October 21, 2019 |
I’ve never been an anklet kinda guy. Even a glimpse of someone’s bare ankle embellished with some dodgy souvenir piece of string made me cringe, this feeling trumped only by the sighting of a toe ring. Why? I have absolutely no idea. While the list of problems to address with my virtual therapist gets longer each day, this issue still remains at the bottom of the priority list. But instead of having me spend money on trying to figure out why anklets are my fashion achilles heel, Alighieri’s Rosh Mahtani upped the ante on feet-ready jewellery. Launching today via Net-a-porter, Alighieri are launching a capsule collection of party shoes.
2019 has been a great one for Mahtani who has been celebrating her brand’s fifth anniversary by first launching a men’s line, before hosting a grand catwalk debut presenting her latest collection. The third chapter of this year-long birthday party is about transforming the essence of heirloom jewels into a pair of heeled sandals. “I wanted to create a capsule of three talismanic shoes in collaboration with Net-a-Porter, with charms, jingling around the ankle as you travel on your escapades,” explains Alighieri’s founder who has had a steady stream of success since launching her Hatton Garden-made brand dedicated to Dante’s Divine Comedy.
For this new expedition, she embarked on a trip to the writer’s homeland of Italy. Each shoe is handmade with love by a family-run business, with all of the materials sourced in Italy, within a 150 mile radius of the factory. Each of three silhouettes give a different take on a 1990s minimal sandal. The Fragment Shoe is inspired by Neapolitan mosaics, excavated from the ground and turned into gems on suede straps. The Wondering Traveller features an asymmetrical anklet of amulets, seemingly random finds from its wearer’s travels. The final of the three is The Initial Spark, a mule shape joined by my new BFF – a removable pearly anklet. To say my phobia is fully cured would be a slight overstatement. But thanks to Rosh Mahtani and her wonderful Alighieri team, at least I can look into the eyes, pardon ankle, of my fear because it looks just so darn good.
Alighieri’s party shoe collection is now available to shop online, exclusively at Net-a-porter.
.
