FASHION, FUNCTION
arsenal of ideas of what can make a shoe fit better, a shoe more aligned with the biomechanics of our anatomy, “but I think it’s the taste level, that artfulness, that tastefulness that’s been a huge part of the brand today.”
Almost immediately after the collection launched, Parke started getting interest from magazines, retailers and the fashion industry. She was a finalist for the Accessory Council’s Emerging Designer Award in 2015 and received Fashion Group International’s Rising Star Award in Accessories for 2017.
Parke grew up in Oklahoma City, attended Casady School, played hockey and soccer, graduated from OU with a degree in zoology and was on track for premed. While working at OU Health Sciences Center, she discovered the advantages of podiatry and liked the different sub specialties in medicine.
She went to Chicago’s Dr. William M. Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine and became a foot and ankle surgeon. She now lives in Minneapolis.
It was during her second year of school in a podiatry biomechanics class that she started thinking about how she could marry fashion with function. She said she was learning how to manage patients with high arches by using orthotics and wondered why that couldn’t be applied to a woman’s dress shoe.
“That’s effectively what I’ve done,” she said.
Parke admitted she’s
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