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happened one late summer night when Julian was in his
studio, considering the design of shoes in general and
why there was the need for a foot plate in high heels.
“When I look at a footprint in the sand it was clear to
me that the main force goes to the heel and ball, even
more so in a heeled shoe.”
With many variations considered such as ‘how our
feet naturally spans the gap to the floor when standing
with our heel on a wooden block’ and ‘how new
materials and design techniques in shoes could lead to a
new solution, evolution, and possibly a revolution’, Julian
began to explore these questions in a similar way to how
he would design a building or a bridge. The result was
the Mojito shoes whose form he describes as “rather like
a twist of lime peel.” He adds, “The Mojito is a unique
shoe design. It is a single wrapped geometry which starts
under the ball of the foot, sweeps over the bridge, then
down below the heel before twisting back on itself to
provide the support for the heel.”
The AW13 collection made up of ‘Classic Mojito’
and ‘Metallic/Matt Mojito’ are designed in a variation
of colour combination, such as black and pewter, black
and lime green, blue and fuchsia, grey and fuchsia, white
and bronze, and red bronze in Classic; and black chrome
and pewter, hot pink and fuchsia, matt blue and lime
green, chrome and fluro orange, chrome and fuchsia,
and bronze and bronze in Metallic/Matt. There is also
a limited edition collection with more distinguished
colours: python and fuchsia, matt oak and black, snow
ARCHITECT AND SCULPTURE
DESIGNER JULIAN HAKES
REVOLUTIONISE THE SHAPE
OF FASHION-FORWARD
SHOESWITH HIS INNOVATIVE
‘MOJITO’ DESIGNAND EVEN DESIGNS ONE FOR
IRON MAN 3.
JADA BROOKES
TRIES TO FIGURE
OUT HOWTO GET ONE OF THEM ON.
JULIAN HAKES:
THE SHOE
W
hen you first feast your eyes on these
delicately sculptured, curved and twisted
shoes, you’ll be forgiven for thinking,
“how the hell do I get these on and walk in them?”
The concept image of these uniquely shaped sandals
inspired by the classic Mojito cocktail immediately
set the fashion blogs and websites worldwide
alight with 100,000 hits within hours of going
viral and it was then realised, this concept had to
become a reality.These amazing shoes, the brainchild
of award-winning London-based architect and bridal
designer Julian Hakes, are impressively eye-catching
and interestingly designed with its curve and twist
making it a light and elegant design. Hakes, an
approved brand for Swarovski Elements was
awarded the Drapers award for “Best footwear
designer of the year 2012”, and has provided
footwear collections at London Fashion Week for
Swedish fashion designer Ann Sofie Back Atelier and
London designer Ada Zanditon.
In this beautiful world of fashion that we live
in, anything uniquely designed and unusual like
Julian Hakes ‘Mojito’ shoes is sure to be a huge
success and have fashion enthusiasts falling over
themselves to be the first to own a pair. As a result
of that momentum day, Julian Hakes designs are
now sold worldwide and have been widely published
in magazines such as
Vogue, Forbes
and the
Wall St
Journal.
The whole concept of the Mojito shoe
bite
shoes