Monday, January 9, 2012

beau coops AW12 and the story behind the label xx













It is obvious there is a little more to the Beau Coops shoes than your regular footwear label. The intimate details, Italian leather, craftsmanship and androgynous look that is synonymous to the brand. We thought we would give a little rundown on the story behind Carrie Cooper and the label Beau Coops before we receive their ultimate Autumn Winter collection 2012 'Notwithsatnding' xx

Upon leaving New Zealand in 2000, footwear designer Carrie Cooper hooked up with a Portuguese cobbler who, according to Carrie - taught her to “be a true cobbler”. Cooper’s mentor wasn't just any cobbler. He “owned the rights to make shoes for Eley Kishimoto and Bernard Wilhelm”

Cooper went on to work for Alexander McQueen “where we launched the Puma collaboration”
Fast forward to 2007 and while holidaying in Sydney, Cooper was introduced to the owners of Ksubi. Ksubi propositioned the designer (who was then working for Lacoste) about moving to Sydney and designing Ksubi’s footwear.
The 30 year-old got down to work on launching Ksubi’s footwear collection in March 08. But by the time October 08 rolled around Cooper (along with a dozen or so other staff) found herself “kicked out on the street” when Ksubi’s financial woes forced the company to make mass redundancies.
Taking time to reassess, Cooper, the New Zealand born (and now Australian based) designer took a couple of months break before she met with David and Rocco Mascitelli (owners of fashion wholesale company NMI which includes men’s footwear label Brando). Cooper was bought on by the owners to “re-channel the direction of the company and do something a little more interesting”- the Mascitelli brothers also gave Cooper “free reign to start her own brand”
And thus Beau Coops was born (the name comes from a nickname bestowed on Carrie by her friend at Art School in NZ)
Cooper’s design aesthetic is deliberately timeless and according to Cooper “It’s not about bells and whistles. It’s about the construction, materials, form and function. I don’t want to create something that would fling around from season to season.”
Cooper herself admits she’s not a “girly girl” and that much like her choice of name, her design aesthetic is “a combination of signatures”, mixing masculine and feminine influences.
Aside from a few styles, Cooper’s collection is all made by hand (in Italy) and from quality Italian fabrications.


story courtesy of NMI
pics courtesy of beaucoops


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