It’s a tough gig writing about the footwear at the Oscars. Put simply, the shoes are invisible. So how can I create a whole column about red carpet shoes at the hottest celebrity event of the year if I can’t see the shoes beneath the designer dresses? Don’t actresses know that their stunning floor-length gowns are making my job more difficult?! Anyway, I’ve had a go at researching the Oscars 2014 footwear trends using photos of a tiny amount of shoe peeping out beneath a dress and have tried to draw some conclusions – the first trend is thin black straps and that’s where Naomi Watts comes in.
Hurrah for a back slit dress! It’s allowed Naomi’s Calvin Klein dress to ping open at exactly the right moment, showing off her super-high heels. We saw the return of ladylike heels predicted for SS14 back at New York fashion week and it looks like Naomi has chosen the Oscars to showcase how on trend she is with a pair of finely strapped heels. And she wasn’t the only one… Jennifer Lawrence wore these clear Perspex heels when she changed into a shorter dress for the Vanity Fair Oscars party – who knows? she may have been wearing them beneath her Dior gown all along – and she has also chosen a pair with teeny tiny thin black straps. This trend reminds me of the strappy sandals of the 90s and early 2000s and I’m not sure that I want to be wearing them again so soon! But then again, I’m sure we all have a pair of trusty strappies in a shoebox somewhere that we can dig out and follow the trend again without splashing any cash. If you want a fresh new pair they are all over the high street – I’ve popped into New Look this week and they have very similar black strappy heels around the £20 mark.
The second trend is for silver platforms and I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise to you that Lady Gaga championed this look at the 2014 Academy Awards. The shiny shoes poked out from beneath her Atelier Versace couture dress and although hmade Brian Atwood heels elevated her tiny 5ft 1in frame to the practically the height of an Oscars statue, they proved very difficult to walk in and most of the photos of Gaga at the event show a hand guiding her along! A more wearable version appeared on the feet of Jennifer Garner who wore a pair of white and silver peep-toe platform shoes beneath her fringed Oscar De La Renta dress. If you want to follow the metallic footwear trend (which we discussed back in October - here) you’d do well to take inspiration from Jennifer Garner rather than the skyscraper platforms on Lady Gaga’s feet!
Get involved in a furture Tuesday Shoesday blog post - Do you have a pair of shoes that you absolutely love? If you’d like to share your favourites – whether they’re your old reliable boots or your snazziest heels – please send a snap to me with a sentence about why they are your faves to [email protected]. I’ll posting them in an article later this month and will link back to your own blog or website, so get in touch!
