Whilst wondering around town a little today I happened across a completely unexpected and delightful collaboration between New Look and London College of Fashion's Footwear Department....
The idea sees four of LCF's brightest young things designing a number of pieces for the high street chain. The results are both eyecatching and wearable, as I found out during the 1 1/2 hours I spent playing with the magical shoes ;)
The collaboration was structured in the form of a competition between designers, with four finalists' designs being made into reality.
The winning trio of shoes, designed by Chang Seok Ko, (view his portfolio page here) features at its head this wearable sandal in an unconventional, structured denim. 
A technical sketch of the sandal.
In his brief the designer has stated that he wishes for this batch of designs to evoke the sun-bleached landscapes of the island of Santorini, off Greece. The bleached, faded blues and beiges of the denim help this along, whilst details like the fringing on the sandal above keep this shoe firmly on trend for A/W 2011.
These shoes seem to well reflect his wider signature style of design- the use of faded, distressed and worn materials such as leather and denim, paired with a variety of unconventional embellishments, designed to bring a wearable yet edgy glamour to the wearer.
Another of Seok's winning designs- an irresistible mid heel, and some brutally appealing examples of Chang's more directional final collection for LCF, which focuses on the distressing of leather, denim and integration of metals in the overall creation of an edgy, feminine feel.
Whilst a deserved winner from whom we wil undoubtedly see great things, Keok's designs aren't the only ones to catch attention. For a completely different and completely engrossing mood look no further than Ruth Jones, whose graphic wedge type heels speak in tongues far beyond their £49.99 RRP...
Jones is said to have derived inspiration from the eclectic streets of Harajuku, with her comic-book style wedges which shout fun! and certainly grab the wearer some attention...
Other design talents involved in the final collection were Guang Jin and Adriana Iurascu, whose gladiator-inspired heeled sandal and insect-like peep toe respectively will make many a wearer proud.
My favourite shoes really do run in line with the judges' choice, as I couldn't get the Seok heels out of my mind. But I did have a beautiful flirt with the deep ebony version of Jones' wedge, which managed to command a Balenciaga-like seriousness with their lacquered noir details.
A selection of the shoes are now available to buy here but if you can't find the ones you love you could always pop down to your nearest full-size New Look store to see of they can help you get your fix.
Happy hunting. x
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