He Designs Shoes For Your Favorite Brands—Lucky For Us, He Also Collects Them

Why shoes?

“I’m from a tiny little town called Beeville—it's two hours south of Austin. So I moved to New York and I went to Parsons and I studied menswear. I started to intern at Marc Jacobs, and the person I met in footwear liked what I was doing. I always had this obsession with 3D architectural silhouettes and shapes. I used to sketch shoes; it was this random thing I loved doing as a hobby. I never really thought about it, but it was kind of perfect.

“I was working with Irene Chung. She was with Marc Jacobs from the beginning, probably for 15, 16 years—the Mouse Shoe, the most famous time period, the nineties. I was obsessed because she was just this super fashion-y, glamorous woman from LA wearing Prada skirts in the office, but also on the floor cutting and taping and doing everything with her hands and getting dirty, all while dressed in such a beautiful way. That really resonated with me.

“That's how I fell into footwear. It was looking for the right spot to intern, and then I fell into it and was like, ‘Okay, this is great.’ Obviously Marc Jacobs, too, is a creative genius. We used to sit in a room, everyone would be smoking. It was such a different time period. We'd be sitting there until three a.m. trying to get the seam on a boot straight—the bootcamp of footwear, basically, that's what I had. It was a great, great time period. I use my hands so much now because of that. That experience shaped everything.”

What an absolutely amazing place to start. Obviously, inspiration comes from everywhere, but what are some of the places where you've specifically found inspiration that have then translated to your designs?

“I would say, again, a lot of vintage. A lot of vintage footwear, the history of footwear, a lot of Italian, innovative footwear—using stockings as a shoe, balancing the heel in a different way, certain lost shapes that you don't really see, or a unique toe shape. A lot of my inspiration comes from the history of shoemaking, but I'm obsessed with film, so I have a lot of references to–for example–a movie where Gene Tierney is wearing a certain look and a bedroom slipper or something. It's more cinematic, I guess. I love that type of drama. I think the world is obviously in a different place now, and it's very much about this minimal approach to fashion, which I really do enjoy. But I think a hint of that old-school glamour or drama creates a nice mix.”

What are some of your all-time favorite shoe designs in history?

“This is hard. Okay, so there's definitely a few Prada shoes that I'll always be obsessed with. There's a Spring/Summer 2009 runway shoe. It's like a platform sandal. It's probably the worst one to choose, but I have an obsession with it, even though it was basically a sculpture, not a shoe, because it didn't really function. Everybody basically fell on that runway. But the shoe itself as an object is so beautiful. It was snake mixed with leather on a platform. There was a lot of handwork. There was layering. You look at it, and you're like, ‘Whoa.’ The impact is very strong.

“I also have an obsession with Beth Levine. She was a shoe designer. She worked for Andrew Geller and a lot of other brands in New York in the fifties and sixties. In that time period, I guess people didn't really trust women, which is awful, especially in shoe making. Basically, her husband had to give his name for her brand just so people would buy into it. She was the designer behind everything but the actual insole, says Herbert Levine. I have such a soft spot for her because of that story. I've always felt like she just loved what she did–she wanted to make shoes. It wasn't about having her name on anything. And I think that some of the designs that she released were probably some of the coolest things in current history. She did a stocking boot. It was a thigh-high boot that was basically all fishnet. There was a little bit of toe coverage on the front, and that was it. In the fifties/sixties, it was very innovative. She was making things slightly more comfortable and trying to make them more wearable, even though they were the stiletto, spike-heels of that time period. She made silhouettes a little wider so the foot can actually rest instead of having your toes crush each other. She did a geisha collection with kabuki sandals and a lot of really interesting things. That's definitely a place that I really like to go when I'm looking for any kind of inspiration. She's American too, which is kind of rare now.”

You've worked for so many houses, and now your resume says design consultant. What does that mean? What do you do now?

