Return of United Nude

You may remember that in a previous post I analysed a few designs by United Nude, the footwear brand co-founded by Dutch architect Rem D. Koolhaas and designer and entrepreneur Galahad Clark, in connection with architecture.

I recently got images of the new United Nude collection and was happy to see that the brand is not betraying its ethos and it's still retaining a strong bond with architectural shapes and silhouettes.

Fans of the United Nude “Eamz” and "Möbius" shoes – respectively inspired by Ray and Charles Eames’s aluminium office chair and by the chair created by Bauhaus director Mies Van Der Rohe for the International Exposition in 1929 – will be happy to know that, for the Autumn/Winter 2009, the two models will be coming back in new and sleeker styles, such as patent leather ankle boot and Mary Jane versions (the Eamz) or in a boot version with a slimmer shaft that stretches and fits the wearer snugly (Möbius).

While the “Fold” boot will come back in thirteen new colour combinations, the collection features an entirely revisited version of the “Sharpei” canvas boot, that features graphics from Dutch fashion designer Antoine Peters’ fall collection.

Among my favourite additions to this collection there is the "Lo-Res" stiletto pump. I particularly like it because it looks as if an expert diamond cutter had sculpted it.

This shoe is moulded from rubber, but its surface is perfectly sculpted as if it were a gemstone.

The "Lo-Res" pump was developed following new and innovative methods: a classic pump was three dimensionally scanned, then the resolution of the scan was reduced and further computer manipulations helped redefining the final model.
 
What fascinates me about the "Lo-Res" pump is the fact that it reminds me a lot of some of the most futuristic architectural structures recently designed such as the Prada Transformer, a portable, shape-shifting cultural pavilion designed by Office for Metropolitan Architecture/Rem Koolhaas (uncle of United Nude’s Rem D Koolhaas) a building shaped like a tetrahedron with one hexagonal face, one cross-shaped face, one rectangular face and one circular face.

The "Lo-Res" pump also reminds me in a way of the theory of the well-proportioned diamond with 58 facets, devised by Italian architect and painter Peruzzi. 

Another shoe that has got something architectural about it and that features in the United Nude Autumn/Winter 2009 collection, is the “Block” model, that has got a perfectly square abstract block heel that forms a contrast with the classic shape of the shoe.

Among the shoes I particularly like in this new collection there is also the "Helix", available in its high and low heel versions, characterised by golden strips that criss-cross around the foot, overlapping one onto the other, creating a series of multi-directional helical turns  over a base of black leather.
 
While the new United Nude Autumn/Winter collection shall be available online from the brand's site and at selected shops worldwide from September, I wish Rem & Co would do a short film or a documentary about shoes and architecture.

I think that would be very interesting and teach us all a few things about how important is to wrap up our feet in proper "structures" that can allow us to walk and live well.

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