Pit stop at the Grand Canyon

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Katie

After four great years of living in the California sun, my husband and I were ready to make the big move back east to the Boston area, where we’re both originally from. I had always wanted to experience a cross-country drive across America, and this was my chance! While I may have been envisioning the kitschy Americana associated with a classic Route 66 road trip, the fact of the matter was that we were driving a Mini Cooper instead of a road worn Winnebago, and were relying on directions from an iPhone rather than an old glovebox road atlas. So in keeping with these upgrades, I decided it only made sense to try out my new Teva x Grey Ant stilettos upon arrival at the first stop on our journey, one of the country’s most celebrated scenic treasures, the Grand Canyon.

I have been a Teva fan since I was a little girl spending my summers outdoors in Vermont, so the purchase of this high heeled version was spurred mostly by nostalgia. Yet having worked on many collaboration projects with other artists, I also appreciate the unique and unexpected marriage between Teva and Los Angeles based designer Grant Krajecki of Grey Ant. I think Jules Kim of Bijules worded it best when describing the Vans x Nycked project. She said, “I think collaborations are essential for good brand development and growth and also I think really amazing collaborations exist between two brands that come from different walks of life.” While the Teva x Grey Ant collab garnered a lot of negative flack from the blogosphere when the shoes launched late last year, I’m standing firm on loving the results.. well, as firm as I can stand in 4″ heels on the edge of the Grand Canyon! Time to get back on the road!

Karen Walker Number One sunglasses, Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent cardigan, Forever 21 blouse, I.N.C shorts, Disney Couture necklace, Yves Saint Laurent Arty ring, Wigwam Cypress socks

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New York Public Library: Digital Gallery

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Katie

The New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery is an incredible resource that places over 700,000 images at your fingertips… which inevitably results in the draining of nearly that many hours from your otherwise busy schedule. I remember my favorite blog, Design*Sponge, doing a post on this treasure (in which they highlighted some beautiful prints and patterns) and I’ve been hooked ever since. Not only is the NYPL Digital Gallery a mecca of home decor inspiration (you can even purchase prints of the images you fall in love with), but it can also be a great source of inspiration for your wedding or other special occasion! To capture a vintage style, try perusing fashion illustrations from various decades for dress and accessory ideas. The artwork on old sheet music and advertisements might inspire your invitations or programs. For me, I’m enamored by the lithographs of ladies dress shoes from the nineteenth century, each with a unique ornate detail. Everything old is new again, and Katie Blauer can turn your vintage inspiration into a pair of custom shoes that will go down in history!

Women wearing pink, white and yellow formal dresses, 193-; On Her Wedding Day / words and music by Michael B. Garrett, 1897

Two yellow satin shoes, the first worn on stage by the actress Miss Ada Cavendish, and one straw colored shoe, 1900; Shoe of Cromwellian shape embroidered with small crystal beads; dainty white shoe; wedding shoe, 1900

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Material muse: salmon leather

Posted on August 14, 2011 by Katie

I tore this page out of an airline magazine a long time ago and upon finding it again in a pile of clippings I had saved, I was reintroduced to the ES Salmon Leather company and reminded what great potential this amazing material could have for custom shoes. ES Salmon Leather works to repurpose the skin that would otherwise be discarded by the salmon industry and so it is therefore incredibly eco-friendly. The resulting salmon leather is stitched together to minimize waste and create full yardage of strong, flexible, and beautifully textured material. It is already being used in specialty fashion projects such as this salmon leather Chuck Taylor by Converse, new for Spring 2012 in Brazil.

Isaac Mizrahi also created a salmon leather dress for the “Design for a Living World” exhibition at New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in 2009. I love how his treatment of die cutting the material into paillettes emphasizes the radiant scales of the leather. In an interview with Smithsonian magazine, Mizrahi admitted that he is not about “to sell [his] artistic principles short for the sake of going green.” What makes the salmon skin so appealing is that it is both eco friendly and inherently glamorous.

Mackenzie Stroh / Cooper-Hewitt Museum, SI

I believe the unique, luxurious, and sustainable properties of salmon skin would make for a perfect transformation into a Katie Blauer custom shoe, especially for a bride looking for the epitome of rustic elegance or the ultimate eco-wedding. If you’re interested in a pair of salmon leather shoes by Katie Blauer, please contact us.

