Saturday, June 6, 2009

Zaha's New Shoes

London based architect Zaha Hadid is known for her very conceptual, unique and curvilinear designs with her new project being no exception. The project set to take off this July "explores futuristic vessels of movement in relation to the human body" ie she is designing a new pair of shoes!

Zaha is collaborating with French apparel company LACOSTE to produce this new prototype to feature unisex calf leather boots that wrap and "encapsulate" the foot from sole to ankle to leg in an continuous and fluid manner. The shoe design for lady's is more expressive of this apparent "leg wrapping" as it reaches up to the calf (top left) while the men's hugs the upper ankle. “The design expression behind the collaboration with LACOSTE footwear allows the evolution of dynamic fluid grids,” said Hadid, according to a official statement from LACOSTE. “When wrapped around the shape of a foot, these expand and contract to negotiate and adapt to the body ergonomically. In doing so a landscape emerges, undulating and radiating as it merges seamlessly with the body.”

The limited edition of only 850 pairs of Zaha's new LACOSTE shoes will be available this July in high end boutiques in Paris London and Milan in black and purple for women and black and navy blue for men.

Contrary to my initial assumptions, this is not Zaha's first crack at the fashion world as she has already designed a pair of "Eco-friendly" rubber shoes with Brazilian label MELISSA in the summer of 2008 but this has not been very successful to date. These were overpriced at about $500 a pair and extremely horrid to look at but she seems to have done better with her new designs which according to sources came from exploring "digitized interpretations” of the LACOSTE crocodile logo. I'm not sure what these cost but it will be safe to say that will not be in the window of your neighborhood Macy's any time soon.





Article info and images obtained from: blog.archpaper.com/wordpress/archives/2517
For more info on Zaha's MELISSA's designs, check: www.inhabitat.com/2008/08/06/zaha-hadid-turns-shoe-designer-teams-up-with-melissa/

7 comments:

Ruby said...

I'm thrilled that you're back.

In another note, I think it would be amazing if I could get a hold of a pair of these shoes. They look cool!

ArchSourcer said...

Yes ruby I'm back. Had to travel out of the country on a business trip and never had enough time to actually write. Thanks for continuing to check back.

The shoes do look pretty nice. Would not mind the men's in black if they come in 13s and if its not too pointy at the tip.

French Apparel said...

Nice design of Zaha shoes. I want to add that French Clothing is one of the most popular product due to its various and beautiful designs.

Harper said...

OMG.! What unique and amazing designs of shoes. Just like come from a Science Fiction movie.

Unknown said...

Can I buy these in the UK?

http://www.allshoesclothing.com

Abdul Mannan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Abdul Mannan said...

Nice designs and good article but I want to see some Brazilian Shoes designs and varieties.