Dean Piper is a Showbiz Expert and Cultural Commentator and currently the celebrity and entertainment columnist for The Sunday Mirror. He is also a self confessed gossip lover and celebrity follower. Dean is a regular celebrity expert on BBC News 24, Sky News and Radio Five Live for high profile showbiz stories as well as working at various BBC Radio stations all over the country.

Most important of all however, is that Dean is a massive fan of Fin’s shoes, and has many pairs in his shoe-drobe. With that in mind, I grilled him recently on what makes him truly tick…

Dean Piper - Showbiz guru.

Your job requires an unprecedented beady eye for the details. Of all the full-length pap shots you rifle through, who’s known for his fabulous footwear?
Tom Ford. Without a shadow of a doubt. He’s always immaculately dressed from head to toe and  smells edible. The model David Gandy is always great fun and he can dress well. I met Patrick Cox recently and he always looks awesome. All three of these men are genuinely very nice and there’s no big ego. You have to remember in this game that they all look like shit in the morning when they get out of bed.

And, is there anyone in particular who you think is crying out for a Fin’s make-over?  And if so, what style would you choose for him?
I like the idea that you can wear Fins anywhere with the colour range it enables you to do smart or dress up a casual outfit a little too. I’d love to see David Furnish and Sir Elton John wearing Fins when they’re on their yacht. No doubt they would have to get them customised.
I think Tinie Tempah would easily slip into the mix too and rock a pair of Fins. Then there are the obvious people that could pull a pair off Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson, any of the top DJs in Ibiza and Al Pacino. That’s the thing, isn’t it? Fins are for everyone.

Aside from your Fin’s, what are your sartorial must-haves?
I’d be lying if I said I was low maintenance. Writing about all these celebs you start to start to merge into their world.
It’s fair to say I have a penchant for an Alexander McQueen scarf, I use Dermalogica moisturising products (which are essential), continually have Ray Bans Wayfarer shades with me, only like to wear skinny jeans from a shop called Kill City in LA (on Melrose and the best cut jean I’ve found) and a Hardy Amies suit jacket is always nearby for that glam red carpet event. This list could just go on and on…..

Dean with one of his many famous friends.

Clothes maketh the man: to what extent do you think your lifestyle defines your style and vice versa?
Clothes totally define who you are as a person. I recently bought my first pair of tracksuit bottoms in a decade and I turn into a slouchy Essex boy at the weekend. Then when I’m back in the madness of the showbiz world I’ll be back in shirts, jackets and skinnies. I love to dress up for an occasion. Last year at Glastonbury I spent the entire weekend in gold leggings, a white vest,  Hunters and a pirates hat. I think if I was rich I’d continually be updating my wardrobe. My mother would want to throttle me I’d be like that horrid Lottery winner Mikey Carroll, just throwing away my millions. At least I’d have a great wardrobe at the end of it.

A day in the life of Dean Piper: is there such a thing?  Surely no two twenty-four-hours are the same for you…?
It’s completely different every week. I don’t know what is going to happen at all. I can’t plan ahead with friends, I can’t look to far in advance and I’m continually tired out. I tend to be chained to my desk in Canary Wharf on a Friday and Saturday but apart from that I’m running around, being whizzed to places in cars and catching planes. I get exhausted just looking at my diary from the week before. But I’m not complaining. My job is hardly rocket science or working down a coal mine. I walk down carpets, mix with the rich and famous and write a few words about it. I’m extremely lucky and privileged to be where I am today.

If you could put yourself in the the shoes of any one celebrity, who would it be?
Madonna. How fabulous would that be? Although the pressure of every fucker in the world knowing who you are must be beyond intense.

If you want to see more of Dean or just idle celebrity gossip then head over to www.deanpiper.com

He even has his own logo! deanpiper.com

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I’ve never laid claim to being a bona fide cobbler, more of an arbiter of men’s style in the foot arena, and so when the opportunity to work directly with a London-based shoemaker arose, I jumped at the chance.  Not only, I thought, would this be a brilliant collaboration to offer to my devoted Fin’s fans, but it would also provide me with an advanced insight into the hallowed world of British shoemaking.

Tim Slack at T&F Slack is doing something brilliant in his workshop off Ladbroke Grove.  It goes beyond the shoe, and focuses on the bigger (or smaller) picture of reviving cottage British industry in a way that is so much more in keeping with these ever-changing times.  T&F Slack created an exclusive last for Fin’s that is more slimline than their traditional rounder Derby shape, and we have kicked off the collaboration with this fabulous trio, with only 25 pairs per colour made.  Not only is the micro-sole Derby a really big trend for this season, but also, these are a unique and affordable way of slipping your tootsies into a hand-crafted pair of kicks.

