In the shadow of the grand avenues, shoe designer Zoe Lee presents her new collection for winter 2018. In a boutique steeped in simplicity, located in the very Parisian Marais district, Zoe Lee welcomes customers from all over the world. All with a spontaneity and softness disconcerting for a designer who loves to play with raw materials.
Zoe Lee is all about shoes: 100% handmade, 100% unique; the fruit of a perpetual quest for new artisanal techniques. The boutique may be small, but Zoe Lee’s spirit is anything but. The presentation quickly takes the form of a discussion about trends, the catwalk calendar, futile staging and the reign of “m’as-tu vu”. Fashion stories that make history: what will we remember from 2017?
“I want to make things that can be understood by others.Designers should be like that: thinking about people” Zoe Lee
Zoe Lee: raw technique
In 2017, modernity is no longer in its infancy. In fact, it can sometimes be overwhelming. While some people equate craftsmanship with the past, Zoe Lee’s collections show that the heart of modernity lies in the technical evolution that allows the oldest skills to live on – to survive all eras. Zoe Lee explains the particularities of each model, what makes them unique, what makes her love them. The failed attempts, the hours of discussions with craftsmen, the journeys to find the best products. A rare passion, one that requires patience. Diverting materials from their classic destiny: using marble, raffia, wood injected into Plexiglas. Delicate performances – no doubt a nightmare at times: assembling the Plexiglas heel to the shoe without the latter imploding: a real challenge.
Why shoes:If Zoe started out with clothes (particularly during her studies at Saint Martins Central), it was in shoes that she found the material to blossom. A field that requires a lot of technique. A pragmatic designer who likes to work and question boundaries while staying within structures. Inventing within constraints. Respecting specifications: “A designer doesn’t just copy structures, there’s always invention”.
Addison model
Zoe lee’s collections are currently based on 9 models, rather than on trend calendars.
How Long? Walk and you’ll see
What sets Zoe Lee apart: patience. Not a sales pitch: sincere patience. A respect for what she thinks, for what she wants to do: otherwise she’d stop. While collections come and go as quickly as Snapchat, Zoe refuses to bend to the will of fast-fashion, consumerism whose sole purpose is consumption. Her shoes: they’re made to LAST. Scouring the world’s shoe boutiques, taking the time to develop her brand at her own pace – far from the big groups. In an age of over-production and over-consumption, it’s a journey that does her credit. Models that aren’t wearable or comfortable: she stops producing them. To do this, she has to understand her customers: how they live with her creations, how shoes age, wear, are passed on and carried forward. Another aim is to offer timeless models rather than dated shoes. So as not to end up with the stamp of an era stuck on her foot, Zoe Lee strives to make something else – something other than sneakers and street wear. No Hit Shoes, made with carelessness. It makes you wonder: Can we go further in this show culture that neglects manufacturing processes, quality… Just colabs to agglutinate the most brands together.
Is the loss of patience a feature of our times? It’s an affliction that cuts right through the major groups that invest in our products, as well as through consumers. Fashion is made in a jerky, see-it-buy-it rhythm. An injunction that Zoe Lee resists. This is reflected in her choice of collaborations. She works with people with whom she shares the same aesthetic, with whom she can have the time to develop projects. She talks to us about Samuel Drira and Christine Hyun Mi Nielsen with particular tenderness, proving that fashion is human.
Zoe Lee: On the run from fame
Without showing off, Zoe Lee shows off her pieces:“It’s not my image I’m selling: it’s my shoes”. Indeed, she could have bragged about her work with Manolo Blanik, then Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood. But she distinguishes herself by a rare modesty.
She’s not interested in fame or visibility. “Sometimes fashion can be toxic”. Creator and Designer : two different words for her. A designer is dedicated to his creations. “Is what I’m creating necessary?”
Alexander McQueen 1999
The figure of the creator varies: between a lover of his own image and a true prodigy cursed. As an intern at McQueen, Zoe Lee respects the man as much as she does his work and his character. “He knew how to create stories. His fashion shows were theater. They were necessary stagings, because they illustrated and magnified the collection”.
We wonder: are fashion shows still necessary? Too much Fashion Week? If it allows designers to gain perspective on their collections, it comes at a price.
Zoe Lee for Hyun Mi Nielsen
“I don’t like going to fashion shows”- Zoe Lee
The visibility frenzy: a point of no return
Have we gone too far? Calendar draconic which kills creation, chain shows , the same product in the four corners of the world.
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There’s a lack of real risk-taking.
We’re talking about a fashion system “that seems to have been the same for centuries”, with editors sitting in the same seats for “30 years”. Enough to ruin their blue jeans, but it’s true that these aren’t common blue jeans:“jeans or sneakers should never cost more than more than 800 euros” Zoe Lee
We talk to her about the globalization of fashion, the proliferation of capsule collections, conformism and exhibitionism.
We agree: sometimes it’s a bit depressing.
And yet, hope is there, wriggling and knocking at our door. Especially on Rue du Parc Royal.
PARIS BOUTIQUE
19 Rue du Parc Royal
75003
Paris
+33 (0) 1488 70 547
[email protected]
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