Designers

For more than three decades Vivienne Westwood has forged her way into the hearts, minds and purses of fashionistas across the globe. Now she has found a place with Melissa.

Westwood has created two models through her Anglomania brand exclusively for Melissa. Westwood’s classic Mary Jane originally made out of leather has been re-birthed in plastic. In addition, as Westwood lends her Anglomania design to Melissa … Melissa returns in kind with Westwood doing her own take on the cult Melissa ‘Ultragirl’ slipper.

Westwood’s trademark practicality is a faultless match for Melissa’s injected thermoplastic. “This technique guarantees perfect shapes without interweaves as we see in fabrics …” says the designer herself. In Anglomania all of Westwood’s quintessential Englishness and unabashed historicism loans itself neatly to her creations for Melissa’s collection.

Westwood is an institution, now the esteemed matriarch counts the Melissa brand as a part of her monarchy.

Zaha Hadid is no stranger to fashion circles (her recent artistic collaboration with Chanel being a case in point); now the architect is bringing her eye for structure to the design table.

Hadid is the latest celebrity creative to collaborate with Brazilian eco-responsible footwear brand melissa (following in the venerable footsteps of the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Judy Blame and Alexandre Herchcovitch, no less) – and the resulting creation is so spectacular, it received its own launch party at London Fashion Week.

“I have 30 years of research on different areas of architecture and design and this was a very challenging project, not only in design, but on the technical side,” Hadid reveals. “And there was great synergy; I worked very closely with Melissa to transform my design into reality.”

- Originally published on Vouge.com

Alexandre Herchcovitch thinks as Melissa thinks: fashion is fun, clothes communicate and design is all about style.

Being ahead of its time, creating different styles and seeing fashion as a strong communication channel has always been Melissa’s way of life. It was this belief that led Melissa to Alexandre Herchcovitch – a designer who is able to transform classic into modern, simple into glamourous, easy into complex and shoes into a fashion accessory.

During his 14 year career Herchcovitch has presented his fashion collections at Sao Paulo, London, Paris and New York Fashion Weeks and has recently opened his first store in Tokoyo. Selected products of his are sold in the USA, Canada, France, Spain and Australia.

Herchcovitch’s collaboration with Melissa began in 2002 and since then he has created two or more styles for Melissa every year. The models created by Herchcovitch are now the most cherished fashion icons on the cosmopolitan circuit. Working on a simple concept – to seek fun – the designer has combined plastic with style and started a new chapter in design.

The Campana Brothers are two of the world’s most famous Brazilian designers.

In 1983, the two brothers teamed up to develop furniture made from ordinary materials – including waste products such as cardboard, rope, fabric and wood scraps, plastic tubes, aluminum wire. By the early 90s, they had already gained considerable international acclaim, notably in Europe and in the United States.

The Campana Brothers were first noticed in 1998 by the media, when they became the first Brazilian artists to expose their work at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, along with German lighting designer Ingo Maurer.

Melissa sealed a partnership with design duo campana brothers in 2004. The Campana brothers are best known for their smart and gorgeous manner of uniting the latest technology with rustic, Artisan materials. Their aesthetics borders simplicity, with a modern perspective of organized chaos and intriguing disorder.

Karim Rashid, the celebrated New York based Egyptian designer, has previously worked with Issey Miyake, Prada, Georgio Armani, Artemide, Cappellini, Edra and Sony, just to name a few! Karim’s teardrop shaped high heel style for Melissa became a hit amongst trendsetters around the globe. His works combine modern design with a classic model of the brand.

“Melissa is from a place that is foreign to me, Brazil, an exotic place, a place that reminds me only of dreams, a place full of life, warm hearts, passion, creativity and love. I had no idea that a company existed that makes injection molded plastic shoes, that is capable of such complex wonderments for the feet….. Now I know, and now I have the pleasure and opportunity to create some small artistic expressions that add to their positive spirited line of shoes. This collaboration is MELISSA KARIM. This is a beautiful project and a great collaboration to soften and domocratize our every day objects.”

In 1982 melissa first collaborated with Paris couturier Jean Paul Gaultier in the creation of a plastic sneaker. We are now pleased to announce melissa's long awaited collaborative re-union with Gaultier who this time has created a 10cm chiseled plastic stiletto.

"Working with melissa has been a coup de pied a la mode! I've enjoyed the challenge of creating a high heeled plastic shoe with all the values of my design ethos" - JEAN PAUL GAULTIER.

Staying true to melissa’s ethos, Jean Paul Gaultier’s design is a cutting edge sexy style that is a unique plastic masterpiece and a fashion match made in heaven. Due to the intricacy of the design, which comprises of both opaque and transparent plastics in varying strap widths and a metal cigarette heel, the newest technology advances in production have had to be implemented to satisfy the demands of this model.

On vogue.com Gaultier has been quoted as saying "I've worked very closely with melissa on the development of this style - it's very sexy. I'd love to see it worn with fishnet tights, so you can really max out on the transparent aspect of the plastic."

After working for Pierre Cardin, then Jean Patou, Jean Paul Gaultier released his first collection under his own name in 1976. A master tailor, his suiting featured a deconstructed aesthetic, with an androgynous flavour, underpinned by his risqué collaborations, best exemplified by Madonna’s conical bra for her 1990’s Blond Ambition Tour. In 2004 he became Creative Director for Hermes and he also now produces couture collections in addition to his mainline and fragrances.

"Since I moved to Paris at the beginning of this year, romaticism took over me and my thoughts ... so I decided to create a line both feminine and modern ... beautiful shoes covered with crystals that will illuminate the steps of melissa's customers" - J MASKREY.

After the success of the melissa 'bejewelled' line by J Maskrey launched in 2003, J Maskrey once again graces melissa with her glamorous talent with the launch of the Night Sky line. The styles that have received her magical touch are Ultragirl, Esmeralda, Vinyl, Joy and Lady Dragon. The name for the new line, Night Sky, came to J Maskrey on one of her trips whilst observing the beauty and lights of the Sky from her aeroplane window.

J Maskrey commenced her career as a make-up artist. She then decided to follow her creative ideas and began to develop jewellery to be worn directly on the skin - thus the begining of 'skin jewellery', her registered trademark. Clients of her unique and dazzling form of body art have included: Kate Moss, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Winslet, Janet Jackson, Courtney Love, Yoko Ono, Cate Blanchett and Gwen Steffani. J Maskrey has collaborated with several top fashion brands as a result of developing her Skin Jewellery technique. These have included Ungaro Couture, Estee Lauder, Givenchy Parfum, Kenzo, Sonia Rykiel Judith Lieber, Alexander McQueen, Red Bull, Hugo Boss, SK II and many more.

In 2000 J Maskrey branched into clothing and debuted at London Fashion Week in 2001. Nowadays she lives in Paris concentrating on her ready-to-wear collections and working closely with melissa and various other collaborators.