My perfect spring office outfit -stylish yet comfortable.

As a girl designing for the boys, it’s not often I can test-drive my own product, but for the first time, I can say from actual experience that the T&F Slacks are sensationally comfortable.  Tim made a one-off pair of T&F Slack for Fin(‘s) just for me, in ultra-chic black patent with a charcoal micro-sole and a neutral contrast stitch.  They came with a contrast lace in the box as well, but Spring is only just upon us, so I’m sticking with the black laces until the black tights come off and the bare legs come out.

The bespoke female version of the T&F Slack for Fin's, or just for Fin in this case.

I’m thrilled to put the Fin seal of approval on these wonders.

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Just as we have moved into our very spacious new Kings Road HQ, I finally have to leave my role as the Fintern, after a summer of assisting Fin and Sally. Having done everything from the ubiquitous coffee run, to attending whole-sale meetings, updating this blog, and, of course, helping all the lovely customers who come up to our showroom, I will be soon be embracing a rather more academic lifestyle when I start at Cambridge University next week.  With the thrice-weekly essays, a need for pulling constant all-nighters (working not partying) and transportation issues (how to look chic whilst pedalling a bike round cobbled streets) it would be rather easy to let sartorial standards slip.  But future freshers need not fear – ever to the rescue we have come up with a few pointers for attending the lecture hall in style (and a pair of Fins).

Thanks so much to Fin and Sal for teaching me so much during my time here; not least the importance of weekly blow-drys, the need for American accents in every situation, and most of all for being such fantastic bosses! xxx

The Pashley Princess – the quintessential town bike

Sling books and lecture notes into the Mulberry Scotchgrain Messenger

Run to and from lectures in the classic Original George Brown Loafer in Buenos Aires Brown

Having christened our Fin’s with such a diverse array of names, ranging from the urbane Manhattan Black to the exotic Mustique Pistachio, we hope that our customers will wear them in accordingly cosmopolitan destinations.  Although our Fin’s fans frequently regale us with stories of the cross continental journeys their Fin’s have accompanied them on, last month we received further evidence of the globe-trotting lives of our shoes, with the launch of the Fin’s in the City competition.  From enjoying a sunset on the Italian Riviera to shopping for rugs in Islamabad, Pakistan, we were more than thrilled with the photos we were sent.  The overall winner was John Higgs, for surreptitiously snapping his Fin’s under the watchful eye of a security guard at Islamabad airport, and Gareth Owens was runner-up with his visually stunning photo of Lake Garda.  The winning pictures are featured below.

The Buenos Aires Brown George Loafers at a security checkpoint in Islamabad, Pakistan

The Cape Town Smoky Blue George Loafers in Lake Garda, Italy

Some of our more avid Fin’s Fans may have been well-informed on our recent trip to Pitti Uomo, but, for those of you that may have been spared the details…  We were genuinely thrilled and excited to have been selected as a “Pop-Up Store” brand at the uber-cool and trendy Pitti Uomo.  For those of you that don’t know, Pitti Uomo is considered to be the chicest of all the menswear trade shows; it’s basically a Disneyland for ideas, trends, and handsome men.  Although we have already spread the Fin’s word slightly beyond the King’s Road – online customers order from lands as distant as Australia and Canada, and our collection can be found enjoying a rum punch in the Pink House, Mustique – we now feel ready to embark on a more significant international crusade.  As we set our stand up between a bearded gentleman in tartan strides charging €1,100 for a pair of sunglasses, and a bespectacled fellow and his elderly mother proffering the finest yak leather products, we prepared for the siege of orders from all corners of the globe.  And, readers, we were not disappointed.  Keep your eyes peeled for our updated stockist list for Spring 2011; it’s pretty fabulous.

We have a huge crush on model and soon-to-be major movie star Flee B-B, but always find ourselves looking old and frumps standing next to her.  That aside, we are thrilled to have her as one of our Fin’s Style Heart Throb contributors.  She has chosen King of Cool, John Travolta.

Why John Travolta?
Uma Thurman and him in Pulp fiction- that dancing scene. I just want to be her to be with him.

Any particular look that inspires?
The early Mickey Rourke and John Travolta were kind of from the same ilk- they had that effortless cool. The dimple in the chin, the deep smooth voice, the turned up collar and that very important Grease Lightning quiff.
Despite the now middle aged paunch- he still maintains that effortless and unfazed cool and that is why he is my ultimate style heart throb.