March 30, 2011

Look at the pretty things I'm playing with this week.........


Working on summer developments and the new colours are just divine!
Watermelon pinks. Minty greens. Peachy corals.
They are so pretty they make me smile........ 

March 26, 2011

Hong Kong Sample Shopping



So..... I have been on an East trip for over 10 days now & almost ready to get on that plane bound for good 'ol home! Sorry this post has been a long time coming - but am finding that most places in China now block access to any and all social media. So a big no go for facebook, twitter and any blogs! Don't know how I would cope if I lived here without daily doses and fixes of my blogs and twitter updates.

Anyway, I had an evening in Hong Kong at the start of the trip to go sample shopping and this was when I took these snaps. Stores are into the full summer time vibe here and there was lots to see and oogle at. Enjoy.......


Prada window at Harbour City - brights and colour blocking where the key features


Crazy coloured eva bottoms and metallic uppers



D&G advertising was showing the flirty, feminine side of summer - lots of florals in the pretty pink colour spectrums

Cool, crazy straw wedges


The french shoe master, Christian Louboutin was showing bright coloured patents, big wedges in leather stacks and espadrille formats, and pops of coloured cork platforms


Loved the shape of this platform slingback - and the black tipping on the white - how very lovely!
Big 70's style cork platform sandal


The two highlight colours of the season - turq and coral
Fabulous nautical stripe lace-up espadrille flattie






Elasticated wedges with cork socks - nice detail!
Classic espadrille wedges in tan & black from Peddar Red

Very clean looking wood wedges - awesome!
Love these heavy buckle wedges.........

Nine West's main window was a high summer story focussing on straw, raffia and cork detailing

Sunflower anyone?


Really retro looking wedge - with the heaviness of the construction and the striped covering
Inside the store was a nude and white story
Loved the punch out summer boot
Candy pinks and mid tone blues


And summer wouldn't be complete without a pop of sexy red & black!

Okay - so for the first time in a while Zara was looking quite good I thought. Saw some great new colour combinations - lots of citrus brights and divine clean minimalist looks a la Celine & Jil Sander.


They had lots of new kitten heel styles - this one was in bright orange patent
Bought this sample for the construction mainly - this shade of green was used a lot too!
The Kids windows



Bought this little boys desert shoe - think it's was a great on trend look

So this pic might not look white (apologies for the quality) - but the store had A LOT of white. Definitely a big colour for summer!!
Colour blocking was done quite a bit too - here seen underpinned by the pimento red
Samples I bought 



Gorgeous soft summer colour blocking in great shades of soft kid suede

A classic lace-up wedge
My good old fave Staccato was looking very smart - had loads of courts in great new heels and constructions and a lot of flat pumps and wedges too



Divine soft pink patent

New more muted tones of summer yellow and red

Sample bought - great toe shape and heavier heel

Lots of soft pinks, camel and white






Zara's more grownup sibling, Massimo Duti always does cleaner styling, very much the Ralph Lauren vibe. But this season it's quite a keen look - and lots of other brands were going this way too,
Thought the woven back strap detail on this clog sandal was quite cute
Classic clean gladiator styling

Oh, Celine.........

Bottega Vennetta


Died for these canvas and leather 70's platform clogs at ALDO xoxo
Great lazer cut court sample
Thought this little pump was a lovely execution for summer - with the canvas and the espadrille back counter detailing


Here's that new summer yellow again, in a pump at Steve Madden - note the patent too
Easy, easy wedge

Lots of canvas, straw and espadrille
Lace-ups
Great overlasted upper for our wedge programme!
Summer pump styling is very much moving into the softer, more deconstructed manstyles - thought this one would be great for us






Heavy summer clogs

Absolutely beautiful Manolo court shoe xoxo
And dying for the colour too - light light grey suede and mesh.... absolute perfection!

Found this little shop around an obscure corner (as one does in Hong Kong) - had a few great shoe looks in the window
Uber cool lace-ups

x2 in the red....



Cute, classic baby doll pump

Furla were showing a rainbow of jelly brights!


These acid brights were EVERYWHERE!! This is the March cover of Chinese Elle, and features from the April Australian Harpers Bazaar I bought on the trip

Stuart Weitzman was very neutral and demure (as always) - but had these cool straw props in his window - nod to one of the season's key trims





How pretty are these?

Marc by Marc Jacobs window was all stripes in the camel, blue and citrus highlights

Bally posters were all about colour blocking in brights and a touch of summer camel
So that's all folks. A lot of great things for the eyes to see. And a lot of similar things to note about Summer 2011:
- It's definitely ALL about the wedge
- Colour is key - more so now then ever! In classic tones, mid tone candy colours as well as the acid   brights
- Camels and tans in clean styling is looking new and easy to wear
- Kitten heels are coming back
- And watch out for patents again
- Cork, espadrille, raffia and basket weave are an absolute must
- Colour block, colour block, and more colour block
- White is right!