The big news last evening at #NYFW wasn’t from Kanye West who announced he will be showing a new collection at fashion week today, but from Mansur Gavriel — best known for their mania-generating, contrast-color bucket bag. The ‘it bag’ gurus announced they will start designing shoes!
Mansur Gavriel, established in 2012, by founders and CFDA Accessory Design recipients Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavriel, is a luxury accessories line with a unique story. The company’s unconventional start-up strategy to launch a luxury product solely on Instagram was, at the time, unheard of.
The genius was the Mansur Gavriel leather goods were designed in the USA but made with Italian leather in an age old craftsmanshop in the Veneto region of Italy. So from the outset, the collection was a sensation and now they’ve added shoes, brilliant!
The Spring 2016 shoe presentation’s entire range of suede mules, slides and sandals — available in five heel heights, four silhouettes and 16 color combinations, from cobalt blue suede to vegetable-tanned leather — were displayed on department store-inspired shelving yesterday.
“We wanted to be able to present the variety of colour and product that we have, so we came up with this concept where everything could look clean and stand out,” Gavriel explained.
After seeing the presentation I couldn’t help but think back to the premier of their bucket bags, which created a firestorm in 2013, the designers were barely able to keep up with demand. But they lived through it and are doing things differently. In fact the presentation last night was their first “proper” design show as artists.
“We’ve never had the opportunity to express the brand visually because we sell out of the bags so quickly,” said Mansur, “We don’t have a store, we just have Instagram. So we really wanted an opportunity to physically visualise it.”
And in addition to product availability on Instagram, the social media operated company also has stocklist in brick and mortar locations. Mansur Gavriel is available in approximately 75 retailers worldwide, including Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Opening Ceremony, Dover Street Market, and Colette.
Obviously they’ve expanded from their initial strategy to focus on one item at a time! A winning strategy I’ll bet.
nichelle cole 