MADE FOR MOVEMENT: KIM SION

THE CREATIVE CONSULTANT'S NEW CAPSULE FOR LE MONDE BÉRYL MARRIES CURIOSITY AND CRAFT.

By Morgan Becker

Kim Sion’s capsule collection for Le Monde Béryl started with impressions: The creative consultant was drawn to female archetypes of the non-obvious sort—Berlin pageant queens and back-up singers and dancers, who evoked a strong but not overly polished glamor. “Everything about these women,” she says, “the attitude, the hair and makeup, what they’re wearing, the line of the shoes, the way they walk, [was] so beautiful to me.”

From there, the moodboard filled up with vintage photographs of kittens, high-glossed lips, and trapeze artists. Then Japanese fake food, glacier cherries, and ceramics by American sculptor Ron Nagle. The finished products—three new Monde Béryl silhouettes, the Cherry Mule, Madison Boot, and Sable Pump—aren’t exactly derivative of these images. Their girliness, their sexiness, and their sense of fun have been intelligently boiled down to bold and understated shoes, in line with the brand’s DNA.

Lily Atherton Hanbury—who founded Le Monde Béryl in 2016 with Katya Shyfrin—set out to work with Kim because she wanted to reinterpret classics. The collection has achieved that and more, marrying Italian craftsmanship with an of-the-moment wanting for off-the-cuff indulgence, by way of a rich and shiny palette, dramatic cuts, and a skintight fit. Following their launch at Dover Street Market in London, the collaborators sat down to figure out what makes these shoes feel so transformative.

MORGAN BECKER: Talk to me about the origins of this collaboration.

LILY ATHERTON HANBURY: Kim is an incredibly creative and inspiring person. She has an incredible visual archive. We love that her personal style has so much to do with movement and feeling sexy for herself. We found that it created an interesting tension [with our] design process of looking back at things that we love—creating a sense of nostalgia and shared experience.

We started with a series of reference images that were completely varied, [including photographs] Kim found in Berlin of beauty pageant queens who were really sexy and strong. The undercurrent was this notion of shoes being transformative. I was talking to Grace before we joined the call, like, How do I articulate that the black patent boots, even though I wore them under a suit and you could barely see them, still made me feel really sexy?

KIM SION: What I think is interesting about what we’ve done is you kind of have to wear them to feel how sexy they are. They’re so beautifully made, but once you put your foot in it, it takes on a whole other life. The very low-cut décolleté, the feel of the boot that’s super tight around your leg… It’s definitely transformative sexy, rather than obvious.

MB: You were likening the shoes to underwear—so it’s kind of about the fit on the wearer’s side?

KS: What has been really fun for me, since the launch, is seeing women wear them and what it does to them. We had dinner and gave some ladies the boot, and some of them just got up on the table! People have been posting in the nude with a pair of the shoes on. So they definitely give you something.

LAH: There’s something a little bit odd—as you would say, Kim—about them. The toe is round. They’re not cutesy… There’s an intellectual quality to them. I wouldn’t say they fall into the category of shoes people buy to be sexy for someone else, but you definitely feel cool when you wear them.

MB: You talked about Kim’s archive and how it was to pull from that. On the other side, what did you take from Le Monde Béryl?

LAH: Everything we created was completely new. Everything we make is artisanal, with family-run factories [that rely on] generations of Italian tradition. It was interesting bringing these styles into that world, because I would say where the brand is really referenced is in the making and the materials.

MB: How did you use the campaign to bring the shoes’ details to life?

KS: We started with color references, then we looked at interior images. [The details] were so minimal, like the cherry stitched on the napkin, but they married so well—even though they’re so simple, they’re definitely emotive. You can get something from how the shoes are positioned, the little props. They tell a story, even though there’s not much to the images.

MB: It’s sort of creating a feeling. Do you have any words for what that feeling is?

LAH: It’s evocative of another time in a way—whether it’s the past or future. The references are fun and provocative.

MB: For you, what sets shoe design apart from other types of design?

LAH: The first thing that comes to my mind is movement. The difference between architecture and jewelry design, for instance, and shoe design is that there’s movement involved. There’s movement in the human form—in a way, everything people design [contends with it]. But nothing quite as much as shoes.

MB: Culturally, there’s something about women’s relationship to shoes—they have such a powerful impact on the psyche, when it comes to making an outfit and going out into the world. Why do you think that is?

KS: I always start with a shoe [when making an outfit]. I think they can change your whole personality. My husband’s very tall, so if we go out, I’ll always put on a heel. I’ll be seen more if I’m the same height as him. When I’m holding his arm, I’d rather be the same height than much smaller. But I do it for my whole life. They can totally change the way you’re feeling.

LAH: Yeah—clothes can be armor or liberation, and shoes are incredibly transformative.

KS: You can totally tell a person’s personality [by their shoes]. I mean, I nearly dumped someone because they turned up on our first date in very odd shoes. And that’s awful, but for me… If I was going on a date with someone and they turned up in a pair of those pointed shoes that turn up at the end, I’d be like, No way.

MB: Is there a muse or archetypal woman you envision wearing this collection?

KS: Who would it be? Romy Schneider. She’s my dream queen. Faye Dunaway. Julie Christie, oh my gosh. Anyone could be. It’s always hard to pinpoint one.

LAH: I think what’s been so cool about this is seeing how many different people have responded to the collection. When we were working on it, we had friends in mind—creative, strong, and confident women. But then we’ve had so many messages following our launch, from people who bought them. They work on so many different people.

KS: One of my friends texted me today, and she’s going through a split-up. She’s like, This is the boot I needed. A muse—it’s difficult. I have so many amazing women, friends, and people I admire that it would be difficult to say one. Everyone I see in the shoes are turning into my muses.

LAH: That’s such a good way of putting it, Kim. When we first launched them, we had around 40 women wearing different styles. They each reflected something that we wanted to get out of this—to impart on our community.

KS: I’m going to end on something really funny. I’m going to a Christmas party tonight. Last time we went, everyone got really dressed up. And guess what? The disaster was, they made you take your shoes off before going into the house!

I’ve got my beautiful black glitter slippers from Chinatown, and I’m thinking I’m going to be ahead of the curve on this one. It sums up everything we just said—when you go out and take your shoes off, it’s a totally different vibe.