SHOE-INS
These up-and-coming shoe brands will cause Carrie Bradshaw-esque collecting.
LOQ
Keren Longkumer and Valerie Quant, founders of LOQ, knew they had made it when a pair of their sandals got a cameo in Solange’s Cranes in the Sky music video. The L.A.-based brand’s leather slides, ankle boots and block-heeled pumps are crafted in Spain and fall into that just-right category: not too chunky and not too delicate.
THE PALATINES
You know those simple open-toed leather slides that you add to your spring wish list each year? Designer Jessica Taft Langdon, who worked at Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler before launching her own brand, helped put the effortless style on the map when she launched The Palatines in 2013. The line, which is expanding its presence in Canada with availability at GravityPope, features starkly minimal block-heeled mules and flat slingbacks. (From $339, gravitypope.com)
BY FAR
Further proof of Eastern Europe’s continued rise on the global fashion scene is Bulgarian brand By Far, whose low-heeled, vintage-y lace-up boots have already gained a serious street-style following. For spring, the brand went more minimal with its sandals and slides but continued to make use of recycled Italian leather—it’s part of the label’s DNA.