The How and Why Of Melissa and Y/Project
Melissa's mystique lies not only in its global aesthetic; its fun use of pop materials and colours; and its unique mystifying bubblegum odeur. What makes Melissa really special is its collaborations with some of the world's leading artists, architects, designers and fashion brands.
Case in point: the new Melissa Court Shoe, which is a collaboration with up-and-coming Parisian fashion brand Y/Project. Now, not everyone might know about Y/Project, but the brand's designer Glenn Martens is the name currently on everyone's lips. As well as his groundbreaking work at Y/Project, he has just been assigned as creative director of Diesel, as well as the next design collaborator of Jean Paul Gaultier couture.
So it stands to reason then that the shoe to come from the mind of this new fashion enfant terrible would be something completely fresh and fab. Y/Project collections take traditional garments and twist and tweak them, turning them into something that looks so new. Sweaters wrap around the body; jeans are cut in a way so as to mimic chaps; and polo shirts become multilayered dresses. There's a new sense of sexiness to what Y/Project does that is exciting and disruptive.
Never ever has there been a wearable shoe like what Melissa and Y/Project have done together. It's the merging of two brilliant minds, and technologically so advanced that it is impossible to make a shoe like this out of leather or any other material - other than perhaps porcelain or glass. Ouch!
Looking like a Cinderella slipper from outer space, or a baroque case of the future, Y/Project have designed a shoe with studs and rococo swirls that utilize Melissa's cushion comfort and heel technology to make a slip-on so light and slender, it feels like a slide. Except it looks 100% fabulous!
It's totally retro, but when you see the Y/Project SS21 show below, you will see how to coordinate it to look so cool, you won't want to take them off! From Paris Catwalk to Coogee Beach, this is quite possible the shoe of the summer.
