Thomas Sabo leaf bracelet, Thomas Sabo tree, feather, key bracelet, Maria Black big ring and bracelet, Rag and Bone blouse, Dsquared jeans, Helmut Lang shoes, Gucci bracelet, Celine vintage bracelet, Eddie Borgo bracelet, Gucci ring, Cartier ring

Derek Lam blazer, Rag & Bone denim top, Jason Wu leather shorts, Pierre Hardy shoes, Eddie Borgo earrings, Gucci rings

Victoria by Victoria Beckham dress, Theyskens Theory denim jacket, Vintage necklace from The Way We Wore in Los Angeles, Diamond necklace from 14 Karats in Los Angeles, Vintage ring from The Way We Wore in Los Angeles, Gucci ring

Helmut Lang jacket and shorts, APC denim shirt, Jason Wu shoes, Eddie Borgo earrings, Gucci ring and bracelet, Cartier ring

APC denim jumpsuit, 10 Crosby by Derek Lam blouse, Gucci bracelet

10 Crosby by Derek Lam top and pants, J Brand denim jacket,Erickson Beamon cuff

Prabal Gurung blouse and pants, Diesal denim jacket, Gucci blue patent pumps, Erickson Beamon earrings

Model: Kristina Romanova at Woman Mangement, NYC
Make up: Jordy for Lancôme
Hair: Robert Lyon at Atelier Management

Thomas Sabo leaf bracelet
Thomas Sabo tree, feather, key bracelet
Maria Black big ring and bracelet

Marcel Bedro knot bracelet and ring, and stone bracelet
Maria Nilsdotter bone bracelet
Drakenberg Sjölin silver bracelet

Efva Attling flower earrings
Bud to Rose bullet ring, and star ring
Maria Black ring

Zadig & Voltaire necklace
Ur & Penn ring and bracelet

Korean-born designer Rejina Pyo’s eye for striking forms and finely tuned affinity for materials was immediately apparent at the Central Saint Martins Fashion MA show. As models carrying totemic, charred wooden structures floated down the runway in long, draped robes at once ethereal and dramatic, her elegantly modern pieces stood out as highly wearable yet distinctly avant-garde, contrasting a sense of primitive secrecy with bright hues and elegant silhouettes.

She was soon invited to design a capsule collection for H&M-owned Weekday inspired by her MA collection, and she quickly found herself tapped as lead assistant designer to Roksanda Ilincic. But the real breakthrough came when she attracted the attention of influential art collector and champion of emerging fashion talent Hans Nefkens. Earning the Hans Nefkens Fashion Award in 2012 allowed Rejina to present a more artistically out-of-the-box collection in a solo show at the Netherlands’ Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam from September 2012 to February 2013. Dubbed “Structural Mode” the collection was formed of bold, saturated color pairings and sharp angles harmoniously accented with smooth arcs and sensual curves, with an emphasis on nipped-in waists and geometric details in metal and plexiglass.

While bold color blocking and strong contrast are both used heavily in both her MA and Hans Nefkens collections, the similarities stop there. The futuristic take on shape, color and mixed media in the “Structural Mode” collection uses stiffer fabrics to give Rejina’s draping an entirely different quality that is livelier and much sexier. Simply fitted sheath foundations flanked with strong architectural shapes seem like a natural evolution from the collection’s more serious and primeval predecessor of flowing fabrics and earthy wood and leather.

With such a promising future already taking shape, it’s no surprise that Rejina has recently launched her own eponymous ready-to-wear label, which brings her striking artistic aesthetic out of the museum and into pieces that can be worn every day.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a fashion designer?
Fashion was just everywhere for me. My mum was a fashion designer when she was younger (she’s now an interior designer and painter) and I always looked at her sketchbooks when I was a kid. It looked incredible! Whenever she was making something, I wrapped the fabric around myself and played with it. I learned how to use a sewing machine from her and started making dresses when I was fourteen.

What were your experiences working as Roksanda Ilincic’s first assistant designer?
It was such a great experience. Having worked in a big corporation in Korea, working in a design studio is different. I worked very closely with Roksanda and was responsible for assisting in all of the key areas of design including research, coming up with ideas, fabric selection, draping, sketching, embroidery design, print design. I also designed the Net-a-Porter exclusive collection and Debenhams collaboration collection. The job was so broad and I got to experience almost everything, which was incredible.

