The Shoe Girl's Blog: Blind Date in New York

5.20.2009

Blind Date in New York

So, since I got the Betsey job (!!!) that means I'll now be a bicoastal kinda gal! I figured it was time to make new friends in New York since my friend and fellow shoe designer Ana was in China and she was the only NY friend I had.

My friend Juls has a friend here and she stepped in to play matchmaker. Total blind date style!

Off I went to meet my new friend Jen for some vegan soul food at Red Bamboo... seriously. It was DELISH!! Jen and I became instant friends and even made a shopping detour where I got some pretty great stuff. This necklace thingy is my favorite find! I wore it with my new tiger sweatshirt (another great find) yesterday to run around the city with Betsey's design director.

You guys know I LOVE my Lanvin flats. Great for walking all day!

On our "date" Jen was wearing this necklace that I am now obsessed with and need to obtain. It's called the bicoastal necklace... perfect, no?

Anyway, it's back to California today but I'll be back in a couple weeks where I will make it my mission to have an outing with Miss Wendy B herself. ;)

12 comments:

Anonymous said...: i wish you were single; May 20, 2009 9:35 AM
christie walker said...: love the necklace!!!!!!
and i need your scarf thing; May 20, 2009 10:06 AM
TheShoeGirl said...: it's a necklace SLASH scarf thingy... :); May 20, 2009 10:21 AM
May Kasahara said...: fun times. I'm a meat eater and I still love red bamboo and vegetarians Paradise.

I live a block away from Betseyville and pass it on my way to work every day so I can't wait to see your designs in the window!; May 20, 2009 11:12 AM
its_maky_bitch said...: i love your necklace is really amazing.. congrats!! ur like samantha jones flying to LA to NY..if u ever need an assistant im in!!!

:); May 20, 2009 12:43 PM
Anonymous said...: awesome sweater and necklace! the tiger thing is totally in right now, its everywhere!

where are they from? can we get them too?

its so cool that youre bicoastal now! whens ben ever gonna tag along?!; May 20, 2009 12:47 PM
S.I.Q. said...: the shirt is amazing!
very nice outfit!

-make your own shoes
-sunglasses collection
on
http://siqlogic.blogspot.com/; May 20, 2009 3:09 PM
wreckedstellar said...: Congratulations on the new job! Bi-coastal is funnn! Love that necklace too, I've seen it and always contemplated getting it as a nod to my northeast roots!

http://www.wreckedstellar.wordpress.com; May 20, 2009 11:12 PM
Anonymous said...: oh your friend juls must be amazing ;); May 21, 2009 6:21 PM
TheShoeGirl said...: haha... OH she is.; May 21, 2009 6:50 PM
Anonymous said...: best blind date ever!!! and we get to do it again next month!!! <3; May 22, 2009 8:43 PM
polishedsense said...: I love your black string necklace or is that a scarf? It is fabulous!; June 5, 2009 10:59 AM

Bio (blah blah blah...)

So, a little about me and why I think I can call myself The Shoe Girl.

My name is Celine and I grew up in Huntington Beach, California. I like to joke that I was born in high heels, and although that's obviously not true, I was born with the love of shoes in my blood.
My father, a former professional soccer player, came to the US from Morocco in the 70's. He started off as a shoe salesmen and had a natural talent for it. He worked his way up and eventually co-founded a company called French Follies. They made cute little espadrilles and ballet inspired shoes. From there he went on to Guess and Charles David footwear, where he eventually became President of the company and brought it to its height of popularity in the late 80's.

I was so lucky to grow up around shoes. I was the only girl in the 8th grade wearing the kick ass ankle boots Guess was famous for... and remember those Guess jellies?? Yep. I had those too. And at a whopping hundred bucks a pair, let's just say I made a lot of new friends when I came to school in those! That's the first time I felt the power of a hot shoe.

In the 90's, my dad left Charles David/Guess Footwear to pursue a new venture... Bebe Footwear! It was his first shoe license, and it was super successful. Soon after he started his own line with his namesake, Joey O. Since then his company has held the exclusive licenses for L.A.M.B. Footwear, Harajuku Lovers footwear, Charles Jourdan footwear, Laundry by Shelly Segal footwear, Antik Denim footwear, Playboy footwear, Zinc foowear, Hale Bob footwear, Badgley Mischka footwear, Mark and James by B.M. footwear, Betsey Johnson footwear, Betseyville footwear, Jill Stuart footwear, JLO Footwear, and True Religion Footwear. Awesome, right!? :) did I type "footwear" enough?

So... like I said, shoes are in my blood! I realized this at an early age, when I would go into my mom's closet and pull out her shoes and clear off my book shelves, fill them with shoes, and put a sign up that said "Shoe Show". I didn't really know what it meant, other than that was where my dad was always flying off to. Shoe shows. I wanted to be a part of it!
I went to design school in Milan, Italy when I was 20. My professors at Ars Sutoria taught me all about making shoes, including sketching, pattern making, leather tanning, and lots of technical shoe stuff. It was intense.

From shoe school to designer! After graduating from my shoe program I went back home and started working as the assistant to the designer of my dad's company, Titan Industries. At the time, we were only making bebe and Joey O Footwear, and were about to go after our second license, JLO Footwear. I was a part of that project and I loved it! It was so exciting putting what I had learned to use. I was off to China and working my butt off. I was the assistant to our head designer for a little over a year when I got offered the job of taking over as the designer for Playboy. It wasn't anything I had ever thought I would do, but it was a chance to be my own designer! No more assisting!!! I took it! Then, a few months after accepting the position as designer for Playboy, I was offered another line; Zinc footwear! I took it!!! I loved working with Zinc. The clothing was cute and the shoes were much more "my style". Later still, I was given the job as designer of JLO footwear.

I launched the debut collection (and every collection thereafter) for Harajuku Lovers in August 2008, and in May of 2009 I took over as designer of Betsey Johnson footwear until Steve Madden bought out the company in October of 2010.

Currently I'm designing for Bebe footwear and just launched my own line, Cece L'amour, which I am very excited about.

I love my job! I get to work with shoes every day. It's my job to look at shoes in magazines, online, in stores, and on the streets. It's a dream job honestly, and I feel lucky every day. My obsession is my job... So cool!

So anyway, here I am. Here's my blog. I hope you've enjoyed reading it so far. It's been fun for me and I hope that shows. :)

5.20.2009

Blind Date in New York

12 comments:

My Life in Heels