Capturing style is a talent. A talent that Gabrielle Chanel instinctively had more than anyone, detecting what would make all the difference to a silhouette.
In 1957, after she’d already made the little black dress, the tweed braided suit and the quilted handbag – all essentials in women’s wardrobes – Mademoiselle Chanel decided to introduce a new note to a woman’s allure: two-tone shoes. “They are”, she said, “The height of elegance.” As ever her vision was perfectly exact, direct and obvious. This time she took the form of the beige and black slingback shoe, studied it from heel to toe to mingle it in with every look, from morning to night and for every occasion. Once again with this accessory the designer imposed a very real stylistic rupture: up until then shoes had been one colour and had to match the colour of the outfit, Gabrielle Chanel liberated women from the rigid codes of an antiquated elegance.
“The new Cinderella slipper” as the press called it, immediately went global and quickly seduced actresses of the era including Catherine Deneuve, Romy Schneider, Brigitte Bardot, Delphine Seyrig, Jane Fonda and Jeanne Moreau.
This shoe boasts another big advantage, its colours: the beige lengthens the leg while the black toe cap shortens the foot. With a sense of practicality anchored in every one of her creations, Gabrielle Chanel had also decided to use this graphically effective detail to protect the tip of the pump from the wear. As for the slingback, it provided great freedom of movement. Finally the 5cm high square heel was conceived to ensure a comfort that fitted in perfectly with women’s new lifestyles. It’s most likely that the designer drew these features from men’s wear: the two-tone shoe having been around since the 18th century.
At the beginning of the 20th century she often designed sport or leisure shoes in the shape of men’s derbies or oxfords, just like the pair she wears in this famous portrait of her perched on the shoulders of her friend the dancer Serge Lifar. Gabrielle Chanel quickly perfected her creation. With the help of shoemaker Massaro, the slingback was elasticated. Working from this timeless foundation, subtly different coloured versions saw the light of day: beige leather with a toe cap in navy or brown and even gold. “With four pairs of shoes I can travel around the world,” the logic was unstoppable. As seasons went by, the toe cap changed into black satin, silver leather, was rounded or more pointed, finished with a little bow. The heel became squarer in the 1960s and then thinner later on. For a while the slingback was dropped as the shoe enveloped the foot completely; it went from urban elegance to casual sporty in the shape of high top kidskin tennis shoes laced up with a black ribbon in 1966.
Mademoiselle Chanel on the shoulder of her friend Serge Lifar-1937 © Jean Moral
Romy Schneider wearing a CHANEL black dress and two-tone shoes, London 1962 ©RDA
Fall-Winter 1983-84 Ready-to-Wear ad campaign ©CHANEL – Helmut Newton
Today Karl Lagerfeld’s equally inventive and practical spirit continues to keep this shoe alive. Under his direction the signature two-tone pump made a comeback in 2015 in the shape of a slingback sandal with revised dimensions, still firmly placed upon a square heel. At the Fall-Winter 2015/16 Ready-to-Wear show every single look, from slim-cut leather trousers to tweed dresses, from three-piece suits to evening gowns, was thus well heeled: “The slingback has become the most modern shoe and makes the legs look beautiful” confided the designer. An approach that neatly follows in the footsteps of Gabrielle Chanel who in 1957 said, “We leave in the morning with a beige and black, we lunch with beige and black, we go to a cocktail party with the beige and black. We are dressed from morning to night!”
But just like his illustrious predecessor, Karl Lagerfeld, from his very first Ready-to-Wear collection in 1983, has often had fun playing with the two-tone shoe. From 1986 onwards he hit the pavement with a ballerina.
For Spring-Summer 1994 Ready-to-Wear he presented it in black and white, fastened with an ankle strap. For the Fall-Winter 2005/06 campaign, the colours were inverted and the shoe became black with a white toe cap, worn by Daria Werbowy on the streets of New York and photographed by Karl Lagerfeld.
Breaking yet more codes he then imagined other duos: plum and peacock blue, black and lavender, fuchsia and black, bottle green and black on sandals with rock crystal heels (Fall-Winter 2012/13 Ready-to-Wear). Striding out at the Spring-Summer 2015 Ready-to-Wear show, the models wore strappy derbies in gold leather with a black suede top cap. Beyond colours Karl Lagerfeld also mixes materials by daringly combining PVC with satin for the Spring-Summer 2013 Ready-to-Wear collection, lace with leather on the thigh boots in the Spring-Summer 2013 Haute Couture collection, and tweed with patent leather for the low boots of the Fall-Winter 2009/10 Haute Couture collection.
Playing with trompe-l’oeil, the designer transformed the two-tone into a legging-style thigh boot for the Paris-Bombay Métiers d’art 2011/12 collection, and at the Spring-Summer 2014 Ready-to-Wear show the two-tone shoe had its own integrated socks. Always shaking up conventions, the designer adorned the heel of a pointed pump with a knot and even created two-tone espadrilles in canvas and leather for the 2013/14 Cruise collection. For the Paris-Salzburg Métiers d’art 2014/15, he fashioned a riding boot out of loden and leather.
Almost sixty years after its creation, Chanel’s two-tone shoe has been continuously enriched with new versions, thanks to the unexpected interpretations and constantly renewed creativity of Karl Lagerfeld. As a high heel, a ballerina, a boot, a sneaker and even an espadrille, the two-tone shoe is today, more than ever, a true fashion accessory that combines timeless elegance, comfort and modernity.
2013-14 Cruise collection ©CHANEL
Spring-Summer 2015 Ready-to-Wear collection ©CHANEL
Paris-Salzburg 2014-15 Métiers d’art collection ©CHANEL
Fall-Winter 2015-16 Ready-to-Wear ad campaign ©CHANEL – KARL LAGERFELD
