At Upper Street, many of the orders and enquiries we receive from our customers are all about finding those elusive perfect, go to evening heels. If you’re anything like us, when planning an outfit for a special evening out, the right shoes are paramount to getting the look spot on in the after dark style stakes.

An evening heel needs to be glamorous and stand out from the rest of your day wear shoe collection. It also needs to be versatile and compliment as many different evening styles in your wardrobe as possible. And as is often the case with a true shoe addict, it has to have that all important WOW factor!

We asked Upper Street co-founders Katy Chandler and Julia Grinham to let us take another peek at their shoe collection and talk us through what they think makes the perfect evening shoe.

Gold & bronze T-bar sandal, Gold & bronze asymmetric peep toe

Katy: “I love how these gold and bonze T-bars echo the 70′s luxe trend for AW11 – they look amazing with a pair of flared jeans and a silk blouse for evening cocktails. I opted for the 4.5″ heel and 0.5″ platform for authentic 70′s height – very Studio 54!” Read our T-bar feature for more 70′s inspiration.

Julia: “I’ll be wearing these gold peep toes with my beautiful black velvet DVF dress to the Drapers Fashion Awards in November where Upper Street have been short-listed in the Smaller Etailer Of The Year category. This is the stand out shoe from our AW11 Metallics trend for me and I love the contrasting colours”.

Black & gold bow peep toe, Asymmetric jewels peep toe

Katy: “These suede peep toes with their amazing gold metallic snake platform and bow are my current favourite evening heel. I’ll definitely be pairing them with something sleek and stunning to see me through the party season this year”. Take a look at our bow feature to see how you can add the perfect finishing touch to your evening or day wear heels.

Julia: “This asymmetric jewel toned peep toe is absolutely beautiful – I love the subtle blend of colours and I think it will look amazing with a long silk, flowing satin dress in contrasting jewel tones”. Here at Upper Street we fell in love with this season’s Jewels trend.

Fuchsia marine satin d’Orsay, Scarlet satin buckle pointed court

Katy: “It’s the eye popping mix of gorgeous colours that makes me grab these fuchsia and marine satin d’Orsay platforms from my collection. I love the surprise splash of citrus lemon on the heel! I’ve worn them out with dresses but also think they look amazing peeping out from beneath trousers and jeans for a more casual evening look”. If you fancy giving colours a try for an evening shoe but aren’t sure where to start, read our designing with colour feature. If you’re still unsure about your design or have any other questions, feel free to get in touch.

Julia: “This is a seriously sexy shoe to wear with a classic little black dress. These red satin courts with the additional buckle detail are fantastic for making my legs look longer and more shapely – I always wear them when I want to look red-hot!” Take a look at our gallery full of stunning scarlet designs and be inspired to create your own sexy statement shoes!

We loved seeing Katy and Julia’s evening heels and think that the best thing about all of them is that they would look just as amazing worn with jeans and a shimmery evening top as they would with full-on cocktail attire. If you’ve been inspired by some of the designs here, visit our shoe design studio and create your own statement, after-dark heels that would give Carrie Bradshaw a run for her money!

Upper Street - the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own individual shoes and have them delivered right to your door.

We’re now open for personal appointments at our Studio in London. Whether you’d like to try shoes on before ordering, view our samples and material swatches or need help with designing your shoes, we’re help to help you.

Book your one-to-one consultation

Please call us on 0845 680 9365 or email iloveshoes@upperstreet.com to book your complimentary appointment.

In the last of our Autumn/Winter trend reports, we’re focusing on the perfect transitional shoe: the pointed court. After being shunned for seasons in favour of the platform court, the pointed court is back as the chic shoe accompaniment to the sophisticated dresses, skirts and tailoring seen on the AW11 catwalks. Upper Street’s pointed court shoes come with an elegantly tapered 3.75″ heel: high enough to length your legs and low enough that you don’t worry you’ll fall over when you actually try to put one foot in front of the other. Make no mistake, pointed courts are the shoes that separate the women from the girls this Autumn.

Mix your skins with a pointed court

Upper Street python pointed court

Leather skirts were featured in many collections and can be dressed down for the day and dressed up for night. Here at Upper Street we love the chic tailoring of this Chloe ivory pencil skirt which is smart enough for external meetings and chic enough to take us to dinner after. To contrast with the leather and colour, we’ve picked an Upper Street python court. The heel of the pointed court helps define the curves of your leg and with a pencil skirt, you’ll excude an air of sophistication. As an alternative to snakeskin, you could customise your pointed courts with patent leather, contrasting satin or leather.

Dress up your jeans

Purple leopard court and  Zebra Court

We love our jeans here at Upper Street, and while flats are great for day, at night we want to dress up our jeans. We’re wearing cropped styles, the new hot length for Autumn/Winter. We’ve paired our ankle-length J Brand Maria jeans in Ozzy with two animals: a purple leopard court with contrasting black snakeskin heel, perfect for when we’re ready to rock’n'roll and a zebra court with contrasting red patent heel for monochrome with a twist. You can customise your pointed courts with alternative animal skins or add a contrasting heel or counter back for your unique take on an animal pointed court.

24 hour Metallics

Pewter snakeskin court

A shirt dress is our go-to outfit when we’re on the go all day and partying at night. This Autumn with metallics and the 70′s as key trends, we’ve snapped up this shimmering Halston dress in gold satin-jersey. We’ll be mixing our metals with an Upper Street pewter snakeskin pointed court with an asymmetrical front in Studio 54 inspired metallic turquoise. As an alternative to metallics, you could customise your pointed courts with satin to match the dress or opt for the sophistication of the simple black leather pointed court.

For inspiration on the perfect Upper Street pointed court take a look at our pointed courts gallery.

