Jenny Packham on the rise of special- yet affordable- wedding shoes
I’d lined up the ivory lace gown with chapel train, the waltz-length veil, the custom-made corset and the vintage coral and pearl earrings months in advance. But wedding shoes? Those were proving more of a challenge. There simply wasn’t any budget left for designer shoes, and I couldn’t find anything without the word ‘diamante’ as a major selling point on the high street - until the week before my wedding, when I unearthed some better-than-serviceable ivory satin peep-toes in the Kurt Geiger sale. These were so well-priced that I bought two pairs, in anticipation of the inevitable dance-floor trashing to come.
That was in 2009. Back then, after all the expenses that coalesced to make weddings the most fiscally punitive events in any woman’s life, the shoes, at least, could be something of an afterthought. Nobody would see them under the gown anyway - which was a good thing too, given that our choices seemed to be split between white satin shoes from dance shops on the one hand, and the luxury designer realm on the very expensive other.
Then came Instagram (the wedding #shoefie being on every bride’s shot list) and the rise of the multi-dress wedding, where brides change into something shorter (ergo shoe-revealing) for the evening party. And just like that, shoes mattered. “Brides today really want their weddings to look individual and creative,” says Jenny Packham, a bridalwear authority and one of the Duchess of Cambridge’s favourite designers (when asked if she had been invited to submit designs for Meghan Markle’s wedding gown, Packham will only smile, then zip her lips and mime throwing away the key). “There’s nothing standard about a wedding dress or shoes anymore.”
Packham has tapped into the moment with a new shoe and clutch collection in collaboration with L.K.Bennett. That’s joined by new bridal collections from Dune (a 15-piece ivory satin shoe range) and Ted Baker, whose second Tie the Knot collection and its dozens of bridal shoe designs lands in mid-February. Whistles, meanwhile, launch wedding stilettos to complement its popular bridalwear collection in April/May.
??LKB x Jenny Packham Ellena heel, ￡235, LK Bennett; LKB x Jenny Packham Cari flat, ￡245 , LK Bennett; Slingback shimmery heel, ￡295, Russell & Bromley
Originally, Packham’s collection was supposed to consist of just six shoes- in the end it includes 16 pairs of shoes and four clutches, all of which pick up themes from her fluid, heavily embellished bridal designs. There’s a classic satin court sprinkled with crystals and pearls, a high-heeled sandal with stars zooming across the straps, a mid-heeled lace slingback, a glamorous, beaded satin sandal and a sweet pair of strappy leather flats, all in white or ivory tones. “What we’ve done is create a collection that can work with all kinds of dresses,” she says. “Hopefully the shoes are confidence-enhancing, yet also magical and special.”
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Packham will show the shoes in context at her upcoming bridal show at the Ritz in March. They’ll also be available for bridal clients to try during gown-shopping appointments at her Mount Street flagship store, and stocked in L.K.Bennett stores from 7th February. The retailer expects a stampede- the pre-registration response is the highest they’ve had for any collaboration.
Part of the appeal may be that many of the shoes don’t scream “bridal”, making them ripe for rewearing. Just as I never wore my wedding gown again, I was never tempted to rewear my battered satin shoes after the big day- but I have one friend who justified the expense of her bejewelled Manolo Blahniks by buying them in blue, which she promised meant she could wear them happily ever after. (She also hemmed her dress to just above ankle level, ensuring the shoes would be on show. Clever.) Does Packham think her high-street wedding shoes will have an afterlife? “They might,” she smiles, “but at the same time, I think it’s lovely that people put the shoes back in their box, and then they become part of their wedding story.”