The Westwood story
On the heels of their collaboration with designer Alexander Herchcovitch, Brazilian shoemaker Melissa debuted another exclusive partnership with none other than British institution Dame Vivienne Westwood.
Westwood earned her place in history books when she opened shop with spouse Malcolm McLaren. McLaren, who managed the Sex Pistols, guaranteed her instant success when he started dressing the group in her pieces. The flame-haired Dame, largely credited with being the first purveyor of Punk, gained notoriety in the ’90s when she sent resident bad girl Naomi Campbell in a pair of gravity-defying pumps that sent the supermodel toppling on the runway.
But don’t expect her latest pieces to consist of sky-high platforms and towering stilettos. Under her joint efforts with Melissa, two styles by Westwood, which will be available come July, come at more realistic heights.
Flats with a peeptoe, dubbed Ultragirl, come in two versions: a velvet finish with tartan insole and shiny plastic with floral insole. Both styles are embellished with Westwood’s Anglomania insignia, the Orb. Unfortunately, local Melissa retailers won’t be carrying the plastic skimmers anytime soon. “It’s too easy to rip off,” says Joanna Co, Melissa’s exclusive local distributor. The Anglomania Ultragirl, after all, distinguished solely by the presence of the Westwood Orb logo, comes in plain versions by the Melissa brand. That, along with the Campana flats, woven skimmers in plastic, are one of the most sought-after and most copied. Rifle through any of the shoe stands in Greenhills and you’re bound to come up with one of Melissa’s signature pieces at a ridiculously cheap price of P100 a pair. “People buy it because they think they’re saving money,” explains Co, “but after wearing it only a few times, the shoes come apart.” Unlike Melissa’s patented, space-age plastic that provides sole support and allows your foot to breathe, the knock-offs are cheap imitations that can leave your lower extremities in a great deal of pain.
Melissa will be launching the banner piece from the winter ’08 collection from Westwood’s Anglomania label. Modeled after her classic mary jane fashioned in leather, the original was part of her winter 2000 “Summertime” collection, the latest incarnation comes in Melissa’s flexible PVC and MELFLEX plastic. Its round beak, high heels and T-strap are vintage Westwood. A closer inspection reveals that one side of the shoe has subtle claw indentations, not unlike a hoof or unsharpened talons. The red-haired hellion clearly hasn’t given up on creating outre fashion.
Surprisingly wearable and, like all Melissa footwear, incredibly comfortable, Dame Westwood’s footwear comes in red, fuchsia, navy blue, green, besides classic beige, latex, black and white. The local selection will be limited to beige, a classic, blush-hued nude, and black.
Paulo Pedó, manager of Melissa’s operations, believes the partnership between the two labels is significant since both entities share numerous values. ”It is with great pride and honor to be part of such an influential work by Vivienne Westwood which has a very strong bond with all things irreverent and innovative — things Melissa has always strived for in its brand trajectory.”
That’s not the only cause they share. Melissa, known for its ethical trading practice and attention to decent wages and benefits for its Brazilian workers, has garnered accolades from green organizations for their use of recyclable plastic. Cruelty free and devoid of animal products, the company hasn’t shied from its recycling duties, reusing 99.9 percent of factory water and waste. Overstock is taken back and then recycled into newer styles.
Westwood, meanwhile, drew controversy when she announced baldly months back that consumers should stop purchasing. Shrugging off any effect a shopping strike might have on her shops all over the globe, Westwood claims that the public’s fascination with fast fashion results in too much clothes, which end up in landfills and creates excess waste.
“If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season,” she says, according to The Telegraph, “I’ll tell you what I’d like them to buy — nothing. I’d like people to stop buying and buying and buying.”
The eco movement wasn’t the only thing on the designer’s agenda: “There’s something really awful about the way people dress now,” she says in the same Telegraph article. “Everyone looks the same. Everyone wants to look neutral.”
“There’s this idea that somehow you’ve got to keep changing things, and as often as possible. Maybe if people just decided not to buy anything for a while, they’d get a chance to think about what they wanted; what they really liked.”
While Westwood isn’t exactly philosophically pure (her partnership with labels like Nine West, which weren’t directly created by her, for limited-edition diffusion collections aren’t exactly radical), her democratic and liberal approach to fashion (she creates womanly silhouettes that flatter curvy women, instead of the typical willow-waisted teen on the runway) marks her as an influential figure in culture and fashion.
“I’m not trying to do something different,” she’s been known to remark, “I’m trying to do the same thing but in a different way.” The same could be said of her Melissa collection (essentially a reissue of her iconic pieces in new materials) and her current stance on fashion.
Westwood isn’t afraid to take on any cause, one plastic-heeled step at a time.
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Melissa will be releasing new styles by Brazilian designer Alexander Herchcovitch, the new embellished Ultragirl flats by celebrity stylist J. Maskrey and the latest Campana skimmers in waterproof velvet over the next few months.
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Melissa is located at Anthem at Power Plant Mall and Shangri-La Plaza Mall; Mia Bella at Serendra; Culte Femme at Rustan’s Tower, Makati, Alabang and Cebu; and Mixedenim (beside Celio) at Greenbelt 3. For more info, visit www.shop.melissaphilippines.com.
