Is there anything more resigned than the words “sensible shoes”? I swore I’d never give up my high heels for such a thing, but that was before I discovered this crazy activity called walking. You’d never believe how efficient it is. Perhaps I should also add that this discovery coincided with the moment I waved goodbye to my Condé Nast-funded car and driver. Farewell, stilettos; I’ll miss you, town car. We sure did have fun!
Then I met Marina Larroudé and her shoe wardrobe. And let me tell you, this changes everything.
Larroudé isn’t someone you’d peg as a practical dresser. She worked for a decade at Style.com, sizing up the footwear and handbags on the runways of New York, Milan, and Paris, before becoming the fashion director first of Teen Vogue and then of Barneys. In other words, she never gave a thought to comfort.
But when she started her fashion brand with her husband almost five years ago, she decided to give the people what they want: Shoes that fit like a dream with the cushioning of a sneaker, the style of a French label, the handmade excellence of an Italian line, and prices that make you wonder if she misplaced the decimal point (they average around $300).
Now, she’s collaborated with her first boss, Candy Pratts Price, the former accessories director of Vogue and executive fashion director of Style.com, on a mouthwatering collection of essentials. There are loafers in chalk white, black, and lipstick red and pumps at several heights. Two space-age silver and gold balls decorate some of the styles. The D’Orsay pump, with the inner side seductively open at the arch, is rendered in black denim and sprinkled with black crystals.
I’m mad about the loafers—”wafer-thin sole, long throat, soft, soft, soft leather,” says Pratts Price. There’s a hidden wedge inside the heel to give them a little lift, and they fit snugly, like a sock. They remind me of men’s evening slippers, and I want to pad around in them as silently as a cat burglar. Pratts Price is inspired by the way Pedro Pascal wears similar ones, and who could argue with that?
Pratts Price, one of the most exacting fashion editors and a friend from way back, has many rules, most of them worth heeding. She suggests wearing the white pumps with sheer black hose and does not approve of the words “block heel” (“she hates when I say it,” adds Larroudé. “A pump in a block heel is the most boring thing ever.”). Call it what you want, but there’s a pair in the collection. It’s cut low in the back and has a criss-crossed ankle strap. Try wearing them on your walk to work; you’ll be tempted to call them “sexy.”
If you were blindfolded, though, you might believe you’re in orthopedic clunkers, because Larroudé created a last that’s five millimeters wider than most fashion shoes and added a memory-foam insole. Just don’t tell Pratts Price.
She probably doesn’t remember the “Looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker” ads in the early 90s, where women played basketball in their Easy Spirit heels. But her collection for Larroudé almost makes me want to slip on her pumps and shoot some hoops. She’d be appropriately scandalized.
Linda Wells is the Editor at Air Mail Look