“So basically, what I do is I help put together the collection. I design into each category, make sure that everything is well-rounded, work with merchandising—if there is merchandising—and try to get everything solidified. And that's designing flats, heels, sneakers, boots, the whole collection, basically. It's a lot, but I'm also a little crazy. Everything that I do, I like to have my hands on. I can't just send a sketch. That's not the way I work. I'm there at the factory, I'm talking to the people that are making the patterns, and I'm making sure that they understand what I'm saying and the whole process—draping with them, placing tape, all of that. It's my obsession. I do a little bit of everything, I guess.”

What are your favorite shoes you've ever designed?

“Okay, this is also pretty hard. The past few seasons that I've been working with The Row, there have been some really great shoes. I feel like the shoes really had a moment and are taking off. Obviously, the jelly is probably one of my favorite shoes because it's a very current version of something that's actually from the sixties, that upper and that pattern came from this vintage shoe that was handmade in Greece. It was actually on a heel and had this hand-done woven detail that nobody really makes anymore. We were studying how to make it more modern, how to mix the old with the new. They’d always wanted to do a jelly, but weren't sure how to do it. And it really just came together. We had this shoe, we were referencing this vintage technique, and were thinking, ‘Why don't we turn this into a rubber shoe?’ The marriage really happened like that. I would say it's my favorite because it speaks to the time period now, and it has a piece of my old Hollywood drama in there, too. It's the perfect mix.”

It's fun looking at your designs. I feel like there's always a little oddity, I say that as a compliment, but there are also a lot of classic silhouettes in there. How do you figure out where to land on that spectrum when you want to push the envelope, but you still want a shoe that a person's going to want to wear?

“I'm obsessed with function, too. When I grew up, my mom was wearing her turtleneck and her loafers, and she was very chic with her slacks—don't get me wrong—but she was not a fashion-obsessed person. She was very functional. Most of my footwear comes from this mindset of needing it to work. My mom was a working mom. She did everything. That was what I saw. Footwear has to be functional. Obviously, there's a world for play, too. And believe me, I love that part. But I think a lot of what I do starts in that functional, wearable world. Then, how do I mix that with fun, whimsical ideas? And again, it speaks to this obsession that I have with Miuccia Prada. Her work has exactly that mix where it functions, but it still has that little bit of a ‘mmm.’”

I feel like function is more prevalent in footwear than it even would be in clothing. Do you see it as a constraint or an exciting challenge?

“I think it's exciting. I wouldn't even say it's a limitation; it's basic science, right? We have to do it this way because of gravity. Maybe on the moon, it would be different, but it feels very much part of the design for me. It's architectural. You can make little changes, but those are then more important. Even if you move something two millimeters or three millimeters, it makes a huge difference.”

What's it like to work with ready-to-wear designers, to conceptualize something that then becomes a full look and a full mood?

“Again, I came from Marc Jacobs, and Marc was obsessed with footwear. Obsessed with footwear. We would sit for hours and stare at shapes, heels, and materials. We used to have a platform, and he would just sit and we'd change the heels and take pictures and put it on his board so he could study everything. That was a whole other type of world. There are people like that, and there are people who want the shoe to blend in, which is another way of thinking. It depends on the process, but it's always fun to have that kind of back-and-forth with people. To me, creativity is perspective, and it's important to have different perspectives. It creates a good dissonance trying to figure out what something could be. I love working with different types of people, especially people who don't know much about footwear or the functional part of footwear. If someone was told to sketch a handbag and they'd never done it before, that process is gold, seeing somebody come up with that.”

“I'm also making sure I'm working with a lot of women, first of all. Which, believe it or not, is hard in footwear. I need people to try them on. Would you buy this? How do you feel in this? When I sketch, I'm probably alone blaring music, but most of the time, it's nice to work with my hands and have different perspectives to bounce off of.”

It seems like you've been very fortunate to work with not only amazing houses, but ones that probably align more with your aesthetic. But if you stripped all that away, how would you describe your aesthetic? Do you have any kind of design signatures?

