Cece L'amour Shoes, Finally in Stores!!

It feels like it's been forever but I'm happy to announce that my first collection for Cece L'amour will be available at the end of this month!! YAY! The first few places to carry them will be Heels.com, Zappos.com and Amazon.com (so honored to have your support!!!)

Here are the styles that you'll be able to purchase...

♥♥(Katie)♥♥

(Christie)

(Heidi)

(Tanisha)

(Juls)

♥♥(Leah)♥♥

It's so awesome that the shoe names that made the cut are some of my favorite people in the whole world. My 3 very best friends, Katie (my sister) Christie and Leah are up there and that makes me so happy! Heidi was one of my bridesmaids and someone that people would often mistake for my twin. Tanisha worked with me at Titan for forever and was always so supportive. She's someone I can always talk to about anything. And Juls is one of my favorite friends to go out with! We always have an amazing time and I can ALWAYS count on her to cut the bullshit and be real with me.

So now you know the personalities behind the shoes. I hope you like them and will help spread the word :) I'd love to be able to continue making fun, girly shoes for you forever and ever and I hope to get better and better at making shoes people like.

THANK YOU to everyone reading this for your continued support. I feel so lucky to have so many awesome friends... I truly consider my readers to be my friends.



Big ol' XOX,

New Year, New Blog?

Well no, not quite. But new me for sure! I haven't blogged in so long it feels so weird to be sitting here on my new couch in my new apartment... blogging. I miss you guys. I miss blogging.


Let's play catch up in case you're new here or it's been a while.


My life has changed in the following ways:
* I am now a 30 year old divorcee. Shitty.
* I moved out of my home (for obvious reasons) and am now renting an apartment a town over
* I lost about 10 lbs (yay) from stress and depression (boo) but am now getting into a happy place which means it's on it's way back on my body (BIG boo, but yay for being happy)
* I made my TV debut a few weeks back on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
* I am learning the joy of buying less expensive shoes. Less $ = more shoes! DUH!

My old shoe set up was pretty cool...

Packing my shoes wasn't as fun.

Ok, so.... Let's start fresh with a little about me.

Hi! I'm Celine Ouaknine. I grew up in Huntington Beach, California. I like to joke that I was born in high heels, and although that's obviously not true, I was born with the love of shoes in my blood.

My father (right), a former professional soccer player, came to the US from Morocco in the 70's. He started off as a shoe salesmen and had a natural talent for it. He worked his way up and eventually co-founded a company called French Follies. They made cute little espadrilles and ballet inspired shoes. From there he went on to Guess and Charles David footwear, where he eventually became President of the company and brought it to its height of popularity in the late 80's.

I was so lucky to grow up around shoes. I was the only girl in the 8th grade wearing the kick ass ankle boots Guess was famous for... and remember those Guess jellies?? Yep. I had those too. And at a whopping hundred bucks a pair, let's just say I made a lot of new friends when I came to school in those! That's the first time I felt the power of a hot shoe.

In the 90's, my dad left Charles David/Guess Footwear to pursue a new venture... Bebe Footwear! It was his first shoe license, and it was super successful. Soon after he started his own line with his namesake, Joey O. Since then his company has held the exclusive licenses for L.A.M.B. Footwear, Harajuku Lovers footwear, Charles Jourdan footwear, Laundry by Shelly Segal footwear, Antik Denim footwear, Playboy footwear, Zinc foowear, Hale Bob footwear, Badgley Mischka footwear, Mark and James by B.M. footwear, Betsey Johnson footwear, Betseyville footwear, Jill Stuart footwear, JLO Footwear, True Religion Footwear, Joe's Jeans Footwear, and Adrienne Maloof footwear. Awesome, right!? :) did I type "footwear" enough?

