Nicholas Kirkwood's Shoe Porn

By Amber Editor Willemijn van der Zwaan

If you allow me to make one rather vulgar comparison between street style photography and the porn industry: the ubiquitous picture of impeccably shod feet of guests at international fashion weeks is the sartorial equivalent of the money shot. Fashion bloggers roam countless street style websites to find the single most perfect image of the It shoes of the moment. The clothes Anna dello Russo and Carine Roitfeld wear may be spectacular to begin with, but really, it’s what’s on their feet that always makes the look - and nothing gives a picture more of an orgasmic delight than an editor or stylist with some brand spanking new Nicholas Kirkwood´s on.

Ever since his debut collection in 2005, British designer Nicholas Kirkwood has been providing women with shoes to make them stand out from the crowd. The source of his sculptural flair lies in the Fine Arts degree he obtained at Central Saint Martins in 1999. Kirkwood picked up his fashion savvy in the five years he worked at milliner Philip Treacy´s store in London. There he realized there was a need for statement shoes; he did a quick course in shoemaking, and as they say: a star was born.

His popularity exploded when he started working with multiple designers, like Belstaff, Pollini, Erdem and Gareth Pugh. There wasn´t a Vogue editor (all international editions) in sight without a Kirkwood to grace her delicate feet. Take for instance the genius Sally Singer (formerly an editor at Vogue, now editor-in-chief of T, the New York Times style magazine), who wore the ankle boots Kirkwood made in collaboration with Rodarte for their Fall/Winter 2009 collection, straight off the runway.

Boom: instant gratification.

And let us take a look at Visionaire co-founder Cecilia Dean. She has championed Kirkwood from the very start and was even an integral part in bringing the dream combo of Kirkwood and the Mulleavy sisters at Rodarte together. Dean knows better than anyone else that you have to wear Kirkwood to get the camera lights flashing, as evidenced here at London Fashion Week in 2005.

Avant-garde musicians and actresses were quick to join the Kirkwood cult, as evidenced by singer Roisín Murphy below. She made quite the impression rocking head to toe Gareth Pugh at Paris fashion week in 2009, but we, shoe lovers, all agree the real stars of her outfit were the insane duo tone wedges Kirkwood designed.

I think we can safely say that Kirkwood´s gravity defying designs have started a global shoe craze, and with that the online phenomenon of shoe porn. Haven´t we all been caught salivating over some of his cut-away platform heels on some starlet at New York Fashion Week, or been green with envy when we see a candid snap of an elegant woman in her Kirkwood wedges snapped by the Sartorialist? Then again, if everyone starts wearing Kirkwoods to get noticed by street style photographers, one must take drastic measures. Like proving you can walk in a Kirkwood without a heel?

Willemijn van der Zwaan is an art history student from Utrecht, doing an internship at The Hague Museum of Photography.