“I think a lot of what I enjoy is glamour, to be honest. Even if it's not feathers and pearls, I think that a little bit of glamour is important in the details. But in terms of aesthetics or a detail that I would probably go back to, it's hard to say. Obviously, I love things that are clean, and I'm pretty pure, I guess. [My shoes] are pretty classic. It's like if Manolo Blahnik was a little more modern, basically. A little touch of fun, but also the classics that fit really well, a design that is about making you feel good–classic silhouettes done in a very elevated way.”

Well, I have no doubt that you are definitely clocking a Prada collection when it comes out, but do you generally stay on the pulse of all the footwear that's coming out every season? Or do you try to put your blinders on and not get too caught up in that?

“I always look. It's impossible not to. Sometimes, I try not to because I think it'll give me more of a free mind. Sometimes, when you see something, you absorb it without realizing it. I try to do it in a vacuum, looking at vintage. But if you look at history, everything repeats. I also have this feeling that the world is kind of on this pulse together. Maybe it's because I'm a Pisces, I don't know, but I feel like no matter what I do, it's always going to be relevant because it's somehow filtered through Instagram, the TV, walking down the street—it all ties together. So even if I was like, ‘Oh, I'm going to come up with the craziest new thing that's so different,’ I'll do it, and it'll be coming out with a Prada or Loewe shoe that's doing a similar thing. It's a vacuum that's not really a vacuum.”

Well, I have to ask, tell me about the vintage shoe collection. What do you gravitate towards when you add to your own collection?

“It's kind of like a mix of everything. Again, obviously, I have a lot of nineties Prada. I love Andrea Pfister. He was a French-Italian eighties designer and did a lot of kooky shoes. There were a lot of multi-metallic sandals. Beth Levine, Miuccia, and then there are also classics like Norma Kamali—just different worlds. There's some Marc Jacobs. What else do I have? Ann Demeulemeester, it just really depends. Oh, Jourdan, one of my favorites, Charles Jourdan. There’s a lot of random stuff, too. Some things don't even have a brand or label, like a house slipper from the sixties that has a nice shape or a weird material. Now that I'm thinking about this, your question about details, there's something also innately feminine about what I design. That's such a beautiful energy, and it's such a nice thing to incorporate. I feel like a lot of things get big and heavy and overtly powerful. But to me, it's powerful to have a very chic boot.”

Well, what are your most worn shoes?

“Obviously, some of The Row stuff, which I love. Just classic loafers. I love a soft loafer. I also have Marni loafers with a kind of square toe. I'm a little more clown-y, I have to say. Sometimes I like clown-y things, which is, I guess, my way of doing feminine. Obviously, I have a Gazelle. Everybody has a Gazelle. I like playful things. I have a John Lobb slipper that I love, as well. It's like a house slipper, but it has a leather sole. That's one of my go-tos..”

This could be dead, alive, anyone, but who seems to have the best shoe collection or wear the best shoes?

“That's really hard to say. I feel like it would be a mishmash of a bunch of old cinema women: Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe. There's something very elegant, but playful about that world. The footwear was obviously made to be on-screen and to invoke a feeling and be powerful. It would have to be a fantasy somebody because right now, I don't know anybody.

“When I was really young, I was in the middle of nowhere—literally cows—so I would watch movies. That was my thing. I'd watch movies from the forties, the fifties, the sixties, and it was kind of my way of exploring the world without leaving my home.”

Now just a silly question to wrap up. You said you would blast music when you design. What do you listen to?

“It's funky right now because I fell into this world of boogie recently, like international boogie. So I have this playlist, which has some things from Nigeria,Japan, andIndia. It's kind of weird. I have this song called Aaj Shanibar by Rupa. She’s this Indian woman who was singing over these seventies boogie beats. It's just so mesmerizing. I'm an avid researcher, so anything I fall into, I just go and go and go. It's the same with fashion and footwear and images.

“There's some funny stuff on it too, like pop. It has to lighten up every now and then. One of my favorite things to do is blare music and sit here and [create]. There's something about it. Music just makes everything so much better.”

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