A haunting history of accessories: The Stories Behind Some of Fashions Most Ghoulish Bag's and Shoes By Kevin Jones
Photo courtesy of Celine
Throughout fashions history, there have been a plethora of different ideas and concepts created by mastermind designers. Today, we are going to explore some of the accessories created by designers that feature a ghoulish, Avant-Garde, or gothic look and right in time for Halloween. Some of these designers are known to be haunting while others are known for a red shoe sole. In any case, we are going to find out the stories behind these iconic and beautifully dark shoes and bags.
First on the list is Alexander McQueen’s Alien Shoe. Its name is quite fitting, isn’t it? Well, its form was inspired by the artwork of H.R. Giger, a member of the special effects team for the film Alien which won an Oscar in 1980 for special effects. The shoe was made from 3D printed resin which was cutting-edge technology in 2010 when the shoe premiered in McQueen’s Platos Atlantis show. This was also the first show to be live-streamed in fashion so a lot of cutting-edge tech coming from McQueen in his last show before he tragically took his own life. The shoe was meant to be a morphing of human and mechanical forms.
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Photo courtesy of V&A Museum
Eleven different versions appeared in the show, evolving from white matte to silver and then a light blue at the end of the show. It has been described as biomorphic, spine-like, or almost like the wearer is being entrapped by its form. It really is something from another world. Sarah Burton took over the house when McQueen died and is the current creative director. Her shows continue to haunt.
Another example of a haunting accessory from McQueen is the brass knuckles clutch which is pictured below. A fun fact about this piece is that you cannot bring it on an airplane as it is seen as a potential weapon.
Photo courtesy of Neiman Marcus
Our second accessory is the Celine luggage tote which has a nearly identical twin called the Phantom. The bag came to be under the creative direction of Phoebe Philo in 2010 and wasn’t all that popular in the beginning until the world saw the Olsen Twins carrying one which made the bag's popularity skyrocket. But why is the bag on the list? Well if you look at the bag's design it almost looks like the face of a phantom. You have to handles which come to pointy eyes and then the zipper below which looks like a mouth and the squiggly sides. It appears ghoulish when you look at it from that angle doesn’t it?
Photo courtesy of stockx.com
The bag comes in a range of sizes and colors and materials. The difference between the luggage tote and the phantom tote is that the phantom has wider wings on the sides and doesn’t have a zipper to close the bag. You can see this as the cover photo is a luggage tote and the photo above is a Phantom tote. The phantom also has suede inside instead of leather. This bag was very popular in the last few years and still is. There is a new creative director at Celine named Hedi Slimane who came from Yves Saint Laurent who keeps the bag in stock as it is now a classic.
The last items on our list are all shoes but with a special focus on Christian Louboutin’s famous eight-inch ballerina heels which are nearly impossible to walk in but covered in Swarovski crystals. These shoes were sold at an auction to benefit the English National Ballet which was hit by budget cuts at the time of auction. Louboutin is quoted saying, “I count not help being inspired by the English National Ballet… after all… isn’t the classical dancing ballet slipper the ultimate heal? The heel which makes dancers closer than any other women to the sky, closer to heaven!”
Photo courtesy of Glamour
On the polar opposite of this delicate ballerina shoe, we have the steel toes platform boots from Rick Owens and the super spikey kitten heels from Balenciaga. All ghoulish, gothic, and perfect for Halloween or any other time of the year you want to turn heads.
Photo courtesy of Luisaviaroma
Photo courtesy of Matches Fashion
