At Malta Fashion Week a very interesting item was showcased that I haven’t yet written about – customised shoes by DESIREE. Fashion is an ever-changing game. That is not an opinion but a fact. The changes are largely driven by the market that wishes to keep consumers engaged and on the hunt for something new but it is also driven by us, the consumers. I’m a techie junkie, always have been but I cannot fail to realise how with all the technology around me, how much shorter my attention span continues to become, how I seem to need constant stimulation and information. As a result, I also seem to grow tired of things, more quickly than ever before.
There’s another part to it – this high demand for ‘newness’ had led to an increased appetite for originality, a craving for something different. In an island like Malta whereby an item can saturate the market seemingly overnight, this desire is even stronger. My prediction for the fashion game is that somehow, fashion will develop into items that are customisable, allowing each individual to own something different, something that expresses his / hers individualism.
I know I’m blabbing on, but I wanted to set the tone before reviewing Desiree’s work. Desiree is a highly skilled interior designer who some years ago, decided to use her designing skills to develop an idea – hand customising shoes. No design is the same – meaning your shoes will never look the same as anyone else’s. For the exhibition, Desiree teamed up with ALDO and chose a few pairs of shoes from their new collection. She proceeded to develop and implement a design for each of these shoes. Each design represents characteristics of a different individual. My interest when viewing such an item is mainly not in the actual design, although she scores points here but mainly in the quality of the implementation. Designs are highly subjective – for eg. I’m not a huge fan of florals but many women love them. However, florals or abstract shapes or geometric outlines – whatever the design, what impressed me is the quality, the precision of the design. Simply put it is extremely professional and not in the least ‘craft-like’.
For the night, Desiree actually customised a pair of shoes for me that I spoke about here. I did not choose that design – I left it in her hands which meant she spent a day researching my character but of course, if I wanted to, I could have guided her more, could have specified what I wanted.
As regards the shoes in the exhibition, my favourites were actually the flat shoes and the male shoes. Some of the others had designs that were perhaps too pretty for my tastes but again this is subjective. I also recently saw a pair of Nike trainers that she blinged out for a customer – again not my style but many girls went absolutely nuts over them.
All Photos below by Ivan Borg
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