New luxury leather footwear from Italian fashion royalty
Arielle Baron, the daughter of former Vogue Italia fashion director Sciascia Gambaccini (presently international editor-at-large at Vanity Fair Italia) and French creative director Fabien Baron, recently launched an eponymous luxury leather shoe brand.
Alongside her business partner, Eric Best (himself a former Lanvin and Balenciaga employee, who also previously helped launch cult fashion brand Miaou), Ms Baron has opted for a direct-to-consumer distribution model via the brand’s website following difficulties the pair experienced with rescinded retail orders last year, resulting from covid-19’s negative impact on some retailers.
On account of this, Arielle Baron shoes are now reportedly priced 25% lower than they would have been, had they been sold via wholesale prior to the pandemic.
A Parsons School of Design alumna, Ms Baron told WWD that the project “is truly a reflection of myself and the culmination of 30 years of searching for my creative identity.” She chose footwear as her medium, she said, due to shoes’ size inclusivity.
The designer elaborated: “[Growing up] I was really attracted to the fact that everyone around me worked in a creative industry. I could relate to people creating visual stories, but I didn’t relate to the glamorous aspect of fashion. I couldn’t express myself through clothing because it didn’t fit me that often.
“Shoes bring you a real sense of belonging when you are having a bad day trying clothes on that are not fitting - you always find yourself in the shoe department because they make you feel good.”
The handmade-in-Italy brand’s key differentiating factor is its “phantom” heel, seen throughout its initial product offering of 16 styles, which prismatically reflects the surface underneath its footwear.
Napa leather and goatskin dominate Ms Baron's choice of materials.
Image: Arielle Baron.
