Although many interesting and salient facts may be gleaned from tourist brochures, one of the more esoteric has to be that included in a new informational pamphlet for visitors to Rome. There, apparently, the very latest thing is to wear two completely different shoes. Glossy-pictured proof is a red suede mule and a green patent pump sold as a set for women or for men, or a boot and a dress shoe in matching brocade.
This being Italy, a country that takes its shoes more seriously than most, you know the advice is real. And indeed, it turns out that not only are completely mismatched shoes walking around all over that country, but the rest of fashion as well.
There has, of course, been a history of asymmetry in accessories before. Over in Hollywood, a jewellery line named Jenny Dayco worn by celebrities wanting to make a statement, such as Beyoncé, Billy Bob, Madonna, and Eva Longoria, mixes up different earrings to make a pair. On eLuxury, a pair of Christian Dior earrings called Guardia include one earring as a key and the other as a medallion. Even fine jewellers such as Chopard make a mismatched pair of dangling pearl earrings.
In shoes, however – despite the end of the series Sex and the City, when the ever-adventurous Sarah Jessica Parker was shown in an episode wearing two different-coloured Christian Louboutins – this moment marks the first season when two completely different shoes sold as a pair have moved into the mainstream.
“What rule says the right has to be the same as the left shoe?” asks Camper marketing director Dalia Saliamonas. “It’s a game: each pair, each side can have its own personality like a couple in a marriage.” The label has consistently turned out such styles: a map is split across two shoes with one shoe showing an arrow marked “estoy aqui” (I am here), or a pair where one is properly laced and the other has laces completely askew. In fact, the non-matching pairs constitute a line in themselves – Twins, bestsellers since 1990 – and the series has not only sold better and better, but become more and more avant-garde in look.
According to Paloma Marugan, director of the department of consumer products at the trade commission of Spain, “asymmetrical, or non-identical, shoes have been a trend in the youth market in Spain for a while”. Marugan thinks consumers are drawn to asymmetry for the imperfection it mirrors in themselves. “I think this is a very refreshing idea that has been very successful in Europe because it somehow took us all away from a very ‘uniform’ world and into a more human one that reminds us all that we human beings are not exactly symmetrical, and that honouring that is healthy and fun.”
Meanwhile, at prices directed more at grown-ups than the youth market, artist Mihara Yasuhiro has also done a series featuring two completely different shoes for Converse. Similarly, famously conservative Stubbs & Wootton – a favourite label of the golfer/yacht club set – offer loafers with the tops of the right and the left mismatched. Finally, Vineyard Vines, a line that draws mostly a Sloane Ranger/New England prepster kind of consumer, is also showing mismatched items for spring.
According to Comme des Garçons, themselves experts in mixing it up, designers have a natural affinity for asymmetry. A rep for Dover Street Market, Rei Kawakubo’s London store, says the look is rampant among all lines stocked: “This season all is a mix. Trousers with skirts, dresses with suit jackets, and so forth.” Indeed, Nic Galway, global design director for Stella McCartney’s work with Adidas, admits: “One theme that we have widely explored is the use of asymmetry.”
“Sixteen years ago, design houses were very specialised,” says Saliamonas. “You had big brands doing sophisticated fancy dress, now a lot are doing sports; they have their diffusion, their second diffusion and their city line.The marketplace has become [so that] any one can do what they want and put their name on it. So a lot of brands have become open to things which they didn’t think were part of the brand philosophy. Design becomes so much up for grabs.”
At the end of the day, though, the question with mismatched shoes is not whether designers love making them but whether people will love wearing them. Shoe blogger and author of The Perfect Fit, Meghan Cleary, says: “I have seen people wearing two different shoes. I think someone who is intentionally wearing mismatched items is someone who is whimsical and is not beholden to regular style rules. When you get dressed, it’s about the silhouette, about the lines and the way it drapes on your body. It takes someone who really knows fashion to turn it on its head. It takes a courageous fashion person because you have to know the silhouette before you start to take away sections of the silhouette.”
Still, Erin Conroy, a spokesperson for Brown Shoe, maker of Via Spiga, Franco Sarto and Naturalizer, thinks the trend will sell, albeit in a limited way.“The retailers and designers do a terrific job of keeping consumers aware of the trends each season, and individual expression isstill very much a trend. [Mismatched shoes] is one that is incredibly individualistic. It definitely appeals to women trying to express themselves.”
But Conroy still has some scepticism. “It will definitely sell to a certain kind of consumer, those who are already on the hunt for something unique and don’t want to see cookie-cutter things. But it will be interesting to see how much it pervades the mainstream. Also, trends that are the longest lasting are those that are open to interpretation by different people in many different ways. The 1960s mod trend is a good example. It will be interesting to see how long this one can last. There are only so many different ways you can interpret mismatched shoes.”
Syl Tang tracks trends and runs HipGuide Inc, ceo@hipguide.com
