DATE: Wednesday, September 10, 1997         TAG: 9709090108

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SUE VanHECKE, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE:                                   LENGTH:   68 lines

THESE BOOTS... HIGH, LOW, FLAT, STACKED - YOU'LL GET A KICK OUT OF THE VARIETY OF SHOES AVAILABLE THIS SEASON.

THE BOOT - short or tall, flat or high-heeled, worn with skirts or pants - is big news this season.

``What you'll see a lot of for fall is boots,'' says Anne Goldman, owner of J. Goldman Shoe Salon in Virginia Beach. ``Ankle boots with a flat heel, a stacked heel, they might have a high heel. They're fashion boots, but they're more practical - anywhere from boots for foul weather to boots for strictly fashion.''

Amy Lefcoe, former owner of La Scarpine who recently opened Amy's in Virginia Beach, agrees. ``It's going to be a great boot season. A lot of designers have worked with stretch fabric, which is a really cool alternative to suedes or leathers. It's very comfortable, it fits your foot and leg like a glove so whether you're narrow or wide, it gives enough or doesn't give too much.''

Though boots reaching above the knee will be scarce this season, anything from ankle-length to go-go length, hitting just a bit below the knee, will be hot stuff for fall. In addition to stretch fabric, boots will arrive in stretch suede and mesh, synthetic microfiber and even wool crepe.

The form-fitting materials are ``going to really spoil women,'' Goldman says with a chuckle, ``because everything's going to fit and feel good. They'll all stretch across the instep; they're made without seams because they're stretch materials.''

Microfiber, which is especially durable and wearable year-round, will show up in shoes - from loafers to dress shoes - and handbags, too, Goldman affirms.

``It's a transitional shoe, not only seasonally but from day to night depending on the detail of the shoe,'' she explained of the microfiber footwear.

``If it's an absolutely plain-Jane microfiber pump, high heel, you can take it right into nighttime. It's a very versatile material. You're going to see it in handbags too, in combinations of leather and microfiber or all microfiber.''

At J. Goldman - founded 50 years ago by Goldman's father Jack, who still sees every shoe before it's ordered - the ``microbottom,'' or one-piece sole made with latex, is another anticipated mover.

``They're not lug soles,'' Goldman explains, ``but they allow a little more flexibility, a little more padding between the street and the foot. Some of the mid-heeled pumps, we detailed them with latex soles for a little more comfort.''

Notes Lefcoe: ``For the first time in footwear history there are pretty shoes that are comfortable. Comfort has always been associated with ugly shoes. For the last four or five years these chunkier heels, they're a whole new innovation for footwear. A woman can be in a comfortable shoe and a suit - that never happened before.''

The chunk heel is narrower this season, though - especially on pumps, which Lefcoe believes are making a comeback.

Colors of the season remain the classic black, brown and navy, but also some deeper tones of green. And the multicolor suede shoe - in sophisticated combinations of loden, brown and cognac or gray, navy and black - ``almost patchwork looking,'' Lefcoe describes - is something new.

Lefcoe points up the versatility of multicolor, noting: ``It becomes your navy shoe, it becomes a cool black shoe. Suede color combinations are something that I'm seeing this fall really for the first time.'' ILLUSTRATION: Well-heeled...

[BILL TIERNAN

The Virginian-Pilot] KEYWORDS: FALL FASHION PREVIEW AUTUMN SERENADE

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