Designer Spotlight: Elisa Ferare

Who is the designer behind Elisa Ferare?
“I am the one and only.”

Your design philosophy?
“To allow the soul of me to do the designing…to get to that place that feels like I am the observer.” Entering into her eighth year of producing cut-to-order shoes, Elisa Ferare operates a custom-order shoe design house in a little dance-shoe factory near Los Angeles, CA. “It is a very old-world kind of thing,” she told shuzsociety. “I have this marvelous romantic idea of maintaining manufacturing in the US.”
Describe your design style:
“Juxtaposed…never too serious…when movie stars were really movie stars…the heart of a dancer…for women who make their own rules…”

Why shoes?
“Each time I bought myself a new pair of shoes (which was frequently), I brought them to the local shoe repair guy and made lots of changes so they became more of what I wanted them to be. I was continually stopped by women who asked me where I got my shoes,” Ferare confides. “One day one of my children (who had witnessed my being stopped time and again) said, ‘I don’t understand why you’re not making shoes’… before that very moment the thought had never entered my mind.
Shoemaking found me.”

Cabaret “fab friday” shoe:
Hand-painted snakeskin oxford with ½” platform with 4 ½” heel. This shoe, as will all Elisa Ferare shoes, take 2-3 weeks to produce. Her shoes are hand-made, after all, by true craftsmen. Lisa Rinna, self-proclaimed shoe lover, recently called and ordered the “Cabaret.”

Tell us about Homage to Joseph (as we drool at our screens!):
“It has had made many fans…and has been carried over for the 3rd fall as we continue to get more orders for it. The inspiration came from a shoe my mom had that had lots of colored stones on it. The brand on the insole was “Joseph.” It retails for $1,200. It is the costliest shoe in my entire collection. All of the stones are bezel set (not prong set) and it is done on hand-painted snake……..” We like!

Sneak peek of spring 2009:
There was a personal transformation going on at the time, and designing this collection was a lifesaver. There are aspects of it that reflect that to me now. The name of this collection is in fact “Transformation.”

Passion for Peace:
“My lifelong cause has been for PEACE. And now as a shoe designer it spills over into my designs,” says Ferare. “I have been making shoes with peace symbols for 5 yrs. Every season I create another, as a reminder for all who wear and see them. Hopefully in some way it will help to raise the consciousness of the planet…and that someday…in the not too distant future…we will create a new reality.”

So, what is YOUR personal favorite pair of shoes?
“You’re kidding, right?”

Where are your shoes carried?
Her shoes can be ordered directly from ElisaFerare’s website, or Fred Segal – Santa Monica, CA. and Redbird – Berkely, Ca. Shirise – Glencoe, IL. Capitol – Charlotte, N.C. Sharis Place – Kings Point, NY.

Christian Louboutin

In 1979, as he was walking in Paris, he noticed a sign warning female tourists not to scratch the wooden floor in front of the Museum of Oceanic Art.

Louboutin attended parties in Paris, attempting to sell his designs and creations to the women in attendance. Most rejected his shoes, claiming to have no money or unable to afford his designs.

Louboutin then attended design schools, such as Chanel’s and Saint Laurent’s schools for design.

Louboutin opened his first boutique shop in Paris; his store became known not only because of his affluent clientele, but because he served free espresso to his visitors. American companies like Neiman Marcus began to sell Louboutin’s designs.

Louboutin’s trademark red leather soles actually stemmed from an idea from one of his employees. During a runway show Louboutin felt the shoe was missing something and saw that one of his employees had red Chanel nail polish on, and instantly, he felt that it would complete the shoe if he painted it on the sole. Since then it became the signature of his shoes.

Louboutin is now a well known designer around the world. He has been interviewed by fashion reporters such as Jacques Brunel. He includes Princess Caroline of Monaco and Catherine Deneuve among his friends.

Britney Spears has been spotted wearing Louboutin shoes while clubbing in Los Angeles and at various court dates for her custody battle. Christina Aguilera is also a fan of Louboutin’s creations, often to be seen wearing them to events, and during her recent Back To Basics tour. Madonna wore Christian’s black patent leather studded mary-janes in her Live Earth performance. Celebrities ranging from Angelina Jolie to Mariah Carey are all fans of Christian Louboutin shoes and many celebrities are now choosing his shoes as their red carpet accessories. Angelina Jolie has favoured his designs on almost all red carpet appearances. In her new movie ‘Wanted’ Angelina Jolie dons a pair as the assassin ‘fox’, these beige round-toed louboutins are from her personal collection.

Kylie Minogue wore Christian Louboutin shoes in her “2 Hearts” video, the distinctive soles are plainly visible when she dances on the piano. Japanese pop star Ayumi Hamasaki is also a fan of the brand, seen wearing platform peep-toe Louboutins in basic colors such as nude and black, as well as rhinestone pumps in a photo shoot for Sweet magazine.

Yves St Laurent

Considered by the Daily Telegraph as ‘one of the greatest figures in French fashion in the 20th century’ Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was born August 1, 1936 and died June 1, 2008.

The son of an insurance company president, Yves Saint Laurent was born in Oran, Algeria. He studied first at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture, but left after a few months. Saint Laurent left home at the age of 17 to work for the French designer Christian Dior. Following Dior’s death in 1957, Yves, at the age of 21, was put in charge of the effort of saving the Dior house from financial ruin. His work for the 1958 Dior collection earned him international acclaim for his work that would come to be known as the trapeze dress, which would be integral to fashion during the 1960s.

Shortly after this success, he was conscripted to serve in the French Army. After just 20 days, Saint Laurent was institutionalized in a French mental hospital, where he underwent psychiatric treatment for a nervous breakdown.

In 1962, YSL left Dior and started his own fashion house with his lover Pierre Berge, from whom he split in 1976, but remained partners in the business. During the 1960s and 1970s, the firm popularized fashion trends which mainstreamed the idea of wearing silhouettes from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s. He was the first, in 1966, to popularize ready-to-wear in an attempt to democratize fashion and was also the first designer to use black models in his fashion shows.

In 1983, Saint Laurent became the first living fashion designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a solo exhibition. In 2001, he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Légion d’Honneur by French president Jacques Chirac. He retired in 2002 and became increasingly reclusive.

He also created a foundation with long time partner Pierre Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing.

On June 1, 2008, Yves St Laurent died from the effects of brain cancer at his residence in Paris. YSL’s body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in Marrakech, Morocco in a botanical garden that he often visited to find influence and refuge.

According to The New York Times, a few days before he died, Saint Laurent and Bergé were joined in a same-sex civil union in France. Bergé said during the funeral service: “I also know that I will never forget what I owe you, and that one day I will join you under the Moroccan palms.”