COLLECTION NAME:
Luxury Lab
Record
Product:
Olivia Mule Midnight
Brand:
Brother Vellies
Description:
Founded in 2013, Brother Vellies aspires to engage and promote long-established African design practices, while creating and sustaining artisanal jobs. Traditionally made and hand-crafted, its luxury accessories celebrate cultural histories and timeless designs. With a collection that is produced across the globe — including South Africa, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Italy, and Haiti — Brother Vellies tells the story of myriad cultures, while maintaining the utmost care for artisans, customers, and the planet. Using vegetable-tanned leathers, soling from recycled tires, hand-carved wood, and floral dyed feathers, Brother Vellies values sustainably sourced materials and fair labor practices, with hopes to disrupt the traditional commercial consumption cycle.
Its Olivia mule in midnight carries on the unique story of the mule and its evolution into the backless high heel. According to Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum, the mule has been linked to play, private time, and intimacy for centuries. It was not until the 18th century, during the Rococo period, that the mule became more appropriate for a wider range of occasions and was no longer just a house slipper. The heeled mule came back into fashion in the mid-19th century, but remained part of the private domestic realm. This sentiment is reflected in Édouard Manet’s 1863 painting, depicting a woman in bed wearing nothing but yellow mules. Others claim that wealthy French women wore high-heeled, highly adorned mules in public by the end of the 17th century, and they were even worn by King Louis VIX. It wasn’t until centuries later, in the 1950s, that the mule’s heels became more daring, featuring a sharp and sleek look. Brother Vellies continues this storied tradition with its own chapter in the Olivia mule, which the company claims to be the most flattering version ever designed.
Its Olivia mule in midnight carries on the unique story of the mule and its evolution into the backless high heel. According to Elizabeth Semmelhack, director and senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum, the mule has been linked to play, private time, and intimacy for centuries. It was not until the 18th century, during the Rococo period, that the mule became more appropriate for a wider range of occasions and was no longer just a house slipper. The heeled mule came back into fashion in the mid-19th century, but remained part of the private domestic realm. This sentiment is reflected in Édouard Manet’s 1863 painting, depicting a woman in bed wearing nothing but yellow mules. Others claim that wealthy French women wore high-heeled, highly adorned mules in public by the end of the 17th century, and they were even worn by King Louis VIX. It wasn’t until centuries later, in the 1950s, that the mule’s heels became more daring, featuring a sharp and sleek look. Brother Vellies continues this storied tradition with its own chapter in the Olivia mule, which the company claims to be the most flattering version ever designed.
Category:
Shoes & Fashion Accessories
Type:
Shoes
Relevant Department:
FASH, ACCE, LXMT
