Penelope and Coco reinvent the Oxford for Spring 2011

Oct 12, 2010
LadyLUX • Fashion

Browse through Penelope and Coco’s lookbook, and it is clear that there is one thing Marisa Spinella’s designs are not: mainstream.

Its current and first collection is the Classic Boot. White leather booties, also called the GypsyRose, come with red interiors and gold hardware. The Riina boot is for the grungy, femme girl, in distressed leather with vintage hooks. The Capone, just as in the name, is edgy and tough in black leather with silver studs up the back of the boot.

The team, which consists of Marisa and her marketing gal pal Arielle Vavasseur, has only been around since this spring. They got their big break when Nylon Magazine featured them in its April issue.

Although they currently offer only boots, they’re adding oxfords to the collection for spring 2011, and Spinella couldn’t be more excited.

“We took the oxford, a specific shape, (and) we made it into something we really believed in,” Spinella said. “It’s a little bit more feminine, but the details and design touches are a bit more edgy.”

Edgy and feminine is a good way to describe their designs, which somehow manage to make streetwear chic. The young designer claims that her aesthetic didn’t as much come from her love for boots – although she is a self-proclaimed shoe addict – but from a need in the marketplace.

“I had an eye for what I wanted and what I liked, and found a niche in the market for footwear that wasn’t necessarily a six-inch heel or a wedge,” she said. “The combat boot was in style, but nothing (was) feminine or with a softer feel than a typical combat boot.”

She also discussed the name of her brand, Penelope and Coco, which she revealed is much more personal than some may know.

“The way that I was designing the shoes was a mix of these two personalities. It’s really my style,” she said. “It’s very feminine, and kind of classic and timeless, but I also have those trendy, more eccentric, raw styles too.”

The new oxford style similarly encapsulates the duality of Spinella’s design mind, with distressed vintage pieces offset by colorful animal prints.

“We’re also using a patent snakeskin, which is something we’re really excited about … in three different colors,” she said. “It’s going to be chic and sophisticated because the oxford is a little bit young.”

When the boot collection was released, Spinella and Vavasseur simultanouesly unveiled a super hip video (embedded below) on their website as a compliment to the lookbook. With a slightly Euro, vanguard feel, the screen was divided in two, with a girl snapping shots with an old-style camera on the top and styled legs walking along the bottom in their Classic Boot collection.

“I think doing the video … just brings character and life to the collection,” she said.

No need to ask, Spinella revealed that they will release video showcasing their oxfords when the line is launched later this fall.

“It’s definitely cool to see the movement of the product and how it’s styled,” she said. “We styled from head to toe for each individual oxford, so you’ll be able to see a whole look for every single (shoe).

“With the Oxford Collection, our whole concept is to take a style – like a boot, an oxford or a heel – whatever style we choose. We want to reinvent it.”