Sketch to Store | KS x MP
From early November last year, our design team and the team at Kate Sylvester have been working closely on a special collaboration. Coming together to forge the ultimate footwear capsule collection, we invite you to discover a behind the scenes look at how it all came together.
“It was an exciting creative process working with Ellie and the Mi Piaci team on this very special collaboration. The two summer footwear shapes are the perfect complement to our Spring collection ‘Avery’ which is inspired by the artworks of modernist artist Milton Avery.” - Kate Sylvester
‘’With our own design team and manufacturing resource, we were able to work closely to construct and sculp the collection. Colours, finishes and leathers were custom produced to ensure the styles represent a combined aesthetic for both brands, and celebrate two crafts coming together in celebration of a new season.’’ - Louise Anselmi
READ THE INTERVIEW BELOW
How did this exciting collaboration come about?
K: Our core business is making clothes so we really know to design and how to make them beautifully. We knew we wanted some beautiful shoes for this collection, we had beautiful ideas but not how to make them a reality. We thought about who can we work with that who has the craft, the skills and the knowledge to make these shoes really beautiful and we thought of Mi Piaci.
E: When you approached us, it felt like a really instinctual collaboration between two iconic New Zealand designers who are both focussed on craft and have the pillars of functionality and the unexpected, surprises through texture and colour. It felt like a really good marriage between the two brands. The styles that we have created totally reflect that. Being pure in form and function but then unexpected surprises with the total colour pop which is really fun.
Can you talk us through the design process?
E: It was fairly open, you had the basis of the collection inspired by Milton Avery who is this fantastic modernist American painter with really stripped back forms. We went back to basics and picked up lasts and looked at toe shapes and explored references. We really liked the idea of the ‘90s square toe and that formed the basis for our pump. We knew that we wanted to contrast the square toe with something softer so we used soft leather and the cylindrical heel. With the sandal we wanted to do something sculptural and interesting and we played around with the soft strap on the last and wrapped it around and sent pictures back and forth.
K: It was very organic, that hands on process with the wrapping and playing with shapes and forms was really fun and great way to develop it.
E: It felt very natural. Then we explored it further in sketches which we sent back and forth. We also played with heel height and getting that right was really important to us. We were going to go a little higher but we decided that this was the perfect summer sandal height. The pump is higher a bit dressier a bit more pure. But I think they complement each other really well and the soft tube tie ties the two shoes together.
What has been your favourite part of the process?
K: The design is great, but my favourite part of the process is when you get to put the shoes on and live in them and experience what we imagined they’d be and see what they are in reality. That was the first time I got to put the shoes on and take them out on a date, and they performed so well for me.
E: I would totally agree. With design, it can be so in your head, so when you put it on and have it in your hands or on your feet you can see the full realised product. I also think when I came to the studio to do the fittings that was a really fun part because we were on the same page about perfecting the product and getting into all the nitty gritty details. Heightening the toe, and making sure the comfort was there. It was nice working with someone who is as into the technical details and the comfort side of things as much as I am.
K: That was such a positive, the appreciation of the craft of what we do. Because that matters so much to both of us.
Can you tell us more about the colour palette?
K: The collection was inspired by Milton Avery and with the clothes we pulled our entire palette literally off his canvases, that was very much the same process with the shoes. Milton Avery has such an amazing eye for colour and we knew we wanted really bright, summery, energetic colours. We were thrilled with the results, particularly with the pop of energy of the blue and green.
E: I think the colour helps to further elevate the designs, it is nice to have the neutral camel colour, but the bold blue and green talks to the main inspiration behind the collection but also to international trends.
K: What’s great with a bright coloured shoe is you can wear it back with black or a neutral and it will lift a really simple outfit. But I also love the train smash and the playing with colours and mixing them up.
What is your favourite style of the collection?
E: We’re both wearing the pumps! I adore the pump, I love the square toe contrasting with the soft cylindrical heel, I think it’s really classic and timeless, and then the ankle tie makes it really contemporary. The sandal is also special because of how organically it came about with the wrapping of the tie around the last.
K: Certainly, the pump works perfectly at this time of year, but I have not had a sandal I’ve liked for a couple of summers. I know as soon as I’m ready to bare my toes it will be all about the sandals. I’m so excited for the summer of my sandals.
Heels or Flats?
E: I’m a flats girl.
K: I totally am a flats girl too, which is what is great about what we have created with both these pairs. With the pump, this is totally a doable height that you could wear all day.
E: So comfortable, the square toe gives you lots of room. I love a flat, I love a boot, but a nice pump with jeans and dress up an outfit. I mean I’m a shoe designer, I’m going to have every shoe there is in multiple colours.
If you could wear the shoes anywhere in the world, where would it be?
E: I have just come back from a beautiful Europe trip so I would have loved to have worn them there. They feel very clean and timeless, you could wear them around any European city, around Paris with a lovely summer dress.
K: All I want to do is see the Pyramids, I’m not sure whether it’s appropriate to wear the sandals to the pyramids but that is what I’d want to be doing in them.
Who inspires you?
E: There are so many amazing women around me from colleagues, friends and my amazing mother. There are so many people that build me up and have made me who I am today just by their positive energy. They inspire me to do better and be better, and their faith in me inspires me as well.
K: It’s strong women. Every season I have a strong theme for every collection that I do, the fact that this collection ‘Avery’ is inspired by a man is unusual. When I look back over the years and themes what comes through incredibly powerfully is that it’s all about these really strong women figures. Everyone from the Queen, through to Lee Miller to Donna Tartt, it’s always about strong women.
E: As designers strong women need to inspire us because that’s who we’re creating our product for and who we want to tap into.
