BAGS FOR WARREN EDWARDS
Byline: Michael Sheldon
NEW YORK — Come September, Warren Edwards will add a collection of day bags to the shoes available at his 475 Park Avenue shop, which has been open since March. Plus, a group of evening bags will debut in November.
Edwards, once half of the design team of Susan Bennis Warren Edwards, is now selling under his own name. His shoe collection, along with the new bags, carries the signature embroidery and beading from his partnership days.
“But these are more personalized,” said Edwards, who noted that his sexy and witty approach to shoe design is echoed in the names he has given his new creations: “Adoration,” “Divorce,” and “Holly Would.”
“Park Avenue” loafers may suit the Ladies Who Lunch, but the dinner set will certainly be seen out in “Materialism,” a pleated satin stiletto with a diamante buckle.
“Presently, there are 100 people on our waiting list for our ‘Callas’ shoe,” said Edwards. Named after the opera diva, the shoe is a high-heeled suede pump. They’re such a hit that the designer has added “Callas” stretch suede boots in thigh- and below-the-knee lengths.
“Special-order work can constitute up to 30 to 40 percent of our business at peak times,” he said.
Retail prices for shoes start from $355 for leather, $850 for ostrich and $1,200 for alligator. As for the bags, which will coordinate with Edwards’s shoe offerings, they start at $695.
The shop was designed by Sam Botero, who based the layout and color scheme around a 1950s Japanese car and the packaging of Edwards’s perfume, called Goddess, which will be sold exclusively in his shop beginning in November. Painted in hues of seafoam green and coral pink, the fixtures, designed by Rafael Vinolo, are all edged in lacquer red. A second floor, which will house Edwards’s men’s collection, is under construction.
Despite Edwards’s year-long absence from the world of shoes, his celebrity clientele has remained loyal. Rachel Hunter, Rod Stewart, Marisa Tomei, Bridget Fonda and Elton John have ordered such footwear as kangaroo skin driving shoes and classic flat loafers.