Best Foot Forward: Introducing The Cecilie Bahnsen x Charles & Keith Collection
One of Copenhagen’s most beloved designers, Cecilie Bahnsen, has come together with Charles and Keith Singapore to produce a covetable collection of shoes. Inspired by school uniforms, the collaboration with the Singaporean shoe and accessory brand features four styles: three mary jane designs and a distinctive mule, reinterpreted by Bahnsen.
Dreaminess has always been a prerequisite for Bahnsen’s designs. Her eponymous brand has fast become a darling amongst the stylish set since her launch in 2016, and is well loved for an identity that is seeped in femininity, with gauzy baby-doll dresses, billowy sleeves, all with a whimsical school-girl quality.
And this collection is no different. “I’ve always been fascinated by school uniforms. I think that explains why I loved the Mary Jane shoe in the Charles & Keith’s collection so much. It’s a traditional school-girlish shoe, but it also has that quality of a masculine-feminine contrast that I’m always looking for.
We made ours super feminine, more lady-like than the shoes we’ve done before, working with patchwork and hand-drawn-embroidery. I think the combination of the Charles & Keith classic shape andour touch is very beautiful. It’s been really exciting to see how we can translate our universe into a shoe," says the designer in a press release.
The collection revists two of Cecilie's most precious fabrics, a Recycled Satin applied to delicate hand-drawn quilted embroidery and a unique patchwork, and a retunrn of patterns and colourways the designer debuted as part of her Fall/Winter 2019 show.
Sustainability remains a strong part of her process, with mindful effort to use less: dust bags are stiched from leftover cuts of fabrics from previous seasons, for one, and comes in an elegantly minimal packaging that is very much an object on its own.
“ Since the creation of our company we have always been supporting young designers in the Fashion and Arts scenes. When meeting with Cecilie Bahnsen it was an instantaneous match as it would perfectly combine our shoe-making savoir faire and her incredible knowledge on fabrics craftmanship, " says Charles & Keith.
The campaign was shot on location by Benedict Brink at Herlufsholm School, Denmark’smost prestigious boarding school, south of Copenhagen, traditionally known for educating the sons of aristocracy and the industrial elite.
Check out the collection, and price list, here:
Can't wait to get your hands on these shoes? Us neither. The collection is exclusively available online at CharlesKeith.com, starting from S$379.
