CITY Issue 58 - (Page 26) ////// ACTION Shoe In FOOTWEAR: GEORGE ESQUIVEL George Esquivel is about as far from the stiff-upper-lip image of the traditional bespoke shoemaker as it’s possible to be. A cholo from the Orange County, Calif. punk scene with a drug-dealer dad, Esquivel started making shoes when he couldn’t find any that he wanted. He stumbled upon retired Ignacio Canales, the man who make Evil Knievel, his leathers, and apprenticed himself out, creating about 2,000 pairs of rockabilly shoes in two and a half years right in Canales’s garage. Looking back, Esquivel thought the experience vastly outweighed the quality of shoes (“stiff as a board, the leather sucked”), but he still managed to attract new customers including members of Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails along the way. And now, a few years later, each shoe in his collection is a thing of beauty, each hole in the brogues hand-punched, each piece of leather hand burnished, each sole hand-cut, each stitch… well, you get the idea. Each shoe is made in Esquivel’s shop in California, and in many cases he will go out himself and measure up his clients (he adapts stock lasts, rather than build individual lasts for each client.) But despite his talents, Esquivel makes it clear, he’s not that shoemaker. “I deal with the rock ‘n roll guys, the athletes,” he says. “I try to make something beautiful and traditional with a bit of Southern California flair. These guys don’t want to wait a month [to break them in].” A pair is about $800, and it’ll be one of the finest, most stylish, most comfortable shoes you are likely to ever own, right out of the box. — EDDIE BRANNAN //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Collaborative Celebration ANNIVERSARY: LONGCHAMP Belgian artist Jean-Luc Moerman is known for his urban graphics, tattoo art, and natural material engraving, making him the obvious fit for a collaborative leather bag project in honor of Longchamp’s 60th Anniversary. “Since my approach leads me to explore every surface as a means of expression, it was inevitable that I would one day take up leather, and this living material into which lines can penetrate is a unique, exciting medium,” Moerman says. He has used the surface of Longchamp’s bags as a means of artistic expression to create the anniversary collection, revealing all the motifs inspired by the vibrant, sensual qualities of leather. The Moerman Edition bags will be available in two sizes, and 60 Moerman Original bags (unique pieces each bearing an original work by the artist) will be available at select Longchamp outlets. — RL //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Flower Power BEAUTY: VICTOR & ROLF FLOWERBOMB If your scented shampoo isn’t doing it for you, get your hands on Viktor & Rolf’s Flowerbomb, a new perfume for your hair. Available at department stores for $40 an ounce, the subtle, sweet mist coats your follicles with a soft aroma and layers well with your usual fragrance. And the bottle, a pink, frosted-glass nod to the hand grenade, fits in your palm just right and will make an impact just as explosive. — AS ////////////HAVE YOU HEARD/// That Guess will launch an upscale clothing line this fall called Black Label? 26 CITY TY
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