The Shoe Girl's Blog: Morocco's Inspiration

4.25.2012

Morocco's Inspiration

Hello friends! If you follow my Tumblr or Instagram you know I've been in Marrakech the past 2 weeks :) I was really inspired by some things I saw around town and in the market and wanted to share...

The Marrakech airport is so beautiful...

So much color and rich detail. It's so awesome to think that this is half of my heritage. But as beautiful as the city is, there is also so much poverty and it's so awesome to realize that my dad came from a small town in Morocco and built this amazing company I now work for.

Anyway, let's see if any of these cool Moroccan details find there way into my upcoming footwear collections. I leave for China tomorrow to start my Spring 2013 shoes! ...always on the go!

XOX,

16 comments:

vintage process said...: Great pictures! I love it!!!; April 25, 2012 at 10:05 AM
Rebecca said...: Morocco looks amazing! and I love your eye for detail.
Can I ask where you stay when you visit Morocco?

Rebecca. x; April 25, 2012 at 3:31 PM
Kate Junior said...: I need to go there! I would buy wayyyy too much!; April 26, 2012 at 4:27 AM
Roxanne said...: Oh you have to visit India too then.. Similar stuff.. Shopping on the streets is the best thing ever!

On a serious note, I love your blog, but I havent visited in a while, and now I found out you're a divorcee.. Hope you're feeling better and things are ok with you. I myself went through a very bad loss a couple of months ago. My fiance died in a accident, and I know how it feels to be alone even though you are surrounded by things you love and people you love.

Hope you recover from it (if you haven't yet)

Lots of love
Roxanne

http://head2heels-roxanne.blogspot.in/; April 27, 2012 at 8:47 AM
wale said...: Stay inspired and Travel safe!!; April 27, 2012 at 3:42 PM
garage equipment said...: Very nice fabric and styles. I love those stuffs. I think I might find those anywhere.; April 28, 2012 at 7:40 AM
Audrey (hkittygirl) said...: I want to join you on your trip! ^^; April 30, 2012 at 9:32 PM
Elise said...: so beautiful texture !; May 1, 2012 at 1:12 AM
Life's a shoe said...: these are all such gorgeous pictures!; May 1, 2012 at 2:24 AM
Luna Tiger said...: What a beautiful country ! Your pictures are very inspiring !
Please, check out my blog and tell me what you think : http://selenite.weebly.com; May 1, 2012 at 5:50 AM
Christian Louboutin said...: Love your blogger for a long time ,waiting for your more posts !; May 1, 2012 at 3:24 PM
ROMA AGSALUD said...: Great finds! :) I especially love those fabric shots! Those prints are to die for! :); May 3, 2012 at 9:32 AM
Anonymous said...: It's been a month and no blog updates?? WTF; May 15, 2012 at 12:51 PM
Ballerina shoes said...: these are all such very nice pictures!; May 18, 2012 at 11:42 PM
erin rogers pickering said...: Spectacular photos! can't wait to see the influence in your upcoming designs!!; May 24, 2012 at 5:25 AM
Ashtrays and Champaigne cups said...: tis is a awesome blogg! love your taste on fasion and shoes!:) please follow my blogg if u can xxx; May 25, 2012 at 4:21 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. :)

4.25.2012

Morocco's Inspiration

16 comments:

My Life in Heels