So... like I said, shoes are in my blood! I realized this at an early age, when I would go into my mom's closet and pull out her shoes and clear off my book shelves, fill them with shoes, and put a sign up that said "Shoe Show". I didn't really know what it meant, other than that was where my dad was always flying off to. Shoe shows. I wanted to be a part of it!
I went to design school in Milan, Italy when I was 20. My professors at Ars Sutoria taught me all about making shoes, including sketching, pattern making, leather tanning, and lots of technical shoe stuff. It was intense.

From shoe school to designer! After graduating from my shoe program I went back home and started working as the assistant to the designer of my dad's company, Titan Industries. At the time, we were only making bebe and Joey O Footwear, and were about to go after our second license, JLO Footwear. I was a part of that project and I loved it! It was so exciting putting what I had learned to use. I was off to China and working my butt off. I was the assistant to our head designer for a little over a year when I got offered the job of taking over as the designer for Playboy. It wasn't anything I had ever thought I would do, but it was a chance to be my own designer! No more assisting!!! I took it! Then, a few months after accepting the position as designer for Playboy, I was offered another line; Zinc footwear! I took it!!! I loved working with Zinc. The clothing was cute and the shoes were much more "my style". 

Later still, I was given the job as designer of JLO footwear.

I launched the debut collection (and every collection thereafter) for Harajuku Lovers in August 2008, and in May of 2009 I took over as designer of Betsey Johnson footwear until Steve Madden bought out 

the company in October of 2010.

Currently I'm designing for Bebe footwear, Adrienne Maloof Footwear, and just launched my own line, Cece L'amour, which I am very excited about.

I love my job! I get to work with shoes every day. It's my job to look at shoes in magazines, online, in stores, and on the streets. It's a dream job honestly, and I feel lucky every day. My obsession is my job... So cool!

Betsey Johnson and I backstage before her runway show <3

Gwen Stefani and I after a L.A.M.B. runway show <3

Mark Badgley, James Mischka and I at a Nordstom personal appearance. Two of the NICEST guys you'll ever meet <3

So thats me, more or less.

My new shoe set up? Well OK since you asked... Here's a sneak peak but I'll be doing a full post on my new apartment soon.

:)

So stay tuned. 2012 is going to be a good year... Thank you all for your continued kind words and support. It really means so much.

LOVE and kisses,

Nicholas Kirkwood x Keith Haring

On my last trip to Hong Kong I was so super excited to see these amazing one of a kind shoes on display. They were at Lane Crawford in Kowloon and I can't believe how lucky I was with my timing. 

At first I thought maybe they were for sale and I frantically ran down a sales person and asked to try on anything they had left in my size. No luck though... these were all made as one-offs and are now part of a traveling exhibit. They started off in Kirkwoods flagship London boutique and now travel to the world's most prestigious boutiques.

Nicholas Kirkwood for Keith Haring. 

  via Nowness.com.

The following photos are from my iphone

Aren't they incredible!? The roller skates are so much fun!



XOX,

My Shoe Life

I know I know... I'm neglecting the blog again! I have several excuses, none of which you care about I'm sure, including the fact that I leant my camera out and have yet to get it back, several months later... but I am partially to blame since I was moving and couldn't use it anyway. Another excuse is that work has been insane and I had to kind of make up for my last couple collections. You see, getting a divorce and completely changing you life has this way of totally effing up your creative work I guess.

Anyhoo... I'm off to China again (AGAIN!!) but before I go, here's a little recap of my last few weeks in shoes...


I had to get the spiked Litas of course...

I love these. Classic Vivienne Westwood.

Love love LOVE these Etro shoes. Just the right amount of tribal.

Every girl needs a great pair of nude pumps. These are by Alejandro Ingelmo.

Off to a bebe meeting with my dad <3

A boot I designed for bebe. Turquoise satin, white "snake" embossed leather. Big badass metal chains.

These Giuseppe Zanotti wedges are so dreamy...

My new favorite Cece L'amour shoes. MEOW!

Some more Cece shoes...

Glittery pink perch heels!

As amazing as these look I'm sending them back. They are a fitting nightmare! :( They're huge in the back and too tight in the front. My little pinky toe is about to pop out!
They look cool though! (Jeffrey Campbell)

XOXO,

My TV Debut on RHOBH!

