Shoe Trek
There are certain things you should know will happen upon visiting the fabulous shoe designer Jerome Rousseau in Beachwood Canyon.
If you'll be taking his portrait, he's going to be wearing a bowtie. Not a pedestrian one either, as the Alber Elbaz-meets-Band of Outsiders specimen worn in the photo below shows.
Also, his rescue yellow-crested cockatoo will make some sort of crazy, unwordly noise as you browse peep-toe booties and delicate stilettos.
And you'll probably swoon at the whole experience at least once.
SHOE GURU: Jerome Rousseau at home in Beachwood Canyon
We visited Jerome last year for a feature but hadn't been back since. Our bad. Because he's really coming into his own as a designer. If you're a fan, you may not have seen some of these designs (no spring '11 showing up yet on Jerome's website). Needless to say we're duly impressed. The Tron shoe (see lead image above) was a big recent hit, and Hollywood devotees now include Olivia Wilde, Miley Cyrus and Ashley Bell. You'd never know it spending an afternoon with Jerome. Modesty reigns at his apartment; well, the bird reigns, actually, but humility is a close second.
"For the Spring 2011 collection I wanted to create something fun and positive, using a lot of bright colours and rich metallics, but also texture and pattern with the leathers and fabrics," Rousseau says. Here are our prime picks from the new season:
