New York Fashion Week isn't just about the clothing. Fashion designers have long been collaborating with shoe designers on capsule collections and this season two new efforts will be hitting the runways -- Rolando Santana for Manolo Blahnik and Timo Weiland’s collaboration with Tsubo.
Mexico-born Rolando Santana collaborated with Manolo Blahnik on two styles that will debut during his September 14th runway show at Exit Art. Santana told us, “We invited [Manolo Blahnik] up to look at the collection and he really fell in love with it, so the opportunity came up. It has really been an honor to work with such an iconic shoe designer.”
As for the process of working with Blahnik, Santana says, “I started working on my inspiration for Spring 2012 and it’s all based on Italy, Florence particularly, so we titled it ‘An Italian Love Affair.’ I started playing around with ideas. I looked at some of his creations and then I came up with my own little twists on a couple of styles.”
Santana in particular played with materials. “In the collection there is a lot of sheer,” Santana says. “We are doing these translucent sweaters for instance. So one of the [shoe] styles is created with mesh and just slight touches of metallic leather [pictured below]. There is a lot of metallic in the collection so they really tie the collection together. The second style is a metallic evening sandal that has this big ruffle on one side -- it’s the ultimate in feminine, the ruffle, but yet it is super sleek and beautiful and has a very stylized heal. It’s super high so good luck to the models.”
Another designer shoe collaboration hitting the catwalks this season is Timo Weiland’s collaboration with California-based Tsubo. The capsule collection made its debut at the Project tradeshows in New York in July and Las Vegas in August, but there will be one-of-a-kind styles debuting at Weiland’s runway show on September 11th at the Lincoln Center tents.
“Timo Weiland has been on our radar for a long time,” says Jason Mora, Brand Manager of Tsubo. “We were looking for an emerging designer with a similar aesthetic, who could incorporate his unique signature into our line, while still remaining true to Tsubo’s heritage.”
The collection features three styles, including a flatform and two military inspired demi-wedges [pictured above]. These three styles also mark the first time that Tsubo has collaborated with a fashion designer.
