How to get dressed

Casper shoe by Kurt Geiger

As of this second, shoes are officially at the pinnacle of their creative arc. It was touch and go for a while, what with bags stealing so much of the spotlight and the budget. But they are increasingly the most exciting part of a collection. Back in real life, we’ve got the good old high street. Except that when it comes to shoes, the high street is, curiously, not good. Just old. At the cheap end, it’s often quite nasty: “patents” that peel after two outings, anorexic soles, comfort not even a remote factor. Your mother was right – bargain accessories are fool’s gold.

Into this abyss treads what you could call top-end high street. At L.K. Bennett or Russell & Bromley you can easily part with £200, although both have shoes for considerably less. You will also find a point of view often lacking from the cheaper chains. Both do the safer reaches of high fashion, and L.K. Bennett also does classic elegance, Russell & Bromley a muted kind of bling.

Meanwhile, Kurt Geiger, its baby sister KG and, to an extent, the same group’s less exalted Carvela go hell for Italian leather with high, higher, give-it-to-me-baby highest fashion. And well they might, since it also runs the shoe departments of Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty and House of Fraser. This means Kurt Geiger buys all the designer ranges stocked therein, thus getting to see what the designers have come up with ahead of time. You follow my drift: two years ago, Geiger launched Fashionistas, a range of “statements” which were promptly snapped up by Madonna.

In a bid to be seen not just as a brilliant place for cheaper interpretations of luxury brands, Geiger has hired Michael Lewis, a shoe designer latterly at Gucci, Clements Ribeiro, Louis Vuitton and Burberry. Heady stuff for any label, but especially one that is much more widely available than the average designer one – since 2005, it has opened branches in Le Printemps in Paris and La Rinascente in Milan as well as in Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Luton and Bristol airports (perfect for those last-minute purchases before take-off on easyJet – or the private jet).

It’s this span (KG prices average about £85, while last year’s Kurt Geiger crocodile stilettos weighed in at £450) that makes the brand interesting, along with its unashamedly high-fashion stance. This is not the place to come for ultra-sensible shoes, although Elise, its leather baseball boots (an “homage” to Emma Hope’s), £110, look enticingly comfortable. You won’t find kitten heels, but you will discover shoe boots, heeled and flat brogues and block-coloured tango shoes à la Prada. Other favourites include KG’s stretch jewelled pump; Harlem, a zippered sandal with a cylindrical heel; and Casper (right), a satisfyingly chunky-heeled sandal by KG. Unless we’re in for the mother of all recessions, top-end high street is a growth area (Banana Republic is set to swell its numbers here soon). It just needs a better name.