Shoes are women’s achilles heel and luxury shoe designers create myriads of designs each year to feed the desires of their awaiting clientele. It is no longer a wonder to find a woman who has 100 pairs of shoes or a wife that is shopping for new footwear.
So long as there are new designs, there will always be a ready market willing to buy. Below are top 10 of the most popular luxury shoe brands in the world.
1. Jimmy Choo:
Jimmy Choo is an iconic luxury lifestyle brand, distinct for its empowered sense of glamour and an assured sense of style.
The brand traces its roots to a bespoke shoemaker named Jimmy Choo, who catered to the global jet set, including Princess Diana. The Jimmy Choo company was founded in 1996, when Tamara Mellon discovered Mr Choo. Finding her place in the luxury shoe market, she established the Jimmy Choo brand. Choo’s niece, Sandra Choi, joined the business as Creative Director.
The sexy cuts, fashionable designs, and exceptional Italian craftsmanship struck a chord with a stylish clientele, and the first collection enjoyed instant success. With a goal of creating a global luxury business, Jimmy Choo fascinated outside investment and the company significantly expanded across product categories, channels and geographies. Jimmy Choo departed the company in 2001 and Tamara Mellon left in 2011.
A pioneer in the art of celebrity dressing, Jimmy Choo is amidst the very first to bring shoes and handbags to Hollywood where the red carpet proved to be the perfect runway for the brand. Academy Award Winners Halle Berry and Cate Blanchett all wore Jimmy Choo shoes when they won. Today, Jimmy Choo can be seen on style icons from celebrities to royalty to musicians to heads of state.
The brand’s reputation as a celebrity favourite helped to fuel its rapid expansion. Its iconography was more defined by the bold and theatrical advertising portraying glamorous but strong women in towering heels and luxurious handbag.
Retail development has also been an integral part of the company’s strategy. The first Jimmy Choo store was opened in 1996 on Motcomb Street in London. A few years later, the company expanded to the US, opening two stores in New York City and Beverly Hills. International expansion continued with Jimmy Choo securing locations in the premiere luxury shopping destinations of the world’s most prestigious cities including Sloane Street and Bond Street in London, Avenue Montaigne in Paris and Via Condotti in Rome to name a few.
Today, Jimmy Choo encompasses a complete luxury lifestyle brand. Women’s shoes remain the core of the product offer, alongside handbags, small leather goods, scarves, sunglasses, eyewear, belts, fragrance and men’s shoes. The design direction is managed and run by Co-Creative Directors Sandra Choi and Simon Holloway, who together share a vision to create one of the world’s most precious luxury brands.
2. Christian Louboutin:
Some people learn their skills in the hands of more seasoned masters, but shoe designer Christian Louboutin found his calling as a 17-year-old apprentice in the dressing rooms of Paris’ fcabaret, Folies Bergère.
Tina Turner and Nicole Kidman are inspirations for Louboutin, 44, whose immediately recognizable red-soled stilettos have become a fashion statement on the red carpet and among Hollywood’s A-list crowd.
Christian Louboutin spent the early years of his career designing shoes for some of fashion’s biggest names, including Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. In 1992 he opened up his own store at the end of a picturesque 19th century Parisian arcade. He still runs his business from that Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau address, but now his shoes are sold in over 46 countries. He has 14 boutiques in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and London to name a few and he plans to open six more next year in places such as Singapore and Jakarta. He counts on people like Oprah and Cameron Diaz to be among his loyal clientele.
Louboutin is just as considerate of his less famous customers. At a recent personal appearance at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City, he canceled his flight back to Paris in order to spend another two hours autographing shoes.
3. Louis Vuitton:
What is not to love about Louis Vuitton shoes and luxury brand products? They are elegant, stylish, chic and extremely fashionable. All these go along with the brand’s excellent workmanship, quality of work and of course comfort. Louis Vuitton is an icon, representing excellence and this broadens to the shoes that it creates.
The Louis Vuitton label was founded by Vuitton in 1854 on Rue Neuve des Capucines in Paris, France. Vuitton was the first to introduce his flat-bottom trunks with trianon canvas, making them not only lightweight, but airtight as well. Before the introduction of Vuitton’s trunks, rounded-top trunks were used, generally to promote water run off, and thus could not be stacked.
By 1913, the Louis Vuitton Building opened on the Champs-Elysees. At the time, it was the biggest travel-goods store in the world at the time. Stores also opened in New York, Bombay, Washington, London, Alexandria, and Buenos Aires as World War I began. During World War II, Louis Vuitton collaborated with the Nazis during the German occupation of France. The French book Louis Vuitton, A French Saga, authored by French journalist Stephanie Bonvicini chronicles how members of the Vuitton family actively aided the puppet government led by Marshal Philippe Pétain and increased the government’s wealth from their business affairs with the Germans. The family set up a factory that created artifacts glorifying Pétain, including more than 2,500 busts.
4. Gucci
The Gucci brand has been the representation of undoubted quality in the leather field for almost 100 years. Gucci established itself as a luxury fashion label in the clothing, accessories and jewelry field. The quality of their clothes, materials and the uniqueness of their styles made Gucci the symbol of Made in Italy and one of the most acclaimed brands worldwide.
