Yigal Azrouël To Debut Footwear This Spring

It’s just about a month until New York fashion week, and at his Garment District studio, Yigal Azrouël is busily preparing for not one but two shows. This season, unlike last, he’ll present his men’s and women’s collections separately, the better to let each speak for itself. (As our reviewer noted for Fall, showing jointly tends to lead to a little commingling—and Yigal himself admitted, “I love a woman in a suit.”)

Making their runway debut alongside the military-inspired men’s collection will be the collection’s first men’s shoes. Showing off two styles yesterday, an ankle boot and a sandal in distressed leather and canvas, Azrouël explained that their origin was simple: Canvassing the market, he just couldn’t find the boots that he wanted for himself. The two-tone, hand-distressed styles are made by Peron in Italy, the factory that manufactures footwear for Rick Owens and Maison Martin Margiela. The boot style has decorative ties and zips up the back, and can be worn up—Azrouël noted it fits close in to the ankle so it will fit under skinny jeans—or rolled down, to reveal a supple black leather lining inside. The boot will retail for 5, and the sandal somewhere around that range, when they go on sale at the designer’s Meatpacking District boutique next spring.