F A S H I O N E X P A T: Stella McCartney shoes

Monday, April 8, 2013

Stella McCartney shoes

I love Stella McCartney. I didn't always, because I suspected at some point the only reason she got the Chloe job was because she was Paul McCartney's daughter. Well, once again I was horribly wrong! She knocked it out of the park at Chloe, and she has done so ever since in every collection she ever designs. Even if I don't like all of the oversized jumpers she is fond of, I appreciate her enormous talent and work ethic, and I love her stance on leather.

If you know me you will wonder if I am being a hypocrite, because I own lots of leather. I am not saying I am as caring and principled as she is, I just admire her and maybe one day she will convince me too that the world would be a kinder place if we don't eat animals or use their skins. I just read an article about leather types and leather tanning and when you read that the best cow leather comes from suckling calves, you do get a chill.

Other than caring and kindness there are of course other factors to consider when buying products made of leather substitutes like polyurethane, which requires petroleum for its production. An immediate concern there would be environmental, but let's face it, we all need shoes on our feet, and not just to look pretty.

Stella's shoes are gorgeous, but crazy expensive. Within my general budget I don't usually question the price of designer leather shoes, because I assume they were expensive to make. Stella's faux shoes, however, how much can they cost to manufacture? I am not saying she should sell them super cheap - after all, her designs are unique and original, and that's worth money to me. Remember that great slingback she did several seasons ago, where she cut the front of the shoe diagonally across the foot? It was beautiful, and resulted in countless imitations, and can currently be recognized in the many shoes with vamps cut straight across the foot. But the comfort of a leather shoe in the hot humid climate I live in far surpasses that of a faux leather shoe in my humble opinion. So no matter how original it is, I would like to see this disadvantage reflected in the price. And aside from that, if we are discussing ethics, I would also prefer designers to set a retail price based on the honest calculation of product cost price and overhead, rather than pull a number out of a hat because they suspect people will pay anyway.

If Zara can do polyurethane shoes for 399 HKD a pair, I suspect Stella can do them for less than 5,150 HKD. Dear Stella, if you are reading, I am so very happy to be proven wrong!