Upper Street - the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own individual shoes and have them delivered right to your door.

Images sourced from Upper Street, Net-A-Porter, Donna Ida

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Autumn Winter 2011 is the time to shine and metallics shades, always a key evening trend, have now crossed over into daywear. Gold is a key evening metallic staple – embrace the 20′s American glamour as seen in ‘Boardwalk Empire’ with a gold T-bar heel. Gold metallic flowers and gems bring an Art Deco touch whilst metallic leathers, snakeskin and satin are all key fabrics. For those looking for a more subtle alternative, white gold is pure molten perfection.

For daywear, gold T-bars work beautifully with the 40′s inspired tea dresses as seen at Miu Miu and Marni. To keep the look modern, a metallic platform adds essential height and compliments the longer hemlines that are around this season. Try designing with deeper hued metallics such as bronze and copper for a day heel with a rich luxurious feel.

Gold bronze T-bar sandal, Gold round toe brogue

Return to the glamour and decadence of the 70′s with a platform sandal with contrasting bronze leather and gold snakeskin T-bar. Wear with flares or with a jumpsuit at night for a Studio 54/Halston vibe! Go back in time even further to this season’s other time-travelling trend, the 40′s and pair these gold snake and leather brogues with a pretty tea dress.

Gold bronze platform peep toe, White gold snake bow peep toe

For a versatile metallic heel to take you through the party season in style, try an asymmetrical design like this peep toe platform in bronze and pewter snake. The perfect shoe to compliment a cocktail dress or wide leg trousers and a YSL inspired Le Smoking jacket. These white gold leather peep toes have been given a touch of shimmering glamour with a contrasting metallic gold snake platform and bow – for a different feel, try designing a similar shoe with a flower, Swarovski jewel cluster or a buckle.

Gold black patent brogue, Gold snake pointed court

Metallics are too good to save for after dark alone. This season the fash pack will be bringing a little shine to their daylight hours with metallics in the form of clothing and accessories. Mix up masculine tailoring with these elegant gold leather and black patent brogues for workwear. For full on glamour dazzle in these gold snake pointed courts with a delicate ankle strap embellished with Swarovski diamante – show stopping and sexy and if you choose a lower heel option you’ll be dancing all night!

If you’re lusting after lustrous heels to bring a little shimmer to the long winter months, visit our design studio and create a pair of bespoke shoes guaranteed to bring a twinkle to your eye! Our Metallics inspiration feature and glitter laden shoe gallery will help to provide inspiration and if you’re still stuck for sparkle suggestions.

Upper Street shoes come in a huge range of sizes from the petite 33 (UK 1.5) to the generous 43 (UK 10) with 4 width fittings. We also offer free alterations to fit and we’re so confident that you’ll love your final design that we’ll refund you if you don’t!

To book an appointment in our London Studio, email iloveshoes@upperstreet.com or call us on 0845 680 9365.

If you can’t make it the studio but still want to see our full range of luxurious materials, visit our Upper Street Swatch Store.Whether you’d like to experience the richness of our suedes, feel the silken quality of our sumptuous Italian satins or visualise our glossy patents as a shoe, you can order as many swatches as you want!

Upper Street - the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own individual shoes and have them delivered right to your door.

In the second part of our AW11 Upper Street trend feature we’re welcoming in the wonderfully warming palette of Autumn Berries. Boozy burgundy tones combine with rich autumnal browns and oranges for a luxurious take on 70′s daywear.

With the 70′s once again dominating the catwalks at Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Chloe, the rich browns and burgundies of the era are a key trend for daywear – think shades of cognac, chestnut and Bordeaux.

These rich earthy tones work beautifully in sumptuous suede and materials such as kid leather and snakeskin evoke the 70′s era to perfection. When you patchwork these three together as spotted at Marc Jacobs, you have the quintessential 70′s shoe. Work the trend with a platform court or a Mary Jane or add in brogue detailing for a new twist.

Burgundy suede snake peep toe, Chocolate orange snake platform court

Burgundy and other boozy red wine hues are THE shade for both clothing and accessories this autumn. Contrast rich burgundy with a violet snake counter back and heel for a versatile shoe to take you through the day and effortlessly on to the evening. If autumn could be summed up in one shoe, we think this good enough to eat, luxe 70′s platform court in chocolate and orange snake is it – feed your footwear habit and indulge!

Leopard snake platform court, Satin snake platform court

Set your inner shoe lover free and hear her roar with a combination of classic leopard and chocolate snake, sleekly designed in a 70′s inspired platform court – perfect for work wear. If a lower height is required for the office select a 3.5″ heel with a 0.25″ platform at the checkout. Bring in the grown up, 70′s luxe factor with Italian black satin paired with autumnal orange snake for the perfect platform court to be worn with everything.

Patent tripple strap pointed court, Suede d’Orsay platform court

Every girl needs a choice and we love these berry alternatives. Sharpen your senses with a pair of berry flavoured, glossy patent pointed courts with sumptuous suede triple straps – a winter heel to fall in love with. Take autumnal inspiration from fashion stylist Katy Lassen’s platform court with a strap in a bold colour block design of chocolate, cinnamon, dark purple and burgundy suede. “My design was inspired by rich autumn colours  -chocolate, cinnamon, dark purple and burgundy. I wanted the shoes to compliment the colours in my autumn wardrobe but also create a bold colour block design that looks contemporary as well as rather retro”.

If you’re thinking of adding rich chocolate, glossy berry and spicy cinnamon shades to your autumn/winter wardrobe this season, take a look at our Autumn Berries inspiration feature and Shoe Gallery and design the perfect  autumn footwear to fall for.

Upper Street - the made-to-order luxury shoe label where you can design your own individual shoes and have them delivered right to your door.