Did you guys watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills last night!?
I'll be totally honest, I've been waiting all season to see if I made the cut and I'm super excited that I did! Even if it was for mere moments and I barely said a word.

We filmed a total of 4 times and it was cut down to these few shots, but I got my name up there which was beyond cool!

I'm glad there were shots of the runway show and party at Adrienne's house where I wore my Miu Miu dress that I am OBSESSED with. (Perfect LBD!)

My mom is there taking a sip of champagne 4 people to the right of me on the screen up there. Hi mom! Your cleavage looks great! hahaha

It's funny that I was sitting next to Brandi and didn't know who she was yet since the season hadn't aired. She was really sweet and friendly and if you watch the show you'll see me laughing hysterically at something she said.

I'm so stoked to have been a part of this process. Adrienne is amazing and easily my favorite housewife! They didn't really show the shoes we made for her, which was weird and kind of a bummer, but here's a quick shot...

As for Lisa and her "Vander Pumps"... stick to Giggy and maybe a line of doggy clothes. Adrienne's got the shoe thing covered. ;)


I hope you enjoyed my TV debut, and possibly also my TV retirement. I don't know how these ladies do it week after week. I truly have a new respect for them. I was nervous and sweaty and over analyzed every shot and hated my hair and thought I made funny faces and on and on... it's all too much! Kudos to you girls that do it on the reg.



XOXO,

 

Real Housewives Tonight!!!

Hello from New York! I am, as I type, watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills... getting hot flashes.
Make sure you tune in because you'll see yours truly in my TV debut. ;)Don't blink or you'll miss me!




 XOXO,

Stop. China Time!

It's that time again. Time to go to China and make some shoes!!

If you aren't already, follow my Tumblr and/or Instagram to see my updates from Chinaland. Blogger is still blocked (LAME!) so those are my only ways of communicating with the outside world ;)

I'd like to do another behind the scenes so if you guys have any more questions- please ask away in the comments section! I'll get email notifications still ;)


Love you guys!!



XOX,

Bebe Glitter Wedge!

It's FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys have asked and asked and I promised I'd keep you updated. :) Bebe online now has the Ophelia glitter wedge in stock online.

Hurry! ;)

I love mine....

XOX,

Bloggers as Shoe Designers

London based shoe company Six, makers of shoes for Opening Ceremony bSTORE and Ksubi, recently teamed up with 6 of their favorite bloggers for a project called SIXby6bloggers. They asked said bloggers to design their dream shoe that would go into very limited production (20 pair each). Here's who they picked and what they dreamed up...

StyleBubble

FaceHunter

 Caroline's Mode

The Cherry Blossom Girl

Style Salvage

The Man Repeller

And the launch party in Paris...

What do you think? Although I would never wear them, I have to give Susie Bubble credit for her design. They are totally her and totally unique!
  The Cherry Blossom Girl's shoe is also very her. Pretty and feminine and something I could see on a commercial level.
  Caroline's shoe is obviously her nod to the uber coveted Chloe studded ankle boot from 2008. They still go for thousands on ebay! Her original sketch had the buckles on them, so I'm glad she decided against a direct knockoff for a project like this.
  I like the Man Repeller's booties. Simple, clean with some fun studs to make them edgier.
If you're interested in purchasing any of these shoes you can find them exclusively on SixLondon and Farfetch.com

It's so interesting to see non shoe designers designing shoes. I admit that I like hearing them say things like "It's not as easy as it looks." And that's just one shoe! Imagine a whole collection or two. ;)

I am currently stressing over the design process myself. I have a fast approaching deadline for both my Bebe and Cece L'amour collections and living at my parents house is less than inspiring, let me tell you.
Luckily I'm moving NEXT WEEK (!!!!) and am so excited! I can't wait to get back to outfit posts and to be in my own space again. Hope you're all having a nice weekend.



XOX,