Dirty Girl Things
Friday, June 22, 2007
Number Sixty-Eight
LaRare Fetish Footwear
An interview with Nathalie Elharrar by Jason Campbell, JC Report.
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Last season when former Thierry Mugler and Lagerfeld Gallery shoe designer Nathalie Elharrar told us in confidence that she was developing a line around the fetish lifestyle, we gave her two thumbs up and demanded an exclusive on the story. We’re all for anything with a sexual angling done up chicly, and that’s Ellharrar’s specialty. Six months later, she has executed her clear-cut concept (slightly watered down in its debut to ease in the audience), and the resulting shoes are sublime, coming close to what Eric Stanton envisioned in his bondage illustrations. It’s haute luxury, titillating, and right on time for a shoe market that’s taking giant steps forward creatively. We met up with Ellharrar during Paris Fashion Week, where she showed her line at Michel Klein’s showroom, to find out the source of her wicked new steps, LaRare.
JC Report: At what point do fetish and fashion meet, and why did you decide to marry these two disciplines?
Nathalie Elharrar: Fetish and fashion have been deeply linked for a long time. It’s a part of the culture I got into when I was working for Thierry Mugler and Lagerfeld. We were already taking inspiration from this concept for shoes. I love the works of Araki, Stanton, John Willie (inventor of the first fetish heroine, Gwendoline, and publisher of fetish magazine, Bizarre) and from comics authors like the Italian Guido, Crepax, and her heroine Valentine. I also like the fact that the most respectable people can be so fascinated with high heels. And since I create shoes, I meet people for whom shoes are a part of their intimate dreams — they even have shoe dreams they confide to you.
High-heeled shoes drive you to have an attitude which confronts the question of power, control, and seduction. When you wear a 13cm heel, even with platform, you have to be in control of yourself in a very interesting way, which gives you more insurance, and it’s a constraint exactly like a corset sometimes (but my shoes are a bit more comfortable than corsets).
JCR: LaRare. Tell us of the double entendre meaning of the brand name.
NE: My family name is Elharrar. No one is ever able to pronounce it correctly the first time, and I wanted to create a very exclusive luxury brand of shoes, so LARARE came very fast in choosing the brand name.
JCR: Love the logo, tell us about the mix of woman and saddle.
NE: I wanted something with a bit of humor, glamour, and provocation. It’s a mix between my love of medieval blazon and an illustration by John Willie showing three women playing a pony story, which then appear in my logo as a horse-like silhouette with sexy female legs. It has been made in collaboration with Alex Gautier, who is the artistic director of Citizen K. To get him started, I sent him a few personal sketches of a double female centaur.
JCR: Describe the styles in this concise first presentation.
NE: The short card of colors: flesh, red, purple, and black, with a touch of pale pink gold, and metallic ultraviolet. High boots and “cuissardes” with geometric cut-outs or with eyelets and “lacets” in the back held by a leather garter belt. The whole story is in stretchy leathers (patent or suede), on a round last with double platform, mix of black, nickel, or metal finish and leather. Some pumps and boots come with ankle belts and metal locker with chain, on a short pointy last on a “virgule” shaped 12 cm high heel and platform made of recovered wood. This whole group has a ring of metal screwed under the sole just in the arch of the feet, and in the shoe box you will find a little pretty chain with snap clasp.
JCR: Is it just for women with an interest in a subversive fetish lifestyle?
NE: No, it’s not only for that. It’s for women who want a seductive and powerful attitude on high heels, for girls who love sexy chic shoes.
JCR: How do you envision the collection growing?
NE: Keeping strong codes as cuissardes in leather stretch, undersoles rings, and boots very [Eric] Stanton, and developing the collection step by step. Expanding the choices of leather to incorporate more exotic skins. Mulling ideas and concepts of a black box with a very private mini-collection...lot of ideas. For the moment, just keeping my feet on the ground to do each thing based in the reality.
JCR: Do you design for any other brands?
NE: Yes, I just finished designing the Paule Ka shoes collection and I’ve also designed the last two seasons of Michel Klein’s shoe collection.
JCR: Who are your dream retailers?
NE: In Paris, L’eclaireur, Maria Luisa, Bon Marché and Biondini (the most incredible choice of sexy high heels), Bergdorf Goodman, Browns, and of course kinky luxury shops like CoCo De Mer in London and Kiki de Montparnasse in New York.
This interview was conducted by Jason Campbell
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Sincerely.
Eve and JW3 and Mélisande
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