First Look: 3 Malone Souliers Runway Collabs That Will Surprise You
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Malone Souliers is unveiling three new — and unexpected — spring ’20 runway collaborations for fashion week.
Kicking things off in New York is Deveaux on Sept. 8. A collaboration with Richard Malone in London will follow on Sept. 16. Finally, Chinese label Shushu/Tong will bow in Milan on Sept. 20. These are all in addition to the brand’s ongoing collaboration with Roksanda Illincic, the latest installment of which will bow in London on Sept. 16.
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“As an accessories label we don’t get to participate in fashion weeks in the same way as a ready-to-wear brand so, it’s really important to have a little touchpoint in the fashion capitals,” said creative director Mary Alice Malone, adding that she will have her showroom in Paris.
The designer was speaking from Hong Kong, her second stop on an EMEA-wide series of events and activations with regional partner Lane Crawford.
From a strategic point of view, Malone said, runway collaborations offer her an opportunity to spread her wings: “We can expand our creativity and create product we don’t currently offer within the main label,” she said. “It’s also about staying energetic; all the different creative inputs really help to propel our brand forward.”
For Deveaux, designed by Andrea Tsao with photographer Tommy Ton as creative director, Malone designed an asymmetrical slipper and ‘fisherman’ flat slide that also comes with a kitten heel. “Deveaux is androgynous and effortlessly chic,” she said. Malone launched her own men’s category for spring ’20 during Paris Men’s Fashion Week in June. “I also love it when your clothes look as if you have a fan behind you,” she said of Deveaux’s fluid lines.
Designs for Richard Malone are more youthful and directional in keeping with the London label’s spirit and footwear including a fierce pair of ruffled thigh high boots features technical fabrics used in the ready-to-wear.
The pumps and flatforms Malone has created for Shushu/Tong are heavier and more exaggerated, she said.
All the collaborations also feature those of-the-moment square toe shapes — a style not immediately associated with Malone Souliers. “They feel more aggressive,” she said. “It’s about women claiming a trend that they like as opposed to something a man might like.”
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