...let me introduce myself. I am a 25-year old American girl living in Italy. I grew up in California, have a BFA in art and design, and have studied at Cordwainers College in London (where Jimmy Choo, Emma Hope, and Olivia Morris studied) and Ars Sutoria in Milano (a technical school with such graduates as Tiffany Tuttle of LD Tuttle and Heather Williams of HWilliams). I have lived in Italy for the past 2+ years and work in a shoe factory in northern Italy where I work on patterns for luxury women's footwear lines. I am a modellista, or "pattern maker." A pattern maker, in case you do not know, takes the drawing made by the designer, re-draws it on the last (the 3D form of the foot over which shoes are made), and creates the pieces (or templates) to be cut in leather and stitched together to make the shoe. I am also a designer and a purchaser of luxury shoes, so I have a 360 degree view of the footwear world. I will be using this blog to share some of my knowledge with you all. I will write to you about new designers, shoe production, shoe fitting, buying shoes, and repair and upkeep of your shoes, as well as sharing with you some of my own designs and inspiration.
Please feel free to leave comments, questions, and suggestions at the end of my posts. You can also email me your questions at themodellista@gmail.com
Here are a few shoes I've worked on and seen pass through the factory in the past two years...
top: http://allwomenstalk.com ,
http://www.shoeperwomen.com ;
middle: http://www.iheartluxe.com ,
http://martinilifestyle.blogspot.com ,
http://bags9.com ,
bottom: http://www.fashionblog.it ,
http://www.geekshoes.com ,
http://www.yslhighheels.com
With that, let's get started...
