Taking on a classic shoe shape, women’s loafers have been transformed into a fashionable designer shoe style after stepping away from the previous lady-like and old fashioned look to create a cool and hip old English heritage look that’s everywhere right now.

It’s so easy to pull off women’s loafers, wear them dressed down with jeans for a casual yet stylish look, while a tailored look is perfect with the loafers trend when worn with tapered trousers.

Check out this fun Street Cam video from the VLD girls after we headed out on the streets to spot this latest loafers trend!

Flying Start is a global charity partnership between Comic Relief and British Airways that aims to transform the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable children in the UK and around the world.

The charity auction is part of the ‘save the postcard’ campaign. In the age of tweeting and texting, travellers are losing the simple pleasure of writing postcards.  The postcard is an art form in its own right – so who better to champion its survival than some of Europe’s top artists and designers. 

The original, signed, postcard-sized pieces of shoe art by Irene Prada and Manolo Blahnik are up for grabs in an online auction that closes at 23.59 on 1 November 2010. 

So if you want to get your hands on these utterly fabulous pieces of work then get over to www.bahighlife.com now and place your bid!

Irene Prada art work up for auction

Manolo Blahnik art work up for auction

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Check this fantastic artist’s work at MORGAN-DAVIES ART, London ! All of the images below are pieces of art by Irene Prada and copyright of the artist.

Five women between the ages of 16 and 50 enrolled on the six week course at South Thames College where they were taught how to get the perfect high heel walk. Run by Chyna Whyne, the course also looked at the Alexander Technique to help women move more naturally and improve posture, which helps to reduce the risk of developing back pain from wearing high heels.

The Diva loves the sound of this! Not only do you get to learn how to walk better in high heels but it’s also really good for your health too. If you don’t have time for the course, here are some of Whyne’s tips:

1. Foot exercises – do ankle rotations, pointing and flexing, and rising on the balls of the feet
2. Make sure you buy the right size of shoe
3. Lead with the ball of your foot when walking and keep your feet slightly turned out
4. Relax the knees or your lower back can lock
5. Understand the Alexander Technique

As you can imagine, moving from a four bedroom detached house to a two bedroom bungalow meant there was some thinning out to be done, but that was nothing compared to the task that faced her mum when she tried fitting the collection of shoes she had amassed throughout the years into a much smaller wardrobe space. Something had to be done.

So, The Diva decided to go through each pair individually, ditching any that were looking shabby, had broken heels or that were never going to come back into fashion…that didn’t work and so she was left with a conundrum as to where this assortment of shoes and boots was going to live.

That’s when The Diva remembered seeing some really useful clear shoe storage boxes on the Viva la Diva website that would let her mum keep all the shoes she wanted without taking up wardrobe space. And at just £10 for a pack of three shoe boxes, they’re great value for money! With shoe storage boxes in different sizes for boots, high heels and flat shoes, she simply slipped them under the bed. And while they were at it The Diva also spruced up some forgotten shoes with shoe care kits and brought boots back to life with boot shapers.

Cosmetic surgeons are seeing an increase in women wanting “foot fillers”, which are dermal filler injections put into the foot to provide an extra layer of cushioning that prevents pain in the ball of foot caused by wearing high heels. Now, I’m not sure about you, but even The Diva thinks that’s going a little too far, especially when you can buy effective gel pads for shoes that surely offer a similar type of relief without the pain and expense of injections.

These Diva Feet are gel pads for the ball of the foot and let divas dance the night away without getting those pains from glamorous heels, while these Shooz Kits have a variety of gel pads for the feet and toes to stop them rubbing together. All in all, The Diva much prefers the sound of gel pads than squeamish injections!