SPRING WILL COME WITH AUDREY
"Elegance is the only beauty that never fades".
- Audrey Hepburn -
When we launched the website back in September 2018, we decided to include the image at the top of this post. In it, our model is wearing a ballerina that at that time was just a prototype. Since then, we have not stopped receiving messages from you asking us to include this design in our catalogue.
Bohemian shoes are the people who wear our shoes and those who, even if they don't, follow us or support us in some way. And everything you ask for we have in mind, we study it and we try to give it to you. That's why we got down to work a few months ago to develop our version of this ballerina. And now we have it... Spring will come with Audrey.
The process has been very laborious, and has resulted in a model which we have christened the AUDREY. I say "process", because it has been just that, and it has not been easy.
Where Audrey comes from
There are several brands that have marketed a ballerina with straps before, but none of them convinced us completely, either by design, quality of materials or finishes. From the beginning it was clear to us that our ballerina would come out of a more stylised last than the existing ones, that we would manufacture it entirely in leather to achieve a comfortable shoe, and that the finishes had to be on a par with the rest of the models of Bohemian Shoes. With this idea in mind, we approached the job and presented the project to our craftsman. From that moment, until we came up with the final design, we developed a specific last and went through a total of seven prototypes.
For the production of AUDREY, we started with the last of the OLIVIAwhich is already slim in itself, but we wanted to go a step further and create a shoe that would slim the legs and flatter any type of body shape.
Once the shape of the last seemed right, the first prototypes arrived, but we didn't quite like them. Cut here, lengthen there, add, remove, raise, lower, start again... Changes and more changes that our craftsman has been making with a lot of patience and affection until he found the key to the version that will go on sale for the spring-summer season.
Spring came Audrey... in the best raw material
As I have mentioned, there have been seven prototypes in total, with changes of varying degrees of depth, to arrive at a final shoe that we have LOVED.
I've always been a big fan of ballerinas, and I've never worn one that stylises the shape of the foot and legs like this one does. In the hands, it's spectacular... on, it makes you float.
At Bohenian Shoes, design is important, but no less so than the raw materials and finishes. Our strappy ballerina is made of super-soft leather that seems to have a life of its own. For the inner lining, as in all our models, and despite the higher cost of production, we have dispensed with fabric and used leather instead. The result is a shoe that wraps around the foot as if it were a glove and provides an extra softness and comfort that fabric lining never achieves. Wearing our ballerinas is more like a caress than anything else.
Why the name?
Finally, we were missing the name. You all know that at Bohemian Shoes we are big fans of Audrey Hepburn, her style and values. Audrey HepburnWhat better name for this ballerina than AUDREY?
You will be able to enjoy it from spring onwards, because they come together... A caress for your feet and a gift for your eyes... And like everything we do, we have made it with a lot of love and thinking about you. Bohemianwe have made it with a lot of love and thinking of you.
Eva Veiga - Bohemian Shoes
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