BY DAVINA CATT

Dellal Gal
“I find them kind of special shoes. They’re not your average going out shoes. They’re shoes you can put on display.” Quite the daring description spoken by hip, young, au courant shoe designer, Charlotte Dellal, 27, of her label, Charlotte Olympia, which is currently garnering all-around applause from daring fashion types from London to NYC. Hailing from a family of achingly cool status – her model sister, Alice, 80’s muse mother, Andrea, Hoxton gallery-owner brother, Alex, and property tycoon father, Guy – Dellal’s half Brazilian, half English exotic lifestyle continuously informs her super glamorous cum quirky aesthetic. Since the beginnings – picking up Dover Street Market as a first stockist in 2007 – the Charlotte Olympia label has been making waves quickly with further stockists; Browns, Net-A-Porter, and Jeffrey NYC, plus an array of glittery endorsers in Kate Moss, Liberty Ross, and Sienna Miller, and has served to earn Dellal a nomination for Emerging Talent by the British Fashion Council in 2008.

Originally intending to design clothing, Dellal switched things up after attending a a foundation course at London College of Fashion. “It was either corsetry or shoes and I ended up going for shoes,” says Dellal. “I then went to study footwear at Cordwainers, and, in between times, I would to go to Paris and intern for Giambattista Valli at Ungaro.” Dellal’s first sell was a little leopard ankle boot which was picked up by trendy boutique The Cross in Notting Hill, London, and her first truly big break came through selling her first collection to London’s very hip Dover Street Market in 2007.

For her first collection, Dellal sourced kimono fabrics in Japan. These days, her materials generally come from Italy, but, says the designer, “It depends what I am inspired by…I love working with different materials; sometimes that can be the starting point for a collection.” For her Spring 2009 collection, Dellal cites Persia and the Orient Express as her inspiration. “The rich colours and fabrics from the Orient were an influence in the collection,” says Dellal, and she refers specifically to a purposeful use of cotton velvets, raw silks, and gold metallics.

The stand out pieces? Among her favourites, she counts “Maxine”, a lace-up sandal in leopard print, “Persia”, an exotic, gold ankle-strap sandal, “Cindy”, a bright pink pump with a gilded gold stiletto heel, and Harlow, a striking sandal with a thick, gold platform sole and magenta velvet accents.

The sky-high heel is her signature; “14cm to be exact,” says Dellal. “I love high heels. The higher the better; there’s something sculptural and special about extreme heels.  I like to think that no heel is too high to walk in!” Each piece is hand made by Italian craftsman and finished off with the brand’s signature trademark: a gold spider web on the sole. The symbolism? Charlotte’s Web; as simple as that. Will she ever consider flats? “Maybe for next summer…” says Dellal. “I’ll call it the vertically-challenged shoe.”

In regard to her own personal style, Dellal derives inspiration from old-school glamour. “I’m a bit nostalgic for the way women dressed in the ‘40s and ‘50s, with the red lips and red nails (think Rita Hayworth; a pin up from a bygone era), and leopard print, which is all reflected in my shoes. However,” she admits, “I’m very happy dressed down in my Converse. It’s all or nothing!” Dellal counts Giambattista Valli, Yves Saint Laurent, and Azzedine Alaia as her favourite designers for both clothes and shoes, and she admits she would love to work with Valli himself.