Fierce LDN: Tracey Neuls

Continuing examining London footwear designers, in our weeklong accessory special we talk to women’s shoe designer Tracey Neuls. Tracey has recently migrated East, opening a new store on Redchurch St. Neuls has also collaborated with graphic designers LEGUN to create a new line of shoes to accompany her Tracey Neuls mainline and TN_29 diffusion line collections. Known for her love of change and constantly evolving design style, Tracey’s footwear goes far beyond the expected.

PlanetNotion: Accessories are so important in the completion of an outfit and allow for a lot of true, meaningful self-expression. Can you describe your aesthetic or design ethos?

Tracey Neuls : Both Tracey Neuls and TN_29 footwear is the foundation or pedestal of an outfit. Our customers start with our shoes and then complete the outfit rather than the other way around. In our increasingly homogenous world is it important to have your own personal style. We endeavor to always create totally wearable yet individual shoes that make a statement – we have been coined ‘the thinking woman’s luxury footwear’.

PN: What made you become an accessory designer rather than apparel?

TN: I actually started designing clothes but my true love has always been footwear. When I was a child I would spend countless hours making cardboard shoes with toilet roll heels. My home country Canada was limited in design education choice so I ended up studying the next best thing – fashion.

PN: Can you describe your technical process in producing your shoes?

TN: As a result of doing fashion design first, I approach shoes like clothing and often treat the leather like fabric in a draping sense. It drives the factories crazy and they say I ‘dress the shoes’ rather than make them.

PN: Detail is very important in accessory design and its beauty. Is that something you enjoy in your design creation?

TN: Detail is very important, but I believe in its subtle use. The most important details are often only known to the owner of the shoe. For example, the craftsman who lasts our shoes actually signs each pair on the sole. The whole shoe and all its details need to be seen as one- to plonk a detail onto the front of a shoe is not what we are about.

PN: What can we expect to see from you in the future?

TN: Well this year has been big for us. We opened our second shop out East London on Redchurch St. and as well have gone transactional online. Once we take a little breather, we will be looking into the world of men’s shoes. We are asked daily (without exaggeration!) to design men’s.

PN: Who would you ideally like to see wearing your designs?

TN: Confident, self-assured women. It is wonderful to see mothers and daughters who have the same independent mindset shopping together completely outside the confines of age.

PN: What’s your favorite piece from your current collection and can you explain why?

TN: It has to be the wooden heeled Chelsea boot called ‘Jane’. Pictured below, you will see that the heel is made of wood but the best bit if the combination of materials. At the front the sole is made in a flexible EVA which means you don’t walk like you have clogs on but get that same joy out of wood. Love my pair!

PN: It’s great to see your new store open on Redchurch Street. What was the decision making process behind your move east?

TN: Our shops benefit from being in areas of London, which are full of independent thinkers as well as having strong communities. The modern galleries of Redchurch, its artisan studios and multicultural dwellings are all apart of the charm. And now we are convenient to both West and East!

PN: Can you tell us more about your collaboration with graphic designers LEGUN and what they have brought and added to your designs?

TN: Legun is a very forward thinking illustrative collective who are influenced by times gone by, for example 1920’s Surrealist Paris. We both play with pushing the boundaries but without forgetting the past. We have chosen one of their prints which best represents the collective Legun and turned this into one of our dandy shoes.

PN: The fantastical craftsmanship that is involved in accessory design allows for great self-expression, experimentation and possibility by its wearer. Is that something you enjoy about shoe design? Are you trying to communicate anything through your designs?

TN: My designs are quite restrained, preferring sculptural, minimal silhouettes. To get this right, the craftsman is everything. When you design minimal footwear, there is no embellishment to hide behind. I definitely take this challenge on board. The shape and details are very much for the wearer and not so much for the observer on the side.  My designs are individual but it is the wearer that makes them their own.  They have the final communication!

www.tn29.com

- Kathryn Duncan