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Shoes, an accessory category showing explosive growth in all directions, continue to be a platform for innovation, with texture as a major theme moving into Spring and Fall. Diego Dolcini [4]'s truly skin-like ballet flats of printed suede with a sophisticated gloss treatment take the meaning of supple to another dimension, while Christian Louboutin [5]'s painted python stilettos layer snakeskin with bright pops of fluorescent color worked into the material to create a 3-D effect.

Due Farina [6]'s "wet satin" debuts this Spring as well. An idea stumbled upon when slogging through a rainy Milan day in flats, the duo's new design uses woven satin ribbon coated with a clear PVC that renders the sumptuous material waterproof. Always the innovator, Giuseppe Zanotti [7] uses texture in intricate heel treatments for Fall—sculptural pewter winds its way up the heel in an ornate branch-like pattern and cameos are inset in the heart of the stiletto heel. Slip on a pair of these, and even as you're walking away, you can't help but make a statement.

—Meghan Cleary [8]