There’s not much seemingly natural about a platform boot, but both nature and the season’s top shoe trend were part of Clergerie’s fall ‘19 collection. Creative director David Tourniaire-Beauciel took inspiration from winter walks on the beach near his house in Brittany, France.
“I love the fact that when I come back a walk, I have so much energy. Nature gives you energy; the water, the wind, the colors,” he said at brand’s presentation. Those colors expectedly came in blues, grays and blacks and were easily translated into the star of the collection, a platform boot in a grayish blue with a wooden heel that Tourniaire-Beauciel flipped around from front to back. “It’s as if it’s not the correct heel on the shoe,” he pointed out.
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Other standouts included sneakers with articulation on the oversized rubbers soles (“this is the DNA for Clergerie at the moment,” said the designer), Goodyear welting on dress shoes with rubberized soles (“just as easy to change the sole, which is the whole purpose of the Goodyear”), and an ankle boot with a classic Clergerie curved metal heel in a kitten height and a new hand woven stretch raffia sourced from a specialty Japanese straw.
Clergerie also partnered with buzzy brand Both Paris for a series of hiking boots and lace-up shoes that utilized the brand’s vulcanized rubber technology capabilities. “I really wanted to build a shoe with a lot of protection, so the vulcanized rubber is up high. And I wanted use the stereotype of the classic mountain boots, but with some trompe l’oeil,” said Tournaire-Beauciel.
The shoes were made in France and then sent to Indonesia, where Both Paris has its rubber manufacturer. “It’s a global collaboration,” the designer added. “Mr. Clergerie would go on holiday and he was always bringing back these different techniques — the straw, the raffia. For me, this is something to bring back.”
