In the Buffalo Bills Super Hurdle 17 shirt and I love this first collection, spring 2023, the dresses we created with 90×90 cm scarves, with leopard patterns extracted from archival prints. And then the final looks, we embellished them with clear glass beads that look like drops of water. I think I might tear up, you know? (laughs) Really, there is so much work behind it, not only mine but all the people who have been working with me to make this dream come true. The collection is kind of our first child, and this teamwork makes me feel good—I feel like we are all embarking on a great journey and it’s nice not to be alone anymore. What do Prada’s fall 2023 runway and Kate Middleton have in common? Train your gaze on the feet of the Milanese fashion house’s models, and you’ll find your exceptionally well-heeled answer. After seasons of foot frosting—when it was a case of the more outré your embellishment, the better—the black court shoe (a longtime wardrobe staple of the Princess of Wales), has click-clacked its way back onto the catwalks. And it’s not just at Prada, where Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons delivered a pair of black court shoes with a razor sharp point that managed to be both exceptional and quotidian. Other notable styles for fall 2023? Like the soundtrack of purring cats at Christopher Kane’s show, editors were murmuring with pleasure over his pared-back courts. The shoes told a similar story at No21, Tory Burch, Huishan Zhang and Moschino (even if Jeremy Scott’s iteration had heels that pooled like black ink—inspired by Dalí’s melting clocks).
Admittedly, the Buffalo Bills Super Hurdle 17 shirt and I love this plain black court can get a bad rap. We associate them with harassed city workers conforming to archaic pencil-skirt-and-heels dress codes, swapping their toe-clamping pumps for comfy trainers the second they leave the office to brave the commute. But just like designers for fall 2023, British Vogue’s contributing editor Ellie Pithers has rediscovered their appeal. To attend British Vogue’s 2023 Fashion & Film Party at the weekend, she wore a pair of black suede 85mm Louboutin court shoes that had been in her wardrobe for two years. “Suddenly, something felt quite chic about a pointed black toe peeping out from under a floor-sweeping hemline,” says Ellie, whose “Kate” heels were named for Ms Moss. “Maybe more crisp and sophisticated than an open-toe sandal. I’ve always been into quite classic shoes, I love simple ballet flats and loafers for everyday, and the court shoe feels like a palate-cleanser for evening.”
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