What was the inspiration behind ‘Structural Mode’?
The boundary between art and fashion is always somewhat blurred, so I wanted to experiment with a more direct approach. Instead of creating garments inspired by the color, mood or design of an art piece, I wanted to create sculptural art that had been influenced by garments. None of the pieces are wearable, although at first glance they look like dresses or garments to some degree. Up close however, you can see the pieces are made using metal and plastics along with fabric, becoming sculptures in their own right.

What does fashion mean to you?
For me, fashion is absolutely an art from. Art and fashion share a lot. They are things you want to look at, to possess, and there is often the element of surprise or the unexpected. It can be beautiful or ugly, but ultimately it is a matter of taste.

How do you approach designing wearable versus conceptual garments?
I am not so concerned with trying to make ‘wearable art’ or ‘art as fashion.’ It’s very different. The pure side of art is that it doesn’t need to be used. Design needs to be useful and that is much more commercial. I do more artistic work when I have freedom to do whatever I want without pressure to sell it afterward. But when I design for my own label, I think about the woman who will buy and wear the garments. Eventually, it has the same aesthetic, as it all comes from me. I enjoy getting to do both, and it allows me to be imaginative as well as realistic.

What’s next for your label?
I believe that if you are true to yourself and have your own voice then there will always be a place for your designs, but so much is about timing and luck! I think you know it’s really serious when you find yourself in Paris meeting buyers and getting stockists. We had great feedback from buyers worldwide as well as editors and stylists. I am excited about next season too. I try to think of my label as a life long project; I would like to develop it slowly but surely, enjoying every part of it.

Text by Marta Bobic

Using her innate eye to balance elegant shapes with classic structures, Colombian-born designer Amelia Toro knows precisely who she designs for. Honoring the ever-present goal to craft timeless pieces for real women, her designs excite nostalgia for the artistic development of the twenties. Possessing a talent for noticing how clothing is able to highlight the natural beauty of a woman, she strives for a classic feel but ensures to include her own twist. Whether through appropriate placement of sheer accents or plunging necklines on demure dresses, by incorporating a personal edge the message rings loud and clear: this is Amelia Toro. Full of soft silks, chiffons and natural fibers, her line is effortlessly sensual. Greatly influenced by her lifetime passion towards dance, it’s clear that the movements of styles like flamenco and ballet have inspired the fluidity of her construction. Surrounded since birth by a family full of creatives – interior designer, architect, playwright, writer, photographer, and director – it was never a question whether or not she would purse an artistic career.

Leaving her home town of Bogotá, Colombia to study at the Rhode Island School of Design and Parsons School of Design in New York, she developed a personal style that was mirrored by functionality and top quality. Between schooling she worked under designers Gianfranco Ferré and Pino Lancetti where she was able to gain invaluable front line work experience in the fashion world. Drawn to the simplistic and graceful styles of icons such as Audrey Hepburn, she has recently fulfilled every designer’s dream – to establish a flagship store. Opening in October 2012 in the coveted, art-centric neighborhood of Chelsea, Manhattan, her pieces can be found spread across the 2,000 square foot gallery-like space. By reaching this successful pinnacle in her career, Toro is a far cry from the young child who once designed clothing for her sisters and paper dolls. With sights set on further expansion into all major US cities, specifically pushing the West Coast, she is grateful for how warmly she has been received by an industry whose exclusivity can be challenging to break into.

Believing in beautiful, comfortable clothing made from the absolute highest-quality fabrics is the foundational force driving Toro’s fashion house; however, it doesn’t stop there. Unlike some designers who are starved for notoriety and driven to see their face splashed across glossy magazines, she realizes that her art isn’t limited to being simply a creative personal outlet. When it comes down to it, designing is a major part, but not everything. Toro has dedicated herself for the last twelve years to working  alongside Indian groups throughout Latin America in support of their traditional art. Instead of standing on the sidelines watching as culture grows increasingly forgotten, she has chosen to use her name in fashion to help promote what otherwise may be a dying tradition. To honor the craft of the Putumayo Indigenous people, Wayuu Tribe, and the Panamanian Kuna group, she incorporates their pieces and designs into her garments. By using colors, fabrics, techniques, and shapes that stem from their heritage, Toro challenges how fashion is viewed while simulta- neously providing a platform for historical designs.

