Designer BackgroundHalf English, half Brazilian, shoe and accessory designer, Charlotte Olympia Dellal made KOBE 9 waves in the fashion industry with the launching of her shoe line Charlotte Olympia in 2007. She has since then seen the collection fly off shelves of her flagship store in London’s Mayfair. Before launching her shoe line, Dellal studied at London’s Cordwainers while interning at Giambattista Valli in Paris. Named Best Accessory Designer at the 2011 British Fashion Awards, 30 year old Dellal’s Charlotte’s Web inspired brand has propelled her to the top. Her glamorous 6 inch heels and detail oriented flats adorn the feet of A Air Jordan 6 Rings list celebrities Keira Knightly, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hillary Duff and Victoria Beckam. Dellal, granddaughter of Hollywood icon Grace Kelly epitomizes a fashionista of the 40’s era with the beauty of a sophisticated siren, known for her wavy hair, signature bold, red lipstick and vintage accessories.

Creation ProcessThe detail savvy designer gets inspiration for her shoes from pictures of pin up Air Jordan 19s girls of the 40’s and 50’s. She even draws inspiration from the characters of Agatha Christie mystery novels. Other objects of inspiration for her shoe collections include: a scrapbook overflowing with theater tickets, paper scraps of magazine cut outs, collections of old movie posters and vintage shoes. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Dellal outlined her process of creation step by step describing it as “. . . a fluid process. I start out with one thing and then it evolves into another”. She begins by spreading out sketches, fabrics and wooden “lasts”, designed after human feet on the floor of her office typically with the sounds of an old movie playing the background. She then wraps up the last in masking tape, draws her design on it and removes the tape, flattening it so she can send it to her factory in Italy for a prototype.

Pre Fall 2012 CollectionDellal’s Charlotte Olympia shoes with trademark spider webbed soles, are sold at Air Jordan 2011 the flagship store in London’s Mayfair and other luxury retailers such as, Neiman Air Jordan 2s Marcus, Bergdorf’s and Dover Street Market. As a part of her plans to expand, she opened a US boutique earlier this year in New York on 65th Street off Madison Avenue. Dellal’s pre fall 2012 shoe and accessory collection is inspired by her gaggle of Russian fans. The collection features her signature sky high stilettos with wooden Matryoshka doll faces, as shown on the “Anastasia” sandal pictured right. The Russian Matryoshka doll is a nesting doll crafted out of wood and made up of several dolls, one smaller than the next, placed inside one another. The pre fall accessory is a wooden “Pandora” clutch.