Alice au Printemps

If there is one subject I have been blogging about too much now, it has to be Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. The movie hasn't hit theaters yet, and I would already describe it as a fashion film, since so many top designers already have been inspired by Lewis Caroll's story.

My sister and I have mentioned the jewelry lines (Stella's and Swarovski's) and the editorial in Vogue's December 2003 issue. But do you remember the post about the Alice-window display at the Parisian department store Printemps? It's finally here -or there, to be more precise- until March 14th.

Nicolas Kirkwood's sketch has become reality. And I think the shoes are 'Alice'-inspired in an obvious way, but nonetheless very cool and clever. Both his and the story signature 'design' is incorporated in the shoe. Those window mannequins don't know how lucky they are to wear them.

The shoe designer states: “I think my favorite Alice character is the March Hare. You can see I’ve made his watch rather prominent. This was a different design process for me, because I’m not usually so applicative—typically, I’m thinking about line, silhouette. But this time, I figured, why not just pile as much as I can on top?”

And how I wish I could go admire the store's windows myself. Christopher Kane, Alexander McQueen and Haider Ackermann; I would go crazy.

Alice au Printemps des Merveilles.
Photos by Francis Peyrat.

For more wonderful Wonderland-designs, go to Style File.

Edit: Every time I see those last few pictures, I think of Donnie Darko.