Le Shouvre

This week has been a somewhat congested one here at Le Shouvre HQ; while trying to keep focused on behind-the-scenes activity, as well as dedicating a fair amount of time to outside obligations, not much actual shoe painting was done. Nevertheless, earlier today I found myself with a couple of hours on my hands, and an excess pair of espadrilles that happened to be in my size. So I undertook a Le Shouvre first: an entirely improvised shoe design.

Given that this was a first for me, and as with the nature of anything improvised, the risk of the end product being a little rough-around-the-edges was quite high. But it was fun to be working from start to finish under such time constraints – a properly commissioned pair can sometimes take me roughly 8-10 hours. Instead, I went straight to painting on the shoes, and made up the design as I went along.

The final product, I feel, reflects the time constraints. It’s not the most imaginative nor cleanest design by any stretch, but given that I only plan on wearing these espadrilles around the pool, I’m happy for them to be loud and a little over-the-top. I also played with the logo a bit by applying a curly, twirly font, which I think suits the design.

This is definitely not something I would do for a normal commission (unless specifically asked, of course!), but it was fun to try it out, given that I knew no one other than myself was going to be wearing the finished product. I hope I can try this sort of thing again… although it’s an expensive form of improvisation!

More pics here

The lovely people at POP were enthusiastic about having a pair made to honour their magazine, so I wanted to create a design that was as colourful and vibrant as the publication itself. I opted to stick to primary colours, but work in light pastel shades (after all, it is July). The background on the front of the shoe fades from a pasty white-yellow through to a light salmon pink, whereas at the back a soft blue is punctuated by strips of light red.

The two main motifs in the design are the POP logo itself, which is built around the Escher  or “Impossible” Triangle, and the isometric cubes that often feature in my other designs. The latter morphs into the former, which then becomes part of the POP logo.

More pics here

My Wimbledon obsession reaches its apex today, with the revealing of a new pair of shoes. As I said in an earlier post, I wanted the design to be clean and crisp, leaving a lot of white space.

The end result is quite minimal – especially considering I normally like to cover the majority of the front of the shoe, but it makes for a nice change from those busy designs. I stuck with the emerald green and dark purple colour combination, and used a lot of straight lines (which can be a pain to paint on a curved surface), and I’m happy to say that they came out just as I’d hoped.

One variation from the original conception was that I thought it apt to use Fred Perry shoes, or perhaps Keds, but Johnny (the owner of the pair) opted for a more affordable brand (Fred Perry can be pretty expensive in France) – although to be honest, as far as I can tell the shoes themselves are practically identical to their more-expensive Keds equivalents.

On the left heel, I painted a Le Shouvre logo, this time with a tennis ball as the “O”. Unfortunately the brush that I normally use for lettering had frayed, so I had to use a thicker one, resulting in slightly uneven text – but I just got a new brush this morning, so hopefully that won’t happen again!

More pics here

I was talking to someone at the weekend who thought that I should be designing/painting Michael Jackson-themed shoes like crazy, and then selling them off like hotcakes, while his death is still fresh in everyone’s minds. While this may indeed be a profitable bandwagon to jump on right now, it’s not something I particularly want Le Shouvre to be involved in. But since several people have asked, here’s my view on the matter…

Much of the customized clothing world has understandably jumped at the chance to sell unofficial merchandise in light of M.J.’s death, but I don’t want Le Shouvre to follow suit. If someone had commissioned a pair of Michael Jackson-inspired shoes at any point prior to his death, I would gladly have done them, and the same still applies. The important thing (for me, at least), is that I’m not going to design such shoes unless someone orders a pair. This may not seem like it’s very different, but I feel that if I suddenly made ten pairs of limited-edition Michael Jackson shoes solely because he just died, and then sold them as if they were commissions, I’d basically be trying to make a profit out of his death.

So, if you’re interested in a pair of Michael Jackson themed shoes, by all means send me an email via the Commission form, and I’ll gladly design something to suit your preferences. However, the design will remain unique and one-of-a-kind; what I’m not going to do is come up with a design now and sell the shoes off specifically because the world is mourning the loss of the King of Pop.

Well, after a slight hiatus, I’ve just finished the pair of espadrilles I’ve been working on. The design brief was for bright bricks/tiles, and some skulls. Caro found some shoes online that had a colourful skull & crossbones pattern, but not wanting to rip them off, I decided to take the same elements and go in a different direction with them.

All in all, I like the way the espadrilles turned out a lot; the colours make a nice contrast to the natural off-white of the canvas, and the skulls aren’t too realistic (that would be a bit weird), but also not too “fun” (so they don’t look stupid).

These are also the first pair that I’ve written “Le Shouvre” on, and incorporated into the overall design. In the past I’ve usually put a little cube somewhere in the design, but this time round I think the white speech bubbles work well amongst the rest of the design. In the future, I think I’m going to incorporate the brand name into the designs more, to link all the shoes together.

More pics here

Wimbledon started this week, and all the white clothes and green grass has inspired me. I want to design some tennis shoes – and who better to look to than the godfather of British Tennis (don’t laugh!), Fred Perry.

After a successful tennis career, Fred Perry invented the wristband, co-created his own fashion brand, and popularized the polo shirt. His brand has remained popular from its conception in the early 1950′s through to today. 

So, taking influence from classic Wimbledon images like the one above, and using Fred Perry’s own plain white plimsoles, I want to make a crisp, clean, summery design that makes you feel as though you’re setting foot in the All England Club itself… 

As for colours, it seems like the classic greens and purples of the Wimbledon emblem could work nicely – as well as a healthy dose of white, obviously. As yet these are “concept” shoes, but I’m going to start drafting designs soon and see how they look…

I’ve received an order for a pair of espadrilles, a day after I’d been perusing the shops and decided it would be cool to try customizing a few pairs anyway. Maybe it’s the incredible weather we’ve had in Edinburgh for the past few days warping my brain, but it seems like they’re ideal for long, hot sunny days.

Typically made out of a thin layer of soft canvas, with some form of rubber and string combination for a light, unique-looking sole, they’re usually quite cheap (between £10-£20), and they practically embody sunshine.

I’ll see how the commission goes, but they should be fun, and will hopefully look great. Having originally been quite rude about them when they started making a fashionable comeback a couple of years ago, I’ve gotta say, now I’m starting to warm up to them… (No doubt the inevitable Edinburgh rain will bring an end to such thoughts!)