2 posts tagged "Rupert Sanderson"
Sanderson Kick Starts
“I wasn’t a sneaker kid,” admits Rupert Sanderson, “but I am fascinated by trainer-nut culture. They’re speaking an entire language out there.” For spring, the designer has learned their lingo. Taking a sharp turn for the street, England’s reigning prince of the pretty, less-is-more pump will join the ranks of fashion heavyweights to present a luxury sneaker line. But he won’t be going the way of, say, Stella McCartney’s shimmering hightops or Isabel Marant’s runaway platforms. Instead, Sanderson’s kicks boast a clean, classic look that will appeal to his loyal clientele. The design goal was simple: “I wanted to make sneakers chic.” Meticulously cut, the collection runs with its designer’s tested and true minimalism while embracing the history of the fashion trainer. For instance, Sanderson has given his signature daffodil motif a streetwise update and employed gold lamé and flashes of neon for a vintage nineties feel. Considering his sneakers’ strong, simple silhouettes, soft, quilted textures, and guaranteed craftsmanship, we’d bet that trainer-nuts will soon be fascinated with Sanderson, too.
Rupert Sandersons’ spring sneakers are available for preorder at www.rupertsanderson.com.
Rupert Sanderson’s Shoes For The Kaiser
Rupert Sanderson was knee-deep in an advertising career when he decided to drop out of the rat race and focus on feet. More specifically, as the 1990′s wound down, Sanderson enrolled himself in the shoemaking course at London’s Cordwainers College. Degree in hand, he went on to apprentice himself to Sergio Rossi and Bruno Magli. Now, seven years, two London shops, and untold pairs of shoes later, the 2008 British Fashion Awards’ Accessory Designer of the Year finds himself readying
the ad campaign of many a shoe designer’s dreams. Sanderson will be providing the footwear at Karl Lagerfeld‘s Fall ’09 show tomorrow—product placement nonpareil, as Sanderson himself is happy to admit. “It came out the blue,” he noted over a pot of tea at the St. Martins Lane hotel in London. “Karl saw a pair of my boots and he just kind of fell for them. I’m not even adapting them that much for the show.” The Sanderson bootie that Lagerfeld is using—with some light adaptation—is a concealed platform stiletto in leather with clear vinyl covering; he’s also providing the Kaiser with a concealed platform pump with some spiderweblike embellishment along the toe. “I tend to keep things pretty minimal and clean, in terms of my aesthetic,” said Sanderson, “and Karl has wanted the shoes to be a bit more accessorized. Not much,” he adds, “but in any case, what Karl wants, you know, Karl gets.”