One of my favorites who you should keep an eye on is Melis Yildiz. Her latest collections feature some very interesting neon and coral blends that really lend to a great spring and summer feel. If you are looking to make a statement, check her out. Most of her styles are head turners to say the least!

For a completely different, bold and kind of out there look, you should check out the luxury shoe lineup from Giannico by Nicolo Beretta. The shapes, embellishment, curves and overall look are very unique and on a whole new level from what you are probably used to seeing form luxury designers. Definitely visit the website I linked to above and explore some of these amazing creations!

My next favorite (and this is more of a non traditional designer) is Jamie Okuma. While she isn’t very mainstream and does not have a huge volume of design, I was absolutely floored by these beaded boots that she created. They took over a year to make! I am definitely going to give her a follow to see what exciting designs she comes up with in the coming years.

I’ve also contributed some freelance work for some smaller specialty companies for both men and women and there is obviously a major difference in coming up with design for womens shoes than there is for mens.

Many people have asked me which I prefer to work on and I would have to say that I really couldn’t say either way. I love certain things about working with both mens and women’s shoes.

For women’s shoes in particular I like how there are so many different style variations. I’ve mainly focused on fancier fashionable shoes such as high heels, wedges and even some boots, so I have been pretty fortunate in that I’ve been able to get very creative with my designs. You can obviously do a lot more with women’s shoes than you can with mens… The potential for creativity is much higher as you can incorporate different heel types, straps, embellishments and such. So for the creativity, I like working with women’s shoes.

Having said that, you can still get pretty creative and come up with some nice designs for men’s shoes that are both creative and classy at the same time. Take for example these beauties from AE (not my design unfortunately). They are both classy and creative at the same time because of the ornate patterns that have been made on the front and sides.

In the end… I’d have to say that mens shoes are a bit more challenging just because you are somewhat limited in what you can do.

Keep in mind, I’m not talking totally about searching for images of shoes or other fashion things… Looking for photos of scenery and artwork are two of my go-to sources for inspiration. I know of many fashion designers who use art specifically as inspiration for their fashion designs. Seeing the way certain colors blend in with each other or getting ideas from different geometric shapes has really helped me come up with ideas for various designs.

Some of my favorite artists have to be Andy Warhol (who I am sure you know from some of his famous paintings) and a lesser known artist who has some amazing sculptures named Charming Baker.

My favorite art style to use for design inspiration has to be a more contemporary style, although I have also gotten into cubism quite a lot over the last few months. My recommendation though is not to just focus on one area or one style. Expand your mind and the ideas will naturally flow!

You’re artistic capabilities come into play every day. You’ll be making sketches and illustrations of your designs so you will need to have some fundamental art skills. No, you don’t have to be a picaso but you will need to know the basic principles of how to combine colors and how to manipulate tones and shades. You’ll also frequently be working with different textiles and fabrics and will need to be able to use and manipulate these in a creative way.

On top of this, the world of fashion changes very frequently. What’s hot today might not be hot tomorrow, so you need to be constantly reading about trends. Yes, some styles are timeless, but most companies you’d be working for will want you to come up with designs that are hip and trendy. So you’ll need to go to fashion shows, read blogs, magazines and things of that nature. You’ll also want to have some kind of a presense in the art world. Meeting and talking to artists can be very helpful and keep your creative brain fresh!

In addition to all of this, I frequently have to tailor items and need skills such as cutting, sewing,draping etc. You also need to be very familiar with all of the different types of fabrics available and the different qualities of each of them.

So there are lots of qualities and skills you will need to either already have, or learn. Many of which can be learned in school (I am a California College of the Arts alumni myself!) but many skills you will develop on the job as time goes on.

I’m a fashion designer and have worked for a number of major fashion brands over the last 25 years. My main focus has been on women’s shoes, however I’ve also spent some time working with a major men’s shoe company and been a part of some very popular designs. I’ll get into more details on the projects I’ve worked on in upcoming posts. I’ll also talk a little bit more about the shoe design industry and how it works. Many people have asked me how a shoe goes from a concept to sitting on the store shelves, so in one of my first posts I plan to talk a bit more about this process.

In addition to posting about my experiences in the fashion design world, I’ll also be posting general fashion related posts, street style photos, and anything else fun and exciting that I can think of. If you have any questions about the fashion world, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to answer your questions in a bi-weekly Q&A session that I’ll be doing.