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Women's

Conversation With: Charlotte Olympia Dellal

With her four-year-old shoe label Charlotte Olympia making major fashion waves, I paid a visit to London-based designer Charlotte Olympia Dellal in her Paris showroom. The whimsy of her designs and the stories behind each one are incredibly charming, as is she. The motifs included paper moons, doll faces and African animals. Next we traipsed up the road to Place Vendome, where we had a lot of laughs while posing for photographer Dan Lecca. Coincidentally our outfits kind of matched, and I’ll bet the passerby thought we were honeymooners. See Dan’s final portraits of us in the Pre-Fall issue of The Book along with the complete interview.

Ken Downing: Looking at you is like looking at a movie still from the 1940s. You are a glamorous Hollywood siren! The hair, the red lipstick…

Charlotte Olympia Dellal: You are very sweet. Hollywood has always been a major source of inspiration to me—old Hollywood through a modern lens, a bit classic, but not old-fashioned. I would hate to be called a throw back! My grandmother has always been a huge inspiration to me. Her hair, her red lipstick, the whole idea of Hollywood glamour was something I was raised around.

KD: Yet you’ve only been to Hollywood once?

COD: It’s true, but I’m a very nostalgic person. Some people look to punk for inspiration. I love the 1940s and pin-up girls of the 1950s. I adore Rita Hayworth.

KD: You have a bit of a Rita Hayworth sensibility, except you’re a blonde.

COD: Hands down, Rita Hayworth is my favorite. Blonde, brunette, red head—I’ve been them all! I started wearing red lipstick when I was a redhead; the red lips stayed long after the red hair was no longer. Red lips, red nails. It’s the little details that fascinate me. I like having a story.

KD: I love a good story, too. I am especially enamored with the web you are weaving for the coming fall season, pun fully intended.

COD: You’re referring to the “Charlotte’s web” that’s the embroidery on my flats. I always loved the story of Charlotte’s Web as a child. Being my name, it only made sense. It’s become my signature, along with the Kitty flat that many people know me for. I love high heels, so when I design flats, I want them to be very special, very desirable. My first flat shoes were flat versions of the high heels. Now the flats are flats in their own right, and the high heels, well, what can I say?

KD: What can you say? I’m crazy for the Pierrot ruff on your signature heel.

COD: It’s a shoe with its own accessory. You can wear it with or without the ruffled ankle strap.

KD: With the ankle strap, please. Just sayin’!

COD: You are hysterical! I do love the ankle strap, too. The essence of the fall collection is the 1940s and ’50s, and mix of Pierrot clowns, harlequins and moons, inspired by paper moons, which are actually from the 1910s. I have always loved paper moons. They were the theme of my wedding. I have always wanted to incorporate them into a collection, it just felt right for this fall.

See Charlotte Olympia shoes at NeimanMarcus.com and Neiman Marcus stores.