News; lacosate shoes design is treaded in New Territory

Like Gehry, Zaha Hadid is freshly indoctrinated into shoe design. Last year the Brazilian shoemaker Melissa introduced an eponymous high heel to the marketplace. And in July, Lacoste launched limited-edition, men’s and women’s leather boots by the architect, and the fashion house will begin selling more affordable versions this fall.

In all cases, Hadid’s work most clearly demonstrates a translation of architectural vision to tootsy scale. The Melissa shoe’s form, topped by asymmetrical straps, appears molded upward from a single block of warm wax. The Lacoste boot, meanwhile, evokes an alligator’s tail wending up the leg, for which Hadid’s design team appropriates rapid-prototyping technologies it usually deploys for model-making. Project architect Maria Araya says, “From shoes to master plans, it’s the same design process and language we’re trying to develop.� Woody Yao, an associate director in Hadid’s London studio, concurs: “In my 15 years with Zaha, a smaller project is like a testing field for the bigger scale.�

“You shouldn’t have to differentiate between disciplines,� Gehry says of phenomenon of architects taking on shoe-design commissions. John Storey, the Lacoste global publicity director who oversaw the Hadid project, says that, based on the company’s successes teaming with other designers outside of fashion, consumers can expect more architect crossovers.