When Leonardo da Vinci painted the young Catherine de Medici on her wedding day in 1533, he added extra height to her heels. You have to feel for a bride who can’t find the right pair of shoes for her big day. Today, Medici would have had no such problem. With designer heels averaging three inches, she could easily have elevated herself and saved the need for medieval Photoshopping. However, heel height aside, current trends would probably have thrown de Medici off her stride, because a new generation of designers is making shoes that are more than just the sum of their sole, heel and upper.

Jonathan Kelsey, Nicholas Kirkwood, Camilla Skovgaard and Rupert Sanderson have individually spent the past few years playing around with everything from aerodynamic platforms to stilettos so high and complex they seem to defy the laws of gravity. But what is new about young designers experimenting with avant-garde shapes? Well, when your collection has been bought by Saks Fifth Avenue before you’ve even graduated (Skovgaard), or you’ve been asked to design an exclusive footwear range for Mulberry one year into business (Kelsey), it becomes more obvious.

To put this rise into context, it is worth noting that there had previously been just three big names in the luxury footwear industry: Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo and Manolo Blahnik. Of course, the ready-to-wear fashion houses have been producing accomplished shoe collections for some time, yet this new breed is something different. For one, they aren’t daunted by the big, high-profile lines, and they seem to know exactly what women want on their feet right now.

Is it purely coincidental that four brilliant footwear designers, working independently of each other, have surfaced at the same moment? Sue Saunders, of world-renowned London footwear college Cordwainers, thinks it is a question of a new business confidence. “In recent years, the fashion industry has woken up to the fact that shoes are sexy and profitable. And this has created a positive climate for the most entrepreneurial students.”

If you were going to be picky, Rupert Sanderson shouldn’t really be referred to as a new designer at all, because he launched his label (they all take the names of their creators) more than six years ago. The pioneer then, he certainly embodies the spirit of this revolution. His shoes are beautiful and intriguing, and his first customers just happened to be Neiman Marcus and Liberty. Not bad for a man who previously worked in advertising.

Amazingly, only Nicholas Kirkwood actually started life as a shoe designer. And, ironically, he is also the only one who started without a solid business plan. Kelsey and Skovgaard both worked in ready-to-wear, she in Dubai and he in London. Like Sanderson, their meandering route into footwear must surely be credited with their current success. “Because of my background, I was slightly naive,” says Kelsey. “I didn’t worry about things being difficult to produce. I thought about using different fabrics, approaching the problem from another angle.” Skovgaard was more resolute in her intentions. “It was the lack of taste in women’s shoes that I saw in Dubai that initially set me on the footwear path. I gradually came to recognise the crucial importance of the right shoes if the final look is to make any sense.”

Learning how restrictive shoe manufacturing can be must tame some young creative minds. Not Kirkwood’s, though. Yasmin Sewell, chief creative consultant at Liberty, is so taken with his designs that they form part of the store’s newly expanded, architect-designed 4,000sq ft shoe department. “I’m a devotee of Nicholas Kirkwood,” she says. “By simply following his own vision each season, he encourages you to rethink your own, which is remarkable in such a young talent. Trends appear in his work unintentionally and are always executed in such a considered, accomplished way.”

Liberty’s lavish temple to shoes only goes to prove the power of footwear today. It also endorses the theory that, even in times of economic chilliness, women still spend money on underwear and shoes. And they aren’t just buying them as an afterthought – they are now at the very centre of fashion, says Sewell. “We are increasingly getting dressed from the ground up – shoes are what the rest of an outfit satellites around. The right pair empowers a woman.” So, what accounts for the shift? “This wave of new designers – they’ve pushed boundaries in terms of aesthetics.”

Catwalk-show shoes are the most obvious reason for this new creativity. Over the past few seasons, there has been a vogue for ready-to-wear designers to commission footwear for the runway. Kirkwood and Kelsey both cut their teeth on this kind of designer collaboration. “The likes of Givenchy and Balenciaga create shoes solely for a show, and that kind of severe, extreme look has inspired other designers to make more interesting pieces for their selling collections,” says Kirkwood. As a result, while models are grappling to stay vertical on the runways, several levels down the footwear food chain, the consumer has a much more interesting selection of shoes on offer.

Although the looks they create might be futuristic, Kelsey, Kirkwood, Skovgaard and Sanderson are committed to a level of manufacture that could almost pass as couture. The majority of their shoes are made in Italy, except for a few made in China for Skovgaard. “There is a lot of bad shoe production in Italy,” she explains, “so one should not be blinded by the country’s reputation for footwear. There’s a general feeling that the factories there are struggling. Only a handful are able to offer the kind of patience that new start-ups will need in the first few years. They may say yes at first, but pull out after a season or two.” Kirkwood and Kelsey seem to have found real artisans, however. “I use a small factory near Bologna that can do the tiny stitching you find on vintage shoes,” says Kirkwood. “A lot more of the work is done by hand there than machine, so you get the kind of quality the customer is demanding.”

It’s the commitment to delivering quality that sets these designers apart. That is all very well, but can a love of fine stitching really explain women’s blind obsession with footwear? Skovgaard thinks it’s more a question of physics. “It’s the combination of technical function, structured 3-D form, cut and balance.” Say goodbye to your peep-toes – there’s something more dynamic in store.

RUPERT SANDERSON

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