Rebellious, absurdly enchanting and utterly fascinating… Anastasia Radevich’s shoes blur the lines between art and fashion.
If there is any question whether fashion is an art form or not, the creations of Montreal-based shoe designer Anastasia Radevich seem to answer that question quite effortlessly through unconventional pieces of footwear that combine symbolism with the uncompromising power of natural shapes and textures.
In her ‘Kinetik’ collection for example, she used fibre optics to light up the shoes, while in her most recent ‘Alchemy’ collection, the shoes merge into the realistic forms of fossils and horns. According to her collaborator, photographer Nik [Nitro] Yur, ‘‘shoes are Anastasia’s canvas, where she combines art, craft and technology to relay a message, a story or a statement.’’
Of Belarus origin, Radevich was born into a family of shoes designers; as a result, she grew up ‘‘surrounded by creative ideas and the smell of leathers,’’ as she herself says. Before starting her own brand, she spent a few years working at the creative studios of Alexander McQueen and Nicholas Kirkwood, an experience which allowed her to hone her technical skills and deepen her understanding of shoe design.
Not worried about keeping up with the fast pace of fashion,Radevich sees her vocation mainly as a way for her to express her inspiration as freely as possible — if only more shoe designers approached their craft in such an uncompromising way!
