The top 10 shoes of Milan Fashion Week’s Fall-Winter 2023 season – Footwear News

The tight but busy schedule of Milan Fashion Week, with runway shows and presentations of shoes and accessories, was packed with new shoes. Many brands have stayed true to the unwritten rule for seasonal fall and winter footwear: it’s all about the boot. Most often they came in a relaxed form as over-the-knee boots or slightly narrower than knee-high boots with a ruffled shaft or turn-up detail. After last summer’s unexpected western boot craze, the style has been a staple in many collections, executed in varying degrees of heel height, shape and pizzazz.

Elsewhere, the pointed toe and stiletto heel sprung like a pendulum swing from the soft comfort of rounded platforms and chunky loafers. They were still there, but less of the novelty of the week.

Here’s a rundown of the 10 best shoes from Milan Fashion Week’s Fall/Winter 23 season.

1. Bottega Veneta’s embossed over-the-knee boots

The brand’s runway show was overflowing with different styles of shoes and bags (and other essential accessories – intrecciato gloves, anyone?). There were intrecciato thigh highs, leather-soled woven sock shoes, metallic curved heel pumps, high vamps and rubber soles, and delicately braided wrap-around sandals accented with gold cherries on the toes. Men’s footwear included a persuasive Western-style braided leather boot.

But it was a pair of mint green thigh-high heels with a cantilevered heel that encapsulated the magic of the collection. The boot is also available in black patent leather and the cantilevered heel is also featured on a range of ankle boots. Expect to see this form frequently in the fall.

2. Giuseppe Zanotti’s Best Western

Western boots abounded in Milan – Italy’s love affair with iconography dates back to the spaghetti western era of the mid-1960s. And while it’s easy to imagine Giuseppe Zanotti becoming a rhinestone-studded cowgirl, the designer’s actual take on the trend was surprisingly tame, in smooth leather (black, white, red, and bubblegum pink) with pretty rows of round crystals on the Cuban Heel – one of the best westerns of the season.

3. Alexandre Birman’s turn-up hem boots

The Brazilian footwear impresario splits his eponymous luxury line into a regular-season collection – packed with reliable bestsellers – and a runway collection that allows the brand to take a more complex and artisanal direction. The latter included this high-heeled tall leather boot with a corset-like lace-up motif and a fold-over shape that mimics the hem of a perfectly tailored pair of jeans or pants; Chic in form, versatility and simplicity.

4. Gianvito Rossi Curb Link Overknees

Mr. Rossi is known for his heeled sandals (the Portofino is a bestseller for the brand year after year). However, the designer is now almost as well known to his customers as the supplier of the trendiest boots of the season, especially in the knee and over-the-knee categories. The Fall/Winter ’23 show was no different, and while the presentation collection was well edited, there was still plenty of variety and a balanced mix of eye-catching boots and seasonal staples. Crafted from white leather and accented with a simple but substantial curb chain (it’s detachable), this over-the-knee pair is the best of both worlds.

5. Jimmy Choo’s punk flats

It’s no surprise that the spirit of punk is seeping through the fashion industry’s creative minds following the recent death of Dame Vivienne Westwood. For Autumn/Winter ’23, Jimmy Choo joined the vocation, adding tartan prints and diamond-shaped studs to everything from the expected combat boots to more ladylike ballet flats (also beaded) and glittery wedge boots. “As a Brit, punk is everything,” creative director Sandra Choi told FN at the brand’s MFW presentation on Saturday. “It’s identity, it’s that dose of otherness. It’s about the merging of the two worlds, something princessy mixed with punk.” Featuring a tartan pattern, ankle strap, studs and beaded detailing, this ballerina is a powerful look packed into a shoe that’s usually considered tame.

6. Prada’s paper art kitten heel

The chunky loafer might still be the brand’s best-selling shoe, but its brushed-leather slingback pumps with mismatched heels are increasingly creeping into street-style shots (the now-ubiquitous triangle logo on the toe might have something to do with it, too) . . The Italian brand also opted for pumps for Autumn/Winter 23, using kitten heels and pointed-toe flats (a longtime favorite of Raf Simons over the years, at Prada but also during his time at Dior). As a Prada, they had a bit more going for it: molded leather accents at the top resembling paper folds and cutouts, some with floral motifs, like an ornate paper airplane or boat.

7. Casadei’s Modern Westerns

Creative Director Cesare Casadei was in Los Angeles last year when he spotted summer’s biggest footwear trend: westerns in hot weather. “They were everywhere, worn differently, so cool,” the designer remarked at the brand’s Fall Winter ’23 presentation. Casadei incorporated the look into a simple but interesting style: with an easy pull-on ankle silhouette and Cuban heel, as well as intricate crackled leather detailing that adds just the right flair to an otherwise minimalist boot.

8. The Greek Pillars of AGL

The AGL sisters (Sara, Vera and Marianna Giusti) launch footwear and accessories that are delightfully whimsical, with standout shapes and color palettes increasingly harmonizing editorial and commercial feasibility – this is no longer just a ballerina brand. In addition to a brand collaboration with supermodel Kristen McMenamy, the Fall ’23 collection continued to explore different heel options, from platforms to a range of stacked heels, including a Greek column-inspired stacked heel (its ribs resemble rubber). sole of his popular and very comfortable Tania boot from last season). It is the heel and a uniquely curved turn-up shape on this boot that bring out the AGL uniqueness perfectly.

9. Ferragamo’s Smooth Wedges

Salvatore Ferragamo invented the wedge heel in the 1930s, creating a completely new type of shoe that is still being explored in a variety of ways today. That’s why it was delightful to see Creative Director Maximilian Davis design his own twist on wedges for Fall/Winter ’23. Complementing a collection of sharp and polished ready-to-wear, a pair of lipstick red patent leather wedges with a slightly inverted heel – a subtle nod to the brand’s F-heel invented in 1947 – pointed toes and double ankle straps made the wedge a futuristic lens.

10. House of Honeys Honey Bubble Mary Janes

Since launching in 2021, Stefano Miele’s House of Honey has carved its niche by crafting subversive, avant-garde shoes that are just plain fun. It’s also very convenient. Introduced for Fall ’22 in a fleshy pink gum, the Honey Bubble sole is carried over into the Fall-Winter ’23 collection, where it’s again dressed up in an easy-to-wear, easy-to-buy Mary Jane style, both totally in Black and some in unexpected color combinations with the pink sole for the more adventurous. Miele (an alumnus of Prada, Miu Miu and Moschino) also introduced a Honey Bubble high boot, in a combination of black and pea green and pink. This is a sole and shoe shape worth another look.