  below and am still awaiting more swatches so perhaps I will include those in the future.  I will have to say what stands out the most to me is the natural products trends with natural leathers, hardware, wood, shells, raffia, basket weaving, braiding. It was great to see these all brought in mixing some of the fashion elements you will see below.  I hope to be getting those swatches soon!

Colorful suedes- I loved this one by Richard Hoffman and prices are pretty good!

Tribal prints

Transfer studs and rhinestones

Vege tan leathers by Adige

Foil flowers or design on natural materials

Distressed leathers by Adige

Zebra

Various animal prints like tiger, cow, ostrich

Flower prints stamped on pony, pu's with embroidered flowers, flowers embossing and laser etched on leathers, and flowers printed on natural fibrous materials

Window pane plaids in colorful brights.

I loved seeing all the denim finished leathers, nubucks, suede. It was truly beautiful. Farway it looked like a pair of Acne Jeans but when you got close, it was an amazingly soft leather in different finishes, washes, and colors.

Perfed/Laser cut natural leathers.

Natural fibrous materials

Distressed leathers with fur. Ridiculously soft from Pistolesi SRL.

At the end of 2008, I started to work on Spring 2010 for one of my clients. One of the trends we chased were tribal prints. We felt it was a good concept for our customer and went after it. Of course, it’s a risk. We could have been wrong and missed the mark. However, we followed our intuition and designed a small collection of tribal print inspired footwear with an ethnic feel. Our designs included braiding, wood wrapped wedges and heels, printed uppers or linings, and distressed leathers.

I was very happy to see that one of my designs made WWD and Kim Kardashians online shoe of the month club, www.shoedazzle.com.

Here is  one of the marker renderings, actual shoes, and you can see that tribal prints are hot this Spring from apparel to furniture, and more!

Tribal Prints are everywhere!

One of the marker renderings from the collection

Topview of wedge in Chocolate and Cream

Y trends has a very interesting product that I thought as a shoe designer could be quite helpful and playful. Isn’t that what designing is about…having fun   Shoemix is a game that promotes creative brainstorming. I am enclosing the you tube video for you to check out. At first, I was a bit skeptical but as I kept watching the video, and as it pertained to me as a working designer, I found it to be clever and kind of fun. It’s true, their are times as a designer where you are stuck. Even taking a walk or a break is not enough on those days that creativity almost seems impossible.  This could be a fun  game to get those creative juices going! I think I just might have to order it!!!

watch?v=xGtcsxxqor0&feature=player_embedded

Here are some details that I recently saw, that I felt could be translated well into a shoe detail or design.

Chains have been a key trend the last few seasons. However, I like the idea of adding a fresh twist and adding some stones or some other kind of hardware that stands out from the usual chain look.

I really like how the chain goes thru the hardware pieces. Definitely something could be explored here on a shoe level. Doesn't necessarily have to be taken literally either.

I really love how the hardware wraps around the strap. I think this could be a nice component to a shoe.

I have seen a similar accessory on a shoe with this closure. However, I really like the addition of the rhinestone and the leather knots at the ends. Another nice closure or strap idea from a ballerina to a boot!

I love this magnetic closure. Again, it has been done before but the detail with the braid or even stack of leather straps in different sizes, treatments, and closures can be very hot!

Nice closure. Maybe not in the shiny nickel but gunmetal or even black!

I have seen knit details on uppers., however, more of a sock look. I love the idea of just a stack of knits around a pump or sandal with some hardware Maybe a little too crazy? But could be fun!

Studs are overkill. I have been searching for new ways to do studs. I like the idea of them being rounded and more organic. I kind of like the white too. I think this could definitely be explored!

More ways to do studs! I like the color contrasts and the shapes! More three dimensional.

Another stud alternative with shape and contrast of placement.