Designer Spotlight: Elisa Ferare

Who is the designer behind Elisa Ferare?
“I am the one and only.”

Your design philosophy?
“To allow the soul of me to do the designing…to get to that place that feels like I am the observer.” Entering into her eighth year of producing cut-to-order shoes, Elisa Ferare operates a custom-order shoe design house in a little dance-shoe factory near Los Angeles, CA. “It is a very old-world kind of thing,” she told shuzsociety. “I have this marvelous romantic idea of maintaining manufacturing in the US.”
Describe your design style:
“Juxtaposed…never too serious…when movie stars were really movie stars…the heart of a dancer…for women who make their own rules…”

Why shoes?
“Each time I bought myself a new pair of shoes (which was frequently), I brought them to the local shoe repair guy and made lots of changes so they became more of what I wanted them to be. I was continually stopped by women who asked me where I got my shoes,” Ferare confides. “One day one of my children (who had witnessed my being stopped time and again) said, ‘I don’t understand why you’re not making shoes’… before that very moment the thought had never entered my mind.
Shoemaking found me.”

Cabaret “fab friday” shoe:
Hand-painted snakeskin oxford with ½” platform with 4 ½” heel. This shoe, as will all Elisa Ferare shoes, take 2-3 weeks to produce. Her shoes are hand-made, after all, by true craftsmen. Lisa Rinna, self-proclaimed shoe lover, recently called and ordered the “Cabaret.”

Tell us about Homage to Joseph (as we drool at our screens!):
“It has had made many fans…and has been carried over for the 3rd fall as we continue to get more orders for it. The inspiration came from a shoe my mom had that had lots of colored stones on it. The brand on the insole was “Joseph.” It retails for $1,200. It is the costliest shoe in my entire collection. All of the stones are bezel set (not prong set) and it is done on hand-painted snake……..” We like!

Sneak peek of spring 2009:
There was a personal transformation going on at the time, and designing this collection was a lifesaver. There are aspects of it that reflect that to me now. The name of this collection is in fact “Transformation.”

Passion for Peace:
“My lifelong cause has been for PEACE. And now as a shoe designer it spills over into my designs,” says Ferare. “I have been making shoes with peace symbols for 5 yrs. Every season I create another, as a reminder for all who wear and see them. Hopefully in some way it will help to raise the consciousness of the planet…and that someday…in the not too distant future…we will create a new reality.”

So, what is YOUR personal favorite pair of shoes?
“You’re kidding, right?”

Where are your shoes carried?
Her shoes can be ordered directly from ElisaFerare’s website, or Fred Segal – Santa Monica, CA. and Redbird – Berkely, Ca. Shirise – Glencoe, IL. Capitol – Charlotte, N.C. Sharis Place – Kings Point, NY.