Photo courtesy of Krissy Lewis
Design and fashion brand, United Nude, released its Spring/Summer collection featuring an array of eye catching sandals, high heels, shoes, back packs, and clutches. With Galahad Clark’s background in shoes and Rem D. Koolhaa’s knowledge in architecture, United Nude became the leading creative shoe brands since their launch of the Möbius shoe in 2003.
Downtown magazine caught up with Koolhaas to learn more behind the brand:
What’s the meaning behind “United Nude?”
People working together in a transparent way.
What inspired you to blend luxury shoes with architecture?
I felt the need to scale down from a larger architectural scale to the smallest and most vulnerable one: that of a woman’s foot. It was just before my graduation while I was heartbroken over a girl.
Photo courtesy of Krissy Lewis
How do you manage to combine comfort and style for your consumers?
We offer a wide range of products varying in many levels of comfort and style. The higher the heel, the less comfortable. We try not to make our shoes too high unless it’s a special.
All of your shoes are pretty abstract, what’s separates the Lo Res Earth and Lo Res Sandal from the rest of your collection?
The Lo Res products are designed according to our Lo Res design principle, where we re-create an object over- and over again, each time less defined by carefully placed, less 3D points, resulting in a more fragmented/facetted design.
You collaborate with many designers like Iris Van Herpen, 223, and Zaha Hadid to name a few, how important is it for shoemakers to collaborate with other designers?
For our most recent Re-Inventing Shoes collaboration we worked with 5 top designers for 5 shoes at the same time: Zaha Hadid, Ross Lovegrove, Fernando Romero, Ben van Berkel and Michael Young. It’s important for us to collaborate as we find this a very productive way to push boundaries, to discover new things, to create stories, to learn and to have fun.
Who are some designers that you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
We are already working on a few new projects, but we never really talk about it before it’s close to launch. In general I would like to work with more people from the film industry.
Who is the wearer of United Nude?
Design and/or fashion conscious people with their own style.
What can we expect from your fall/winter collection?
Geometric designs, comfortable constructions, and a wide range of great materialisation’s including some great metallic brush-off leathers.
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For more visit their website or their New York flagship store located downtown.
-by Krissy Lewis