When you think about what makes a women’s line successful, most often everything comes down to the level of confidence she feels when wearing the clothes. The perfect marriage is one that boasts an air of understated sexy with an overall timelessness. Through meticulous detailing each piece is brought to life in a unique and cohesive way. Toro’s Spring 2013 collection showcases jackets, streamlined pants, and several dresses – varying from short, whimsical LBDs to refined, draping pearl calf-length dresses. Navy, steel, and turquoise blues are intermittently splashed throughout the collection, and the indigenous geometric shapes and graphic prints are subtly weaved in. A standout is a muted gold and amber highlight jacket that is suitable for daytime and night wear with its rigid collar and crop sleeve.

Toro has resisted having her clothes made overseas, and instead has chosen to manufacture everything in South America where there is a deep tradition of garment making. She currently has employed forty women, who are primarily single mothers. By doing so, she sees this as a way to encourage social and financial independence in a society pervaded by inequalities towards women. Providing jobs and equipping them with the necessary skills and tools to earn a fair living, she ventures beyond fashion and into humanitarianism. Seeking to raise the poverty bar for as many women as possible through her trade is an admirable quality in not only a designer, but any individual.

Amelia Toro does pay attention to the cornerstones of women’s fashion – style, comfort, functionality – when she designs her stunningly elegant collections, yet she also works daily to provide underprivileged women the opportunity to better their social situations. As well as presenting her line in the New York flagship, she is also carried in prestigious store fronts such as Barney’s, Saks Fifth Ave., and Maxfield. With a far-reaching business model that incorporates heritage, goodwill, and high fashion, there is no doubt that the Amelia Toro brand will be represented by style-minded, socially conscious women around the world.

Text by Morgan K. Sterns

He has been called the “playboy” of the international design arena—not for his looks or his charm, but because he plays a lot with his expression and sketches, with his designs and in life. The Zurich-based designer Alfredo Häberli is known for creating functional and alluring design objects that are full of character.

Häberli is an inventor through and through. His notebooks are always filled with cartoon-like sketches depicting the latest ideas for glass, ceramic, interior and furniture designs. All these drawings emerge from his need to express himself through stories and a unique narrative. This slightly naïve expression translates into his designs and has a charming immediacy that appeals to children and adults worldwide.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1964, he moved to Switzerland with his parents at the age of 13 and graduated with honors in industrial design from the Höhere Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich, in 1991. He started his first studio in Zurich two years later, and today he is an established designer working for some of the leading companies in the international design industry.

His versatile portfolio includes exhibition concepts, industrially produced everyday objects and even architectural projects and technically sophisticated pieces of furniture. He has collaborated with companies all over the world, such as Alias, BD Barcelona, Camper, Georg Jensen, Iittala, Kvadrat, Luceplan, Moroso, Schiffini and Vitra.

His personality and his way of thinking and working clearly translate through his simple and humorous lines. Combining tradition, innovation, joy and vigor, his designs are often strongly influenced by his early childhood in Argentina as well as by his natural everyday curiosity and studies.

His children’s collections, the Twist Family and Aquamarine, created for the Danish silversmith and heritage company Georg Jensen, perfectly exemplify his philosophy that design shouldn’t always be completely controlled. Sometimes its exact purpose needn’t be defined.

The ultimate goal for Häberli is to design for the real human being, taking the user seriously and showing respect. Individuals are the ultimate source of inspiration for his creations—observing how a man, a woman or a child is fascinated by objects. “They are my biggest motivation,” he says.

He often stresses the importance of producing art not purely for the sake of the artist, but instead he believes that the best compliment a designer can get, is when the final object becomes popular with its users. Taking responsibility for what he designs and always designing with the clear ambition of improving in a humanistic way is key.

Another great example of his playful and unique style, is Häberli’s work for the Danish textile manufacturer and industry leader Kvadrat. “Ever since I started working with design, I have known and admired Kvadrat’s products. During the process of designing Kvadrat’s showroom, which consists almost exclusively of fabric, I was inspired by the versatility of the textiles and was very happy when I was asked to create a collection for Kvadrat,” explains Häberli about his debut as textile designer.

