A shoe is not only a design, but it’s a part of your body language, the way you walk. The way you’re going to move is quite dictated by your shoes.
My mother’s cross was given to me when she died. I like to have it always close to me.
I perfectly understand the obsession with shoes. I myself am pretty obsessed. I have a few hundred pairs of shoes in general, because I’ve been collecting shoes for a long time.
I like my customer to be fierce.
For me there ain’t no high heel high enough.
I sketch literally all the time; constructing a collection is like building a family – you have to have a certain balance. I isolate myself – I need to be concentrated for this so I leave Paris, I leave to a place without a phone.
I never liked my last name or my first name, but it’s not as bad as Frigidaire, so it’s fine.
Funnily enough, the most difficult style to do is the plain pump because it needs to look good on a variety of feet.
In Paris, I really do like to try and do nothing… but that’s impossible.
People say I am the king of painful shoes. I don’t want to create painful shoes, but it is not my job to create something comfortable. I try to make high heels as comfortable as they can be, but my priority is design, beauty and sexiness. I’m not against them, but comfort is not my focus.
You’re abandoning a lot of ideas when you’re too into comfort.
When a woman puts on a heel, she has a different posture, a different attitude. She really stands up and has a consciousness of her body.
A lot of my friends have tattoos; I realized that it’s not only just a part of pop culture, but a bit of a map on someone’s body, which says something about people. A part of their life, like an armor or a crest.
The highest heels I do are six-inch heels – but mostly only dancers can wear them, since they are used to being on point in ballet shoes.
Passage Vero-Dodat – I started my company on this passage. It feels as much home as it can!
Women like my shoes because they look good on them, not because they look good on the rack.
A good host is someone who really takes care of everyone, from the food to their daily programme. I can’t.
When I’m doing a store in a country, I always like to consider the concept of the country and the city. Ask what are the clothes of the city, what does this city represent for me?
I could not live with someone 24/7. I just never did, and I could never do.
If you’re passionate about the world, and if you really look closely at everything around you, each thing can be transformed into a shoe, or into a part of a shoe.
Some people don’t even know my name, but they know I am the man with the red soles.
My relationship with shoes has always been linked to shoes, women, women in their shoes and performance.
In a creative business, if you’re happy, it will come out in your work. I don’t see how you can be happy if you don’t like the people you’re working with and if they aren’t a joy to have fun with.
Breakfast is a peaceful moment for me, so I never have the radio on, no music, no noise around. The only noise that is permitted is people’s voices. It’s a way for me to wake up without too much of a high speed feeling.
Fashion isn’t interesting when it comes from an uninspired place. It’s like voodoo; we don’t want things that are soaked in blood, sweat, and tears. I adore life, and I’m very easygoing – and it shows in my work.
What was called extreme 20 years ago definitely isn’t extreme anymore. When I started, I remember people saying, ‘Oh my God, I can’t walk in that!’ It was like, three inches – they look like kitten heels now.
For women raised in the ’70s, high heels can still carry a stigma; they’re associated with being stupid, with just wanting to please a man. Other women find them empowering.
Funnily enough, the most difficult style to do is the plain pump because it needs to look good on a variety of feet. I compare it to having a good bone structure. Make-up will make you look good, but it helps if you have a good skeleton to begin with.
If you are not bored by life, and your primary motto is enthusiasm and if you like your friends, family around you, it all translates into your designs. That’s what keeps the creativity alive.
In Paris, I really do like to try and do nothing… but that’s impossible.
I am interested in all things that celebrate and enhance the female form.
Bhutan is a very serene country with an incredible history. It has an incredible group of great artisans.
High heels empower women in a way.
When I’m drawing, I’m drawing with the light, being completely open and creative. I can’t draw in the evening. I need light and I need warmth if it is a summer thing, and I need cold if it is a winter collection. The good thing is that I have houses to go to whenever I’m working. I draw according to the place.
I love deep cleavage on the foot. It reminds me of Berlin in 1930s, ‘Cabaret.’
One moves more slowly in heels. Walking fast is neither sexy nor engaging. Nobody notices the people who race around. If you’re walking in heels, you’ve got time. It’s much more attractive.
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