Mansur Gavriel Shoes Finally Launch

Mansur Gavriel´s cult bags grabbed the fashion world's attention not much more than a year ago, becoming an instant hit with editors and a sell-out with customers. Now, as the NY label launches shoes - exclusively on Net-A-Porter this week, and later worldwide - we caught up with the design duo behind the brand to find out, first of all, what took them so long to create our next obsession.

"We're very excited that they're finally launching!" Floriana Gavriel, one half of the creative twosome, laughed. "It feels like a long time in the making for us too. We're very careful and considered in how we release new product, and the shoes have been in development for at least three seasons. From the beginning of the brand we had an idea for lots of products and, although shoes felt like the natural evolution after the bags, we like any product we release to be very simple and very perfect."

Certainly captivatingly simple yet brilliantly colourful, the label's bags were released at a time when fashion was eager for something that could tread a fine line between the Céline-esque simplicity, dominating every look from the catwalk to the high street, and the reactionary need for something more exciting than just a very, very luxurious plain black bag.

"We both like things that are minimal, but also like warmth," Rachel Mansur explained. "We'd describe our aesthetic as playing with symbiotic contrasts; things that work well together, like clean lines and pure colour. We like a warmth of material even if the lines are simple. We found a really fine, very elevated vegetable-tanned leather at a factory in Italy, which we felt wasn't being used properly in the fashion industry at that time, and that was the starting point. The shoes dovetail with the bags in that they're also sculptural objects in classic silhouettes, which allow us to experiment with colour and fabrication."

Once the shoes have achieved world domination, fans hope ready-to-wear will follow - especially since the pair debuted their shoe collection on models wearing dresses of their own design. But, first things first for this sensible duo, the priority is getting their growing house in order.

"We're always working on and thinking about ready-to-wear, but not yet," Mansur told us. "It's great that people are interested. Long term, we'd love to expand into new categories and opening a store is a dream for us. Last season was the first time that we were able to express the brand in a concrete way, at our presentation, so we'd love to do more of that - as well as more collaborations with artists."

The last 12 months have seen the designers exposed to the highs and lows of their rapid ascent - from the joy of watching their bags clamoured for at a time when even the most established luxury houses are witnessing a drop in sales, to being accused of copying by a lesser-known designer. So do they have time to take notice of the hype and chatter, or does their burgeoning business provide enough of a daily challenge to allow them to shut out the noise?

"We're definitely pretty buried in the work so that makes it hard to think about what's going on outside," Gavriel said. "The most challenging thing for us right now is building the internal structure in a responsible and healthy way - making sure that the company is strong and everyone is happy as we move into the next phase - and ensuring that product quality remains the same as we grow. We just want to make smart decisions and have smart people working with us. We want to focus on still considering the customer and not taking on more than we can handle."