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Connecting the dots…

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Katie

I had an interesting train of visual thought this evening as I was shopping the summer sales online. A Leifsdottir maxi dress caught my eye at Anthropologie – not because it was something I would necessarily buy, but because the floral sketch print reminded me of something else. That something else was a series of light fixtures I have long since pined over by Schoolhouse Electric in collaboration with artist Yellena James. Of course, Yellena’s work reminded me of Jill Bliss, who’s botanical notebooks I’ve also been a fan of for years. All these items share a style of illustration that I’ve always gravitated to: a mix of intricate organic line work, stippled areas of shading, and re-imagined nature.

But how might this beautiful aesthetic translate into shoes (without being so literal as to print an illustration directly on the upper)? No need to look further than the king of statement shoes himself, Nicholas Kirkwood, who’s signature avant-garde style never fails to inspire and impress. His designs are more often described as architectural, but I found a few styles in his Spring 11 collection that easily work as three dimensional interpretations of the amoebic illustrations that stole my attention tonight. Please enjoy the visual connection…

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Gallery Preview: Erica’s Wedding

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Katie

Erica and I worked very closely together on the women’s footwear line at Vans for over 3 years. It’s fairly easy, as a designer, to draw up a lot of options for a project, but Erica always had the tough job, as category manager, of choosing what option would be best. In order to do this well (which she did), Erica brought together the powerful combination of great business sense and a keen eye for style. Her signature look has always been mixing chic but comfortable separates with killer vintage accessories – and her engagement ring (a family heirloom) is no exception. Check out Erica’s beautiful engagement shoot by the talented duo of Studio 28 Photo here.

For Erica’s wedding plan, you can really see her style shine through: a picturesque outdoor setting that is casual enough to eat, drink and be merry, with vintage elegance infused through the details. Erica already had her dress tailored to a pair of gold strappy heels, so for her custom Katie Blauer shoes, she opted for a ballet flat that would allow her the option of dancing comfortably at the reception all night long. To give the shoes a vintage flare, I knew I’d find something special at a local antique shop and easily chose a pair of green and amber half moon earrings from the wide selection. Below, is the illustration Erica approved – just like she would have done on one of our projects together at Vans.

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Boucle de Camélia

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Katie

Spotted this Chanel ad in the latest issue of Elle Decor and it instantly caught my attention. The shape of the ring – part flower, part looping ribbon – looks unattainably opulent, but at the same time very familiar and whimsical. The latter is probably the case because my absent minded doodles of choice are always loopy flowers, and much of the 4 years I spent designing for Stride Rite (see sketch below) involved incorporating some sort of flower decoration on the shoes.

Inspired by Chanel’s latest Camélia in 18K white gold and diamonds (which is nowhere to be found online), I set out to construct my own version from leather and rhinestones. The rigid 8 petal flower I created first paved the way for an improved second attempt, which mixes 6 loops with some abstract ribbon ends between them. Can you imagine a pair of wedding shoes with clusters of these three dimensional crystalized camellias? Oui, oui, Mademoiselle!

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The start of a new notebook…

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Katie

Each year of art school I kept a notebook (a scrapbook of sorts) in which to hoard away every piece of memorable ephemera I came in contact with. The notebooks are exclusively spiral bound and the pages are filled with ticket stubs, magazine tears, subway passes, articles, notes, birthday cards, business cards, post cards, etc. These items are not only arranged chronologically, but each two page spread is also laid out with some degree of color coordination …remind me to show you sometime. Anyway, in starting this blog, I feel like I’m opening a fresh new (digital) (spiral bound?) notebook and I can’t wait to start collecting the imagery and experiences that I encounter on my shoemaking journey.

"The New Bridal Shoe," Los Angeles Times, 19 June 2011, sec. P9

First, I want to share with you an article from the Los Angeles Times Image section a few weeks ago entitled “The New Bridal Shoe.” How very apropos! The article discusses how 70% to 80% of brides are rejecting tradition and opting for more fun and colorful footwear, often with “a lot of embellishment: fabric flowers, sparkly things being added, ribbons and bows, and even hand painting on the shoes.” Another great quote explains how “some brides match their footwear with the wedding’s theme colors, groom’s tie or even venue.” A wedding event planner named Brooke Keegan goes on to say ‘I think brides are becoming a lot more savvy and in tune with design and décor.’

This sentiment perfectly describes the purpose behind Katie Blauer shoes and gave great reassurance to what we’re setting out to do, just days before the official launch of this site. In fact, a huge thank you must go out to my dear friend and extremely talented web designer, Lauren Dorion, as well as our web developer extraordinaire, Dan Kraus, who both worked tirelessly to bring the vision to life. I’m looking forward to filling this wonderful platform they’ve built with beautiful one of a kind shoes and all the details that inspired them. Maybe someday Katie Blauer will be featured in the LA Times Image section!

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