Until now this partnership has resulted in several installations at Kvadrat’s famous Milan showroom as well as a collection of seven curtain and upholstery textiles, including the unique Village curtain, designed as “a story for children when the light is out and the door closed.”

Recently Häberli has developed the 25hours Hotel Zurich West together with his design team—his wife, Stefanie Häberli-Bachmann, and Aeberli Vega Zanghi Architects. With the working title “The Smile of my Hometown” this project is Häberli’s first complete design—which gave him the chance to combine his combine his well-known pieces with new, exciting ideas especially for this space. The hotel is riddled with artistic and graphical interventions and is not only a declaration of love for Zurich but also a city guide in the form of decorations, objects and quotes found throughout the interior. In its own way the space is a graphic mirror of the city. Häberli seems to have a unique gift for giving objects a new look and a new meaning—always breaking barriers with a smile.

In a 2009 interview with the DesignBoost founder Peer Eriksson on the sustainable city, Häberli expressed his belief that “observation is the best way of thinking” and further stressed that for this to work it is extremely important to know yourself well, to work on yourself and to be critical, to think and to always reflect every night. His goal? Always wake up a little bit better the next day.

When asked about his rise to fame he stated, “I just want to work and not be considered a star. Stars are in the sky and not down here where I am; I consider myself pretty grounded.”

Text by Louise B. Zastrow

While leggings may be a recycled trend, New York City-based Silver Seed Clothing has cultivated an ingenious method of not only supplying the masses with top-quality, Made-in-America goods, but also nurturing members of the independent, up-and-coming design world. What sets this small company of newly-minted entrepreneurs apart from the overseas Goliaths who helped set the standard in quality leg-wear is a revolutionary approach to design selection. Put simply, the process is this: buy a pair of Silver Seed leggings and you are granted the option of submitting your own design work for consideration of upcoming lines. The real brilliance lies in the circular flow of the promotional benefits; one of the keys to winning a design slot is a substantial, well-managed social media following. By tangibly representing both their dedication to their work’s exposure as well as a healthy community of supporters, designers can then provide Silver Seed Clothing with a no-cost, built-in marketing network that grows exponentially with each click of the mouse.

Perhaps the most important factor contributing to the company’s strong and steady growth since their August launch has been a focus on choosing collaborations with artists who can not only provide them with access to their key demographic, but who are active and vibrant members of a larger creative community. Through working with such artists as Banksy comrade Matt Smiley, Silver Seed has been able to expand their following wisely, cementing the notion that selling smart is as vital to the vendor as shopping smart is to the consumer. Vowing to give away one pair of leggings for each ten sold, the company has committed to an act of appreciation for those contributing to the word-of-mouth firestorm that’s beginning to build. Silver Seed’s latest social media maneuver has been to provide customers who purchase leggings with a coupon for a free pair given they post photographs of themselves wearing the leggings to their Twitter or Instagram sites withproper tags. These top-notch threads are made in California with buttery material and just enough fabric thickness to blend away the line between “leggings as pants” and “leggings, NOT pants.”With a new launch just around the corner, Silver Seed promises to satiate the growing thirst of its avant-garde following.

Text by Kate Zaliznock

Lights go low, music starts rolling, whispers subside, and the first model steps out. She struts down the runway, avoiding obstacles of all sorts: flashing lights from the photographers, the runway’s sharp corners and floral arrangements displayed in large Plexiglas cubes scattered across her path. The flowers are carefully hand-selected to highlight the palette of the Jil Sander collection, and to set the mood even before the first look debuts.

Belgian mega-florist Mark Colle is to thank for this. Sought after by the likes of Raf Simons throughout his transition from Jil Sander to Christian Dior, as well as Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester, Colle has designed for countless editorials. Did I mention that he also has the approval of Anna Wintour?

At the age of 15, after deciding that advertising school would not be his path or future, Colle turned to arranging for his family’s local florist. Here, he learned the simple beauty of all flowers, not just the exotics that stood out. His most commonly used mediums are well-known (think roses and carnations) and he takes a simple yet visually stunning approach, mixing common and rarer blooms to a grand scale meant to excite the senses.

