Wynn Magazine - Las Vegas
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/149416
86 BARBARA KRAFT (STOREFRONT); NICK HARVEY/GETTY IMAGES (KIRKWOOD) was almost a sense of using couture materials and trims, pearls and lace and embroideries, and then taking classic ideas and reinterpreting them in modern silhouettes," he notes. "I think the lace pieces in particular will be a great hit in Las Vegas. Lace is such a traditional material, and yet it's also sheer and sexy and feminine and luxurious, and perfect for evening as well." You can't look at Kirkwood's shoes and not conjure up adjectives like "adventurous" and "imaginative," reflected in designs such as his boldly striped chevron pumps in dizzying color mixes—think of lime-green and brown zigzags topping a red heel—to details just as cunning though far more subtle, from the thin slice of his wedge heel on an ankle boot to the oversize pearl hidden on the underside of a pearl-trimmed black velvet pump. "I love the idea of a hidden gem," he says of the latter. "There's a romance about not showing everything, about knowing a detail that's your own little secret in a way. Someone else really would have to lie on the ground to get a glimpse of that pearl. I also love to play around with shapes—that wedge heel looks one way from the side but very different from the back. And the same is true of color: Playing PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF GREEN (INTERIORS); COURTESY OF NICHOLAS KIRKWOOD (SHOES, ILLUSTRATION); but when the offer came up, it was one we didn't need to mull over too much." The 1,400-square-foot boutique plays beautifully into Kirkwood's aesthetic, its gallerylike vibe proving to be an ideal framework for his highly sculptural, Italian-made styles. "I wanted something a bit light; that was important to me," he says of the chic white space. "I wanted there to be a lightness that felt a bit like an art gallery, but not as stark as a gallery. If you look closely, it's actually a very subtle mix of whites to prevent it from feeling too monolithic—and of course the lack of color in the store allows the shoes to be the color, to really be the center of attention. Our New York store has a bit more of an industrial feel about it—this feels a bit more polished, a higher standard of finish, more evolved. It's a concept I see us moving forward with for future stores." Kirkwood's Fall/Winter 2013 collection indeed sizzles within this space, its mix of colors and textures highlighting their architectural quality, from his signature backward-placed platform in a hammered-gold finish on a black-lace bootie to the flurry of a pleated-tulle frill running down the back of a stiletto heel. "For Fall there WYNN 084-087_W_Fash_Shoes_Fall13.indd 86 8/9/13 12:17 PM