C'esf chic, la plastique

As fashion editors last week watched Paris designers raising dresses higher and higher, there came a moment when the eyes had to come down. And there, right at floor level, many observers found their news. It was in shoes. Never has high-fashion footwear been so low. When models didn't walk barefoot, they paraded out in flat Mary Janes with straps round the ankle or across the instep. What heels there were, came in the shape of round rhinestone-covered balls or thick Pilgrim squares.

But the shoe of shoes was the one that was almost invisible: a clear plastic model decorated with baubles and bangles that appeared to float on the foot. Launched this week by Yves St. Laurent, who shows 40 pairs, the shoe is the creation of Roger Vivier, 52, Paris master bottier who now designs for nine major Paris couturiers.

"Plastic is the material of the present, of the future," says Vivier. He swears his plastic shoes won't cut or heat up the foot (there are tiny airholes along the arch). In fact, he sees the new plastique as an engineering feat: "Nothing is more flattering. These shoes lengthen the foot, make it look narrower, and even seem to make big feet look smaller."

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