One of the most renowned shoe designers, Tom Ford, managed to revive the Gucci brand and turn it into one of the most popular and demanded shoe brand. Women around the world have embraced the fashionable shoes that have loyal followers who turn to Gucci to find comfort and sophistication. The luxury shoes are popular with women from all occupations and they are found in millions of closets around the world.
Gucci is an example of how a design can be extremely innovative, yet solid for over 100 yeands.
5. Manola Blahnik
These past 3 decades, Manolo Blahnik has topped the charts with luxury brand shoes. She has managed to become one of the most coveted brands to walk this planet. Earning the title of one of the world’s most influential shoe designers, his complex designs have fascinated judicious shoe connoisseurs from around the world. The brand has loyal devotees, who just love the unique shoes that range from sexy stiletto heels to unique designs with embroidery detail.
Manolo shoes radiate luxury and enthusiasm and they can take the wearer from a business meeting to a cocktail party in no time.
6. Walter Steiger
Walter Steiger is well known for his distinctive and innovative designs that have practically changed the entire shoe industry from top to bottom. The brand’s creations are considered classics. The brand started in 1932 when it used to sell shoes to an exclusive client list. It has since gone to work with some of the leading fashion houses and designers like Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld, Nina Ricci and Oscar de la Renta.
Walter Steiger makes this list because he has influenced the modern shoe designs the most. The characteristics of all products Walter Steiger is the clear lines and sleek minimalist design of the designs, the use of exclusive, very high-quality materials and above all the knowledge and the use of traditional craftsmanship and workmanship.
If you want a distinct look, you have to go with the Walter Steiger collection.
7. Stuart Weitzman
Stuart Weitzman is known for his unique, million-dollar shoes. He is well-known for providing it to nominees in the annual Academy Awards where the fashion in the red carpet is criticized by almost every North American fashion media to the very last detail. There was a bit of controversy in 2007, when the woman that Weitzman chose declined to wear the shoes. The company makes use of unique materials not often used by other shoemakers. These include such materials as cork, vinyl, Lucite, wallpaper and 24-karat gold.
From New York to Milan to Paris to Beijing, the Stuart Weitzman shoes have truly made an international presence and steadily grew its customer base. Now the company is engaging in a new phase of growth with the opening of signature retail stores in selected cities across the world, so that women can experience a wider range of styles and more personalized service at key destinations.
Did you know? A Stuart Weitzman shoe, as well as a Stuart Weitzman handbag, is equal parts spectacle and sculpture. It is a playing field for some of the most exotic and unexpected materials, in constrictions that routinely push the boundaries of traditional footwear. Stuart Weitzman heels are the biggest surprise, being made from pillars of chrome, stainless steel, acrylic, and bamboo; carved cork and layered woods.
8. Miu Miu
Belonging to the Prada fashion house, Miu Miu, which opened operations in 1993, is one of the highend fashion brand, whose name was taken from the nickname of its founder Miuccia Prada. It has since then become one of the most popular shoes brands in the world. It brings an innovative style, while still being able to maintain a youthful outlook. To emphasize this point, Miu Miu even appointed Hailee Steinfeld, a 14 years old actress, to be the face of the brand. This only lasted for one year.Miu Miu turning to the more mature Guinevere van Seenus, an American model who is 34 years old, to represent the brand for its recent campaign.
Celebrities such as Katie Holmes, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lindsay Lohan, Laetitia Casta, Chloe Sevigny and Kirsten Dunst all swear by the beauty and quality of the product and endorse Miu Miu products.
9. Salvatore Ferragamo
The name Salvatore Ferragamo is is one of the most high end fashion brands whose name is synonymous with luxyr and innovation. Every season we can look forward to their takes on the trend and this year it is the opulence trend.
Salvatore Ferragamo brand offers luxury shoes, leathers goods, fragrances , accessories,and apparel for men and women. Ferragamo is a brand whose name who knows how to combined creative and innovative style with the quality and craftsmanship typical of the best art of shoemaking.
Succinctly modern revivalist, shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo was indeed one of the first global names in twentieth-century Italian fashion throughout the 20th century and now well into 21st centiry. The Ferragamo name has held international appeal and importance in terms of their fine craftsmanship and ingenious design that date back to the 1930s with movie stars like Gloria Swanson.
Even after the patriarch of Ferragano died in 1960, his family continued his legacy of quality, and even today retains a classic, timeless appeal. Among his greatest innovations, Salvatore Ferragamo used ferronerie-style and voided velvet textiles in classic pump designs. His admiration for the aesthetics of Italy’s textile heritage is still renowned today by luxury shoe lovers.
10. Givenchy
The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Pret-a-Porter. It is owned by luxury goods behemoth LVMH and in 1993 was able to reach total sales worth of $176 million, making it the second largest apparel division of LVMH – second to Christian Dior.
Givenchy designs have been worn by many celebrities on red carpet occasions, including Rooney Mara at the 2012 Academy Awards. Also working with the brand is Madonna. Givenchy designed her costumes for her Sticky & Sweet tour as well as the 2012 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
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