Colle’s work at Simon’s last Jil Sander show garnered much acclaim. His installation inspired the Pierre Debuscherre film “Fade Into You” for which he was the floral mastermind: his designs included corsets constructed of boning and flowers woven together, arrangements that were superimposed on models’ bodies and faces, and vines that writhed around models’ necks. Colle has a talent for creating imagery that makes the flowers jump off the screen and take on a life of their own, evoking an emotion separate from that of the film, a depiction of flowers in motion.

At 34 years old, Colle has proven himself as a mainstay in the art scene, and is one of the most sought-after individual florists in the world. His ability to marry the needs of his clients with the beauty of flowers is unparalleled. Colle’s studio, Baltimore Bloeman, is based out of Antwerp, and he keeps his team small, preferring to do all his work for big clients by himself in the studio. He compromises nothing: every flower is sourced locally, and all specialty flowers are supplied from Antwerp or nearby Holland.

Likely the most widely recognized of Colle’s work is his
collaboration with Raf Simon’s debut collection for Christian Dior Haute Couture. Colle turned a Parisian hotel’s walls into a delicate explosion of color and texture with the help of over a million flowers. Each room was designed with the intent to invoke a specific emotion: in one room, small black chairs were placed uncomfortably close together, contrasting with entire walls of white orchids that opened up the space. A green foyer of mimosa flowers featured a runway path that wandered through the hotel. Given only a couple of glances at the collection and a few fabric and color samples, Colle was able to cohesively bond together the fashion and flower aspects of the exhilarating collection. His keen ability to balance his vision of one million flowers with Simon’s debut was nothing short of spectacular.

Text by Emily Wong
Photography by Alex Salinas and Pierre Debusschere

The work of the legendary “King of Cling” aka Tunisian-born designer Azzedine Alaïa will be exhibited in a new show at Dusseldorf, Germany’s NRW-Forum, documenting his best designs from the last decade. “Azzedine Alaïa – Couture in the 21st Century” will feature pieces loaned directly from the designer, including some of the revolutionary garments that earned him a reputation for erotic and daring clothing particularly popular with stars as diverse as Grace Jones, Lady Gaga
and Michelle Obama.

“[They] found it too S&M,” he concedes in an interview for The Ground magazine in 2011, aware of, but unaffected by, his public image among buyers and other designers. An outspoken defender of artistry and true creativity, Alaïa caused controversy in the same interview with his open distaste for the commercialism of high-profile figures Karl Lagerfeld and Anna Wintour. Strong-willed in his aversion to the increasing pressure on designers to produce high quantities at high speed, he pays little attention to the seasons and only shows his work when it is ready. It is perhaps this commitment to ripening slowness that contributes to the intense sensuality of his work. Known for the perfection of his cuts as well as his design innovations, Alaïa is the proud pioneer of the iconic snake-like zipper dress, which curls around the breast and waist, finally encircling the “most beautiful part of the bottom…so when you want to show your bottom, you open it and your bottom looks beautiful!”

Growing up in Tunisia, Alaïa was one of few men interested in fashion, and he took up studies at the Tunis School of Art against his father’s will. A brief and unspectacular stint at Dior in Paris during the Algerian War ended after five days. His Tunisian nationality caused tension, but he was not dissuaded. He has now lived and worked in Paris since the 1950s, based in the ultra-trendy Marais district. Considered to be one of the most influential fashion designers, he was named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French government in 2008 and designed opera diva Jessye Norman’s infamous costume for the 1989 bicentennial of the French Revolution. But despite the high culture prestige, his iconic designs also reach pop culture, his name famously featured in the movie ‘Clueless.’ “Oh, no. You don’t understand…” says Cher, clad in a tight-fitting dress and refusing to drop to the ground despite being held at gunpoint, “…this is an Alaïa.”

The new show at NRW will be curated by Mark Wilson (Groninger Museum), and will be structured by material, with each room dedicated to a different textile. This practical, matter-of-fact division of the work reinforces the brilliance of a designer who often works with the same fabrics but whose artistry has never been restricted by materialism. “I don’t create a story.” From the black knit dress worn by Michelle Obama at the NATO dinner in France in 2009, to the Grace Jones outfits, rubber coats and super-tight seductive garments that fueled his fame in the 1980s, the diversity of his appeal is a testament to his intense creativity and originality.

