MARC JACOBS AND THE LATE-LATE SHOES

from WWD:

"The designer (Marc Jacobs) and his business partner, Robert Duffy, found out on Friday that the shoes for their fall show won't arrive from Italy until 5 p.m. Sunday. The late delivery will have a domino effect on fittings and, ultimately, the start of the show, which was scheduled for 8 p.m. at the New York State Armory. "I know how we work," Duffy said on Friday. "Everything changes once the shoes get in. The fittings won't really start until the shoes get here."

Jacobs triggered a heated debate two seasons ago when his show was delayed by almost two hours. "I don't want everyone to be angry," Duffy said. "Everybody should have dinner. I understand if they're not going to be able to come because it's too late for them." "

what I bet you might not know is that while it seems footwear and fashions would be coordinated, they actually have two very different delivery schedules, different factories, sometimes different designers and different fashion weeks. thus, many a shoe is delivered under the gun, just in the nick of time. michael from gunmetal was emailing me just days before the doo.ri. show they created shoes for. he was still in milan putting the final touches on the shoes and praying they would get there in time. not only do shoe designers have to work on the italian factory timeframes, which are shall we say, a bit more relaxed than we are used to, they must also deal with customs. what this means is that your shoes may be created, made and gorgeous, and they may also end up sitting on a dock somewhere while customs decides whether or not they really are just samples (no tax) instead of commercial goods (lots of tax).

whew! now you know why shoe designers are so INTENSE!

another interesting tidbit, is that fashion designers rarely have shoes designed expressly for their show. usually they partner with a fave designer and chosse 2-3 key shoes that they use for their entire show. temperly uses christian louboutin, ralph rucci uses manolo, etc.