FASHION Magazine

After being sued by Alexander McQueen this fall for copyright infringement, Steve Madden is looking at another lawsuit, this time from Balenciaga. The house alleges that Madden copied the now famous Lego-inspired shoe from Balenciaga’s Fall 2007 collection. Madden’s pair sold for US$99.95 to the French brand’s US$4,175.

The news lead National Post columnist Nathalie Atkinson to point out on her Twitter feed that Balenciaga has had some looks in recent seasons that bear suspicious resemblance to the work of other designers.

The first-ever Canadian P&G Beauty Awards were handed out last night at Toronto’s Carlu. Nia Vardalos presided over the evening, which had a list of presenters that included Jeanne Beker, designer Joeffer Caoc, CNTM’s Meaghan Waller and Style by Jury’s David Clemmer. FASHION picked up two awards—Best Fashion Feature for Karen Burshtein’s “Diary of a Couture Dress” from our Summer 2008 issue and Best Magazine Cover for our August 2008 cover with Coco Rocha. Other winners included Addison Gill for Best New Face and Janine Falcon (imabeautygeek.com) for Best Beauty or Fashion Blog.

Tamara Mellon is suing her mother for $9.5 million. The lawsuit comes on the heels of the allegation that Mellon’s mum, Ann Yeardye, breached their part verbal/part paper contract in the sale of Jimmy Choo to Lion Capital in 2004. Yeardye was meant to receive only a cash pay off in the deal but she allegedly took $6.3 million in stock. [The Cut]

Alexander McQueen is taking Steve Madden to court; the designer is being sued for allegedly copying the Faithful bootie. McQueen’s attempt to halt production of the shoe with a cease and desist order was greeted with refusal from Madden. What can we say–imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? [The Cut]

Miu Miu wants to be the centre of attention. At least in stores carrying the designer label’s bags. The brand has recently pulled out of several U.S. department stores—the company wanted their merchandise to be displayed on its own, while many stores mixed the purses with other designers. [WSJ]

To be honest, I thought we might be over them. I mean, once a shoe has been molded into a jelly version of itself, you expect it’s on the way out—one can only stretch a trend so far. But not so with the gladiator, a shoe still storming the streets this season, and storming them in classier, sleeker and downright gorgeous styles.

A recent birthday trip to NYC provided the slap in the face (or kick in the pants, I suppose): within my five-day visit, I had collected a mental catalogue of nearly a hundred pairs of the strappy shoe parading about town. How could I have been so blind to the gladiator’s obvious victory over shoedom? My recovery from the blow was quick. Feelings of revelation were rapidly replaced with twangs of desire and a moment of weakness in Zara even had six pairs slung up one arm as I bent over, nearly perspiring, zipping, sliding and buckling my tired feet into a deep brown pair of the warrior wears.

Now that I’m back on familiar ground, I’ve scoured the shops and filled my arms with gladiator shoes yet again—but this time with Halifax finds—letting you know where to find the sweetest sandals in this city.