Meet my favourite shoes. They are going to spare me from November tristesse. Whatever little sunbeams there will be, the patent leather of their caps will reflect it, thousandfold, adding a little brightness to my life, and to others, as the most common reply after “Oh, Lanvin!” and “Lanvin?” is “Gee, they’re shiny!”. I love shiny shoes, I once had a pair of loafers by Prada that almost blinded people, no patent leather but this sort of leather that only needs a few strokes with a horse hair shoe brush to develop an absurd glow, but sadly, they’ve been gone for years. Lanvin’s Lucas Ossendrijver came to the rescue some years ago, giving old school sneakers a black tie allure, yet contradicted by their somewhat calm colour combinations, no shocking pink, but black and navy, plum and a dying sapin’s green, it looks like it had died from thirst, that sapin, and a moldy green counterpointed by a moldy grey. If it weren’t for the shine of it all, you might need some severe anti-depressants wearing these, but instead you’re being called fancy and are being stared at on the bus. Well, I’ll accept the compliment. Autumn, here we go!