Wilson and Alaïa have a long-established friendship and working partnership. Over their 15 years of friendship Wilson has curated all three of Alaïa’s previous exhibitions and the tradition continues with this sequel that sees the show move to Germany from The Netherlands, where it was originally presented at The Groninger Museum. The NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf features an ever-changing program of exhibitions “that challenge each subject within their cultural context.” Previous shows have been dedicated to Alexander McQueen, Manolo Blahnik and Vivienne Westwood as well as more niche designers and craftspeople. Committed to a convergence of ideas, the NRW-Forum fuses art, fashion, design, and architecture to create an alliance that explores “the penetration of media sources as well as the merging together aesthetic forms.” This establishment, with its determinedly interdisciplinary approach, provides a fitting home for a designer who is currently collaborating with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel on a forthcoming production of The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by the rising star of Venezuela’s Simon Boliva Orchestra, Gustav Dudamel.

The man dubbed the “sculptor of women’s bodies” spent time assisting a midwife in Tunisia, Madame Pinot, delivering his first births at the age of 10. It was this same Madame who instilled in him not only an interest in the female form but also fashion. This fascination-fueled artistry somewhat explains his independent approach that is not concerned with trends but simply takes inspiration from the world around him. According to Wilson, one of the strongest areas of the show is “not a single work but the whole animal print and skin…Alaïa loves animals, his house is full of cats and dogs, he stays up late watching National Geographic.” Such warmly recounted anecdotes and fond observations are copious of a man who is as dedicated in friendship as in his commitment to fashion. He is currently working on establishing the Alaïa Foundation, where he will display his own pieces as well as those of designers he most admires.

Until the invite to dine at his studio in the Marais arrives, the NRW-Forum will have to do. Showing from June 8th to September 8th, this collection of work from one of the last major living couturiers promises to showcase the inspiring breadth and beauty of a designer who is always evolving and instinctively free.

Text by Heidi Goldsmith
Photography courtesy of Groninger Museum / NRW-FORUM

Fashion and its imagery have developed into a world in constant evolution- — a universe of contrasting aesthetics and competing styles. Often over-saturated with not always brilliant pictures, it has now reached an era when there is too much of the same and too little thought behind each figure. The boundaries of art are blurring and it is becoming increasingly difficult to skim through the materials constantly produced to find valuable pictures with lasting power.

A bright new talent has recently surfaced, whose style is a fresh outlook on the art and fashion editorial media. Hailing from Madrid, Spain, Ernesto Artillo is a fashion photographer turned graphic designer (while also doing some fashion styling on the side), but what caught the industry and the web’s attention as of late are his magnificent collages.

His collection of poetic compositions are on his website alongside some of his photographic work. They are mysterious works of art and at times puzzling combinations of anatomy and nature, art and geometry, forming a magical world where nostalgia meets sensuality, delivered in an always-subdued palette. Each image reads like a personal reflection on shape and color, seemingly existing just for aesthetic pleasure, but upon closer inspection, these images communicate deeply with its audience and engage with the viewer’s eye.

This use of contrasting photographic imagery to create stunning pictures is reminiscent of contemporaries such as Deutsche Börse winner John Stezaker or Dallas-based English artist Richard Patterson, whose celebrated work includes collaged combinations of diverse icons. Artillo, however, declares that his main influences come from Renaissance paintings, from modern artists such as Matisse and Picasso, and from the imagery of Spanish folklore, but he also draws inspiration from his own life and feelings of love and
familiar tenderness.

His most eye-catching work to date, and one of the artist’s favorites is piel (the Spanish word for skin): a man’s anatomy interlocked with the mauve, yellow, and blue petals of a flower creating an abstract but powerful discourse between
human and nature.

One of his latest series, Mom Cuture, features scraps of his beautifully photogenic mother glued against various looks from the recent Christian Dior Prêt-à-Porter and Haute Couture collections (the French fashion house’s creative director, Raf Simons, being his current favorite on the international fashion panorama). The simplicity of this clever juxtaposition confirms Artillo’s aesthetic genius and gives a promise of more, grander visual feasts to come.

Text by Rosa Bertoli

Sixty years ago, Sherpa Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary took the first steps on top of Mount Everest.

