High-fashion shoe designer Warren Edwards thinks Crypton is made for walking!

In celebration of Fashion Week, which has blanketed New York City in a beautiful blizzard of style, let’s stop for a short, chic shoe tutorial. Before Jimmy Choo, before Christian Louboutin, before Manolo Blahnik, there was Warren Edwards, brilliant designer of fashion-forward footwear for women and men.

Warren’s still going strong, his delightful designs proof that he’s at the very top of his game. And his high-style Manhattan store on East 60th Street off Park Avenue continues to be the de rigueur destination for connoisseurs of fine, fashionable footwear.

Another reason to love Warren is that he’s a huge dog lover. He’s owned by two adorable fox terriers, Nicky and Nora – they’re named after the lead humans in “The Thin Man” flicks, but they’re ringers for the movies’ dog star, a famous fox terrier named Asta.

But dogs will be dogs, so Nicky and Nora are not above, ahem, chewing the occasional shoe. Warren recalls the time his girls destroyed an entire range of design samples. “That was a very expensive exercise in learning that they love to chew shoes,” he says with a laugh. “For some reason, they were especially diligent about munching on the heels.” Well, they are females, after all, so they appreciate a stylin’ stiletto!

The design challenge: How to make heels that are as hound-proof as they are haute?  Warren came up with a brilliant idea: a shoe with no leather components might be an effective doggie deterrent. But the material still has to be high-style and that’s where Super Fabrics come in.

Warren selected Crypton Suede in Blueberry, and knocked our socks off with these fabulous renderings of traffic-stopping “Blue Suede Shoes.”

“It’s a great color in that denim-y family, which is hugely popular now,” the designer explains. “It’s such a great, non-seasonal shade.” Plus, with their treaded Vibram soles, the shoes provide the traction every dog-walker needs when pounding the pavement with a pup. 

High-fashion shoes made for walking and puppy-proofing? That, as they say in the U.K., is the dog’s bollocks. Stay tuned to see the actual shoes in action …

Posted by Julia Szabo.