In Fashion Land, It's Always Christmas in July

Christmas in July is fashion shorthand for an annual ritual–the unveiling of holiday collections during the hottest month of the year. It's a holdover from earlier eras of long magazine lead times, but we sometimes wonder if it still holds sway because it enforces a certain Darwinian ruthlessness. (Think of it as natural selection for party frocks.) As temperatures climb into the 90s and overheated editors schlep from one appointment to another, their patience, and attention spans, shorten dramatically. Products have one, brief moment in which to shine or wither away. Further proof that fashion is not for weaklings.

Jerome C. Rousseau's tartan pump probably wasn't designed with Yuletide in mind (Vivienne Westwood seems a more likely inspiration than Father Christmas), but seeing it reminds us that so-called holiday items will hit the shelves or be available online anytime between now and the holidays themselves. And therein lies the problem. Most women wouldn't wear this shoe every day, so they don't think to buy it now; however, there are plenty who will miss having it in their closets when parties roll around and it's long-gone from stores. In other words, strike while the iron is hot (whatever that means). It's the beautiful things you don't buy you always regret.