Fall fashion for your feet: Donald J. Pliner offers fresh looks

By Elly Brown

Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Fall is a thrilling time on the fashion calendar. Sweater weather. Bags. Boots. More boots.

In Las Vegas, buyers and sellers from around the globe help us ring in the season at the MAGIC clothing convention in August. These trendsetters whisk us away from the near-nudity of our brutal summer into cowl-necks, knee socks and faux-fur.

When Sarah Alhadithi from the Donald J. Pliner boutique in the Forum Shops called, I jumped at the chance to model for the brand at its MAGIC after-party Aug. 16, where autumn chic was on full display. Alhadithi, stylist and fashion blogger Christie Moeller, and DJP men's designer Cisco Sientes took questions about the fancy footwear.

Any fall styles perfect for Las Vegas?

Alhadithi: We have tons of different woven fabrics, we have chunky heels, we have stacked heels and Western couture, which is pretty much exclusive to our concept stores. … It’s not something that’s on-trend, but it’s part of our heritage.

DJP in the Forum Shops is the brand’s flagship. Do you get different inventory that caters to Las Vegas tastes?

Alhadithi:We do. We’ll get beaded items that are definitely unique. We’ll get Western. We get crazy cheetah boots.

What trends should we look for as we switch seasons?

Moeller: Moving into fall, things are a lot darker; I like to say it’s very Tim Burton-y this year. Things have an almost Gothic yet whimsical feel. So there’s lot of textures, lot of lace, lots of velvet.

Pliner is bringing the velvets, suedes, metallics and treated basket-weaves this season. It’s like a texture explosion.

Moeller: I tried on five pairs from the new fall line. Everything in here is comfortable. I have problems with the tendon in the bottom of my foot. So a lot of my really beautiful shoes — gorgeous YSL shoes, Pucci heels — I can’t wear anymore. I had almost given up wearing high heels, until I tried Pliner shoes. Now I have a huge array of beautiful heels that are so comfortable, I can walk through the cobblestone floors here at the Forum Shops and I have no problem. To find shoes that are comfortable and chic is really difficult. Pliner has the best of both worlds.

Tell us about your approach to construction and design.

Sientes: Classic styles, but with a twist. Playing with unusual constructions, or sometimes it’s just details. Two important parts of the shoe are the stitching and the color. We have to be careful, because sometimes you pop the colors and go a little wild, but you also want it to look nice and sophisticated at the same time. An important part of the fall line is the exotics we use, and that’s a great angle for us. We can go from sports shoes to dress shoes to more casual, and using the exotic materials, we get a nice twist on the design.