London-based footwear designer Patrick Cox has made fashion history, becoming the first-ever foreigner to head up a French shoe company as he joins the venerable Paris label Charles Jourdan.
As the firm's new design director, the mind behind Wannabe footwear plans to "put everything chic into Charles Jourdan", adding: "I can make my own label more British, more street."
Canadian-born Patrick, who counts Elton John and Madonna among his clients, hit the scene with a London shop in 1991, designing his first Wannabe collection two years later. By the mid-Nineties, he had expanded around the globe with boutiques in Paris, New York and another in London. And now, he's set to start a new career phase with Jourdan, which began as a Paris shoe factory 80 years ago. "It really is such a dream," he says.
Patrick says his dream spokesmodels for Jourdan would include actresses Cate Blanchett, Kristen Scott Thomas, Audrey Tatou or Liz Hurley. But, if Wannabe's campaigns are anything to go by – an upcoming advert features a body stocking-clad Sophie Dahl – anyone fronting Jourdan's ads might want to be prepared to bare all. "In all the (Wannabe) campaigns we do, the models are always pretty much naked," says Patrick. "That way nothing distracts from the shoes."
Photo: © Alphapress.com
