Turning Heads

Three years ago, Sophia Webster was feeling a bit at odds with the industry, and the constant demand for newness.

“I'd been thinking about my archive and all those shoes boxed up. I loved looking at all the old shoes from the past. To me, they're still special,” said the London- based designer, who is celebrating a decade in business. “And then I thought to myself: ‘ I love drawing.' I didn't realize how much little time I would have to spend drawing with all the pressures of running the business.”

So in the waning days of 2020, she issued a challenge to herself: Every day of 2021, she would sketch a single shoe from her vast collection — before the clock struck midnight. Webster set up a private Instagram account for family and friends to keep herself accountable, and she got to work. Some nights, the then mother of three fell asleep beside her young girls when she put them to bed and would wake up just in time to finish that day's drawing.

“So many memories were popping up — funny stories, different dramas with the factories, funny celebrity stories. It was a roller coaster, those early years,” she recalled. “I started writing down the memories, and we thought it would make a great coffee table book. It ended up as a coffee table book/ memoir.”

Known for her colorful, playful details, Webster produces her collections in Brazil and Europe.

By the end of 2021, Webster — who oversees the brand with her husband, Bobby Stockley — had a book deal. Around the same time, she found out she was pregnant with her fourth child.

Almost two years later, the designer will release the colorful book — full of the artistic, playful details she is known for — in the U. S., after debuting it in the U. K. last month.

Called “Oh My Gosh, I Love Your Shoes: A Decade of Head-Turning Heels,” the book charts the designer's journey through the 365 sketches she drew in 2021. ( Webster said that “Oh my gosh, I love your shoes,” is the phrase she hears most frequently when she meets strangers.)

Webster — who last year reported $17.5 million in annual sales — doesn't hold back when writing about her highs and lows, both professional and personal. (One of the most emotional moments in the book comes when Webster recounts the 2017 incident that left her dad with catastrophic brain injury after he was attacked in London.)

Through all the highs and lows, Webster has realized how unique it is to be part of the shoe industry.

“You're a bit of an outsider and you can do your own thing — and stay in your own lane. I think we've done well to cultivate customers who have a real affinity for the brand, and who are loyal. It's super important to have that kind of following. I've seen so many brands come and go.” — KATIE ABEL