by Leslie Lambert
It all started at the dawn of the twentieth century with pioneer vision of Edoardo Caovilla. With the audacity to amaze the world, his work reflected a perfect balance between craftsmanship and couture. In the 50s, his son René Fernando (born in 1938) cultivated his own inspiration by gravitating towards art and experimenting with a transversal approach. He concentrated on the top end of the market and became a sculptor of sophisticated shoes, creating elegant jeweled designs and sensual, ultra precious chaussures.
Immaculate detailing with elaborate embellishments define Caovilla’s unique designs, making his style of creating shoes unlike any other designers’. High quality jewels and dazzling diamonds adore his carefully crafted haute couture shoes. Developing his own twist on classic styles, Caovilla employs intricate embroidery which has become one of his most distinctive fashion designs. However, it was Caovilla’s jeweled shoes that soared in popularity when first unveiled while working with Valentino Garavani. Then, there was another partnership that lasted for several years with legendary fashion house Christian Dior and John Galliano. With this fierce team, Caovilla designed dreamlike and imaginative creations for the Paris catwalks. Caovilla, leter, spent a period of time designing with Chanel and then connected with the artistic genius of Karl Lagerfeld.
The first mono-brand René Caovilla boutique was opened in Milan in 2004, followed by stores in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London as well as recently added shop in the Rinascente department store in Milan. Throughout the years, boutiques have also been opened in Dubai, Doha, Moscow, Istanbul, Taipei and Beijing. In 2010, when his son Edoardo Caovilla joined the company – making the third generation – the brand moved away from a family business to a more dynamic and structured company that was ready to conceive unique, taian-made creations to let the dream of its international customers.
Italian fashion brand René Caovilla brought to life a line of graceful and elegant shoes in his spring/summer 2014 collection. Using sparkles and glitter, he created glitzy variations on styles from espadrilles to sandals to evening shoes. One of his more popular summer styles is his jeweled espadrille, made in two versions: leather and coated suede. In the S/S collection, he uses pastel colors, including green, blues yellow, and pink. Adding a feminine touch on his dainty flat and heeled sandals, Caovilla finishes the straps with crystals and bright colored stones. Highly experimental, his deigns always manage to emmerge sleek and sexy as he plays cleverly with wide stripes, lace-up ties, pearls, and lace to accent his creations in unexpexted way. Thick embroidery and little studs make their way onto sneakers, transforming an edgy shoe into something a little more flirtatious and whimsical.
All shoes are available at renecaovilla.com