When I saw the article/photo on About.com, by Ashley Torres, I immediately wanted to share the info that brought back a special memory to me of a chat I had with Tim Gunn a few years back about the then very new, “Nude” Shoe.
Exactly what color has been the Nude shoe…a style-chat memory!
The Nude Shoe became the haute new fashion shoe trend a few years back and we all jumped on the bandwagon and have pretty much stayed there. I would tell women in fashion workshops that I was doing at the time that to look really new and with it, pair their black dress, not with a pair of black shoes as we all had done for years but with the new NUDE shoe to look so much more au current! I even went so far as to say, as I always do in my presentations, if you purchase ONE THING for your wardrobe that would make it look very NOW, it should be a NUDE SHOE! What I was not taking into consideration when speaking of this naturally colored, pale shoe was that it was geared, by default, to white skin. That is where I got into a slight disagreement with style expert Tim Gunn, from Project Runway that was in town for a big fashion show at the Houston Galleria…
We had had a great visit but when I got to the question that I get asked and many times ask in my interviews….what is the one purchase you would advise women to make? He asked me what would be mine, to which I answered the Nude Shoe. Well, he went on a rant on how he hated that word and it doesn’t apply to all women. He even pointed to several women that were in our vicinity and said repeatedly to me, would that color Nude apply to her or her and so on?! Are you getting the picture? Well, it took the shoe genius, Christian Louboutin, that after all, had the idea of painting all of his shoe soles red, to have been a fly-on-the-wall that day and answered Tim’s plea.
What has Christian Louboutin done for Nude Shoes?
Mr. Louboutin has created a Nude Collection, which he launched in 2013 but has expanded for this Fall. It is now available on his website and will be in stores in August. This collection, which takes the shade of Nude, from being a caucasion-only shade to an array of choices for all ethnisities, for all women. He has created six styles in five shades from the palest off-white tone to a rich brown. Not sure which of these shades would be best for you, he has even developed an app, available on ITunes, “Louboutin Shades” app where you simply take a photo of your foot and the app will match it to the shade best for you. Isn’t wonderful when technology can really work for you?
“Nude is not a color, it’s a concept.” — Louboutin
Details You Will Want to Know about the Nude Collection
How to purchase: Currently online, christianlouboutin.com; available in stores, August
Style offering: Six styles……Yes, Deepik, So Kate, Iriza, Vendome and Youpi
Shades of Nude: Blush No. 1, Fair toned, Blush No. 2, Light tones, Blush No. 3, Olive Toned, Blush No. 4, Caramel Toned, Blush No. 5, Mahogany Toned
Price: $675 to $995
Marketing: Watch for his ad campaign showing models of various skin tones wearing the matching shoe color to their skin tone.
photo borrowed from about.com