Tenzing Norgay, his face covered with an oxygen mask, stretches his right arm toward the sky, triumphantly waving his axe on the Mount Everest summit. Against the sky, flags of Britain, Nepal, the United Nations, and India flap in the freezing wind. It is 11:30 AM local time, on May 29, 1953, when the Nepalese Sherpa and the New Zealand beekeeper/mountaineer Edmund Hillary finally take the first steps on top of the world. An incredible achievement immortalized by Hillary’s iconic photo of Tenzing. After a joyful hug, the two men don’t spend more than 15 minutes on the summit before they are forced to descend due to low oxygen supply, but those minutes are enough to turn them into heroes.

Tenzing and Hillary were part of a British team led by Colonel John Hunt, consisting of a dozen climbers, 35 Sherpa guides—the Nepalese people living in the shadow of the mountain—and 350 porters carrying 18 tons of food and equipment. The expedition that was to achieve the impossible was hardly the first to try. Ever since Mount Everest, towering 29,035 feet above the ocean along the border of Nepal and Tibet, was declared the world’s highest mountain in 1852, adventurers have dreamt of making it to the Himalayan peak. It wasn’t until 1921 when the forbidden kingdom of Tibet first opened its borders, that it first became a realistic feat. Many tried, and many fell victim to the mountain’s treacherous crevices or freezing winds. Others suffered from mountain sickness, a dangerous condition that appears when the high altitude prevents the brain from receiving enough oxygen. It is still debated whether George Leigh Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine actually made it to the top during their famous climb in 1924. But since neither of them made it down alive, that is something nobody will probably ever know.

When the British expedition set out in 1953, Hillary had already attempted to conquer the mountain in 1951 and again in 1952. For Sherpa Tenzing, this was his seventh Everest expedition. The previous year, he had been part of a Swiss team that opened a new route from the southern side and settled with a new record by reaching 28,200 feet. For a climber who is challenging nature as well as his own body, equipment is key, so thankfully the Swiss also provided Tenzing with gear and shoes. And so when he finally reached the summit after years of preparation, Tenzing was wearing a pair of Bally’s Reindeer Himalaya boots. To celebrate the 60-year anniversary of the heroic ascent, the Swiss shoe manufacturer is now launching a collection inspired by that boot.

“This was actually something we discussed when we first arrived at Bally. Being associated with this very expedition and this connection with innovation was something we wanted to explore and make people aware of. It was quite fascinating to discover the imagery in the archive and watch the film footage,” says Michael Herz, who, together with Graeme Fidler, took over as the company’s creative directors in 2010.

Although the Reindeer-Himalaya boot brings to mind the northern-dwelling animal grazing the majestic mountain chain, the 1953 expedition is probably as close to the Mount Everest summit as a reindeer has ever been.

“The boot was made of reindeer fur, which is a hollow fiber fur that gives super insolation and has a natural water repellent coating,” says Herz.

“Ultimately, it is known as the highest performing fur that you can possibly use for that sort of icy environment,” says Fidler.

The boot also sports a new hook lace-up system and a newly developed rubber sole. When the Bally team decided to do a capsule collection in celebration of the anniversary, they even found the German manufacturer of the original hook laceup system. Studying the technically advanced original boot pushed them to further develop the collection.

“That gave us the energy and inspiration to do another level of research and development. We were inspired by the story of the anniversary and the scale of the exploration. But ultimately we had to make a shoe for tomorrow,” says Fidler.

The original Reindeer-Himalaya boot took its bearer all the way up to the roof of the world. Before descending, Sherpa Tenzing buried some sweets in the snow as a Buddhist offering to the gods. Later, Hillary described the summit as another goody—“a symmetrical, beautiful snow cone.” The news of the climb quickly spread across the world. Hillary, who lived to be 88 years old, and Hunt were knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, while Tenzing received the George Medal of Britain. Tenzing passed away in West Bengal, India, in 1986 at the age of 71—but his legacy lives on. Today, Bally might be far more associated with high fashion than high climbing, but just how far the new interpretation of Tenzing’s shoe will go is up to the wearer.

“It could very well end up in St. Moritz. But it could just as well end up on Madison Avenue on a snowy winter day,” says Fidler.

Text by Katarina Mattson