Gossip Girl's scheming Upper East Side princess Blair Waldorf (played by Leighton Meester) may just do for Brazilian footwear designer Alexandre Birman what Sex and the City's fun-loving Carrie Bradshaw did for Manolo Blahnik.
Though Carrie famously had "two loves and lots and lots o' shoes," she was quite vocal about her weakness for spiky-heeled Blahnik stilettos, constantly name-checking the designer throughout the course of the series. Case in point: after being robbed and stripped of her shoes in a Season 3 episode, Carrie asked Miranda to relay the following message to her policeman date: "Tell Detective Stevens, if he sees a woman with last year's pink suede Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals, bring her in for questioning immediately." Another example: in a Season 4 episode in which she visited the Vogue fashion closet, Carrie's gaze fell upon a particularly special pair of shoes, and she gasped, "Manolo Blahnik Mary Janes! I thought these were an urban shoe myth!"
Similarly, Blair Waldorf has been playing favorites with her shoe designers. In Season 3, after receiving a compliment on her lace-up, peep-toe booties, she exclaimed, "Alexandre Birmans are sacred!" And, based on recent photos of Leighton Meester filming a Season 5 episode, Waldorf will continue worshipping at the Birman shrine.
In the aforementioned photos from the Gossip Girl set, Leighton Meester is seen wearing a blue floral silk dress from the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2010 collection featuring a short, pleated skirt with black tulle and ribbon trim along the hemline, a sweetheart neckline, and ruching along the bustier-like bodice. To accessorize the ensemble, Meester rocks the Alexandre Birman mixed media platform pumps pictured above, a double-strand beaded necklace, and the new Prada Lino Twist Frame Shoulder Bag, a tan linen purse with a blue python frame and a braided, two-toned leather shoulder strap.
Available at Saks Fifth Avenue this fall, these colorful pumps, which retail for $750, feature an undulating strip of cork-covered leather along each side, intertwined with a wavy strip of multi-colored, glossy snakeskin to yield a double helix-like shape, with dainty, triangular cut-outs in between the two strips allowing wearers to show a bit of skin. A closed toe adds a demure and prim vibe to balance the femme fatale feel of the treacherously high, straight stiletto heel. The two-tiered platform along the front features a bottom cork layer and a snakeskin-covered upper layer, the contrast of which perfectly captures the Bohemian eclecticism of this purple, aqua, and acid green number.
