Plastic Fantastic! First Look At Karl Lagerfeld's Fun Footwear Collection With Melissa Shoes

UPDATE: Karl Lagerfeld's designs with Melissa shoes have just been unveiled and...drum roll please...they're just as fabulous as we'd expected! The designer’s original sketches show two exclusive styles that encapsulate his je ne sais quoi as well as another two existing styles.

Aside from being the first partnership with a Brazilian brand, it was also Mr Lagerfeld’s first experience in creating shoes entirely from plastic. 'I had never worked with plastic in this way before,' he says of the differences. 'It’s not the classic technique, I am used to working with more traditional techniques for Fendi, Chanel and Lagerfeld shoes. My inspiration was the native country of the brand, celebrating the Brazilian “joie de vivre”.

When asked if this partnership reflects all of his experience in fashion, the designer said: 'I hope it will not reflect ‘decades of experience’ and have some freshness! I design footwear the same way I design clothes: with feeling. I express in my design, but what is not analyzed is what I design. I am not a marketing person.'

So what of the shoes? The Melissa Glam is a point flat ballerina shoe featuring three transparent spheres in sober and metallic tones. The Melissa Incense is truly fun with its glitter application on the back side of the heel, which is in the shape of a shinny ice cream cone. Genius! Meanwhile, the Melissa Ginga honours Brazil with a colour pallette inspired by the country native flag. Ooh, whichever one to choose?!

03 December 2012: Karl Lagerfeld's Latest Venture

Karl Lagerfeld is at it again. Not content with creating designer togs for Chanel and Fendi, news reaches us that the Kaiser of fashion has teamed up with Melissa to launch an exclusive footwear capsule collection. The global partnership will involve Monsieur Lagerfeld working on the design, development and distribution of the collection.

Although we haven't had a glimpse of the designs just yet, we do know there'll be at least FOUR seasons of Karl x Melissa shoes to look forward to. The first will be unveiled in March 2013, just in time for Autumn Winter 2013 and will include four styles of eco-friendly footwear created by the white ponytailed maestro. The ever-eccentric Karl plus the purveyors of plastic shoes? We're expecting rich colours, bold patterns and tres quirky jellies. What fun!

Vivienne Westwood was in the pink for Melissa

Of course, this isn't Melissa's first designer collaboration. The Brazilian shoe brand has previously teamed up with designer types from Jean Paul Gaultier to Gareth Pugh and most memorably Vivienne Westwood. Anne Hathaway, Kate Moss and Katy Perry are already fans of the shoes, which are made of 100 per cent recyclable plastic, so can we expect Karl's crew to get involved now that the Chanel designer is onboard? We're talking to you, Vanessa Paradis and Diane Kruger.

'In one of the most exciting collaborations the company has seen, Karl Lagerfeld the most iconic designers of the 21st Century, has extended his fashion reign into our world of Melissa,' Paulo Pedó, Melissa CEO, declared this morning. 'Karl’s design talent synonymous with couture has been translated into footwear, bridging the gap between high-end and commercial, extending our customer base and making his name accessible for all.'

Karl's camp are pretty chuffed with the collab too. Says Pier Paolo Righi, Karl Lagerfeld CEO: 'We are very excited about the partnership with Melissa who have been great in translating Karl's inspirations and designs into truly ironic fun fashion products that many women in the world will happily wear.' Yes Pier, we will.

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