‘You don’t understand, this is an Alaia.’ ‘An a-what-a?’. ‘It’s like a totally important designer!’

Imagine my surprise when I saw that these demure vintage lace-ups from the Venice store were by none other than “the king of cling”, Azzedine Alaïa. In 1979, the shoe designer Charles Jourdan commissioned the Tunsian born designer to create a small ready-to-wear line which signaled the return of stylish leather clothing. In the 80’s Alaïa became synonymous with figure conscious clothing modeled by glamazons like Naomi Campbell and Grace Jones. While I must admit that I know very little about Alaïa accessories  I am somewhat of a lace-up shoe connoisseur and these are truly beautiful. Just look at that sharp contrast stitching and round toe . . I only with they came in my size!

An iconic Peter Lindbergh photograph of supermodels decked out in Alaïa