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Over the last few years, footwear designer Freya Rose has carved out a successful niche as the go-to brand for luxurious – yet affordable – bridal shoes. She shared her story so far with Out on A Limb reporter Christina Eccles.
Freya’s footwear haven GROWING up around her jewellery designer mother, it’s no surprise Freya herself developed an interest in all things arts and crafts. After securing a place at art college, she found she loved the textile and sculpture side of things, finding the perfect place to hone her skills on a course in accessory and shoe design at the London College of Fashion, leading her to where she is today. She now operates the business out of her London showroom, which is providing a haven for footwear lovers who benefit from the personalised service of a oneto-one consultation, where they can browse the collections and gain advice on choosing the right shoes for them. She explained: “What we pride ourselves on is delivering what we think is affordable couture with a personal service customers won’t find anywhere else. “We want to make every customer feel very special and offer a real luxury service.” When it comes to Freya’s designs, the finer details are key and with a nod to her roots in the jewellery industry, only the best materials are used to create her collections. Intricate touches like mother of
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pearl heels and adornments such as fresh water pearls, cubic zirconia and couture Parisian lace, make her shoes stand out from the crowd – and have helped her carve out a niche in the wedding footwear industry for brides searching for their perfect pair. She added: "When designing shoes, I wanted to keep an element of my jewellery design background. My shoes have decorative features such as mother of pearl heels, which is where that translates. “Bridal shoes seemed to fit in very well with my designs and have become a prominent side of the business.” Although bridal footwear makes up a core part of the Freya Rose brand, she also offers a couture service, where customers can create something unique to them. But with prices for a completely bespoke pair rising to up to £6,000, Freya added that when meeting with clients, establishing budget is key. She added: "Budget is a huge thing to consider. Our entry price is really reasonable at £165, right up to around £1,000. But we have gone up to about £6,000 for a couture shoe with platinum and
Freya Rose
diamonds. “Most of the time with couture, clients will fit into a shoe we already have and we can then look through different materials, colours and embroidery. We are also quite unique in that we offer a hand
embroidery service.” When asked about her favourite designs, Freya admits it's difficult to single individual styles out, but says a few pairs are particularly special to her. She added: “It’s hard to pick but ‘Fairy Dust’ is hand embellished and very pretty, with the heel covered in mother of pearl and crystals. The 'Ennis' shoe is very bold – it’s bright gold – and ‘Hollywood’ is one of our best sellers. It’s very sparkly and made with cubic zirconia, so it feels like you’re wearing a glass slipper.” For future collections, Freya told Out on A Limb that her focus is moving slightly away from high glamour to designs with more of an ethereal and spiritual feel. Her current inspirations include the 1930s era, Japan and the Orient and footwear with an Edwardian and Victorian feel. Vintage is also continuing to be popular, with Freya’s interpretation of the trend including simple shoes, which really focus on the details. She is also going to be launching a new small, high fashion, non bridal capsule range and plans to do one of these collections each year.
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