Malone Souliers shoes stand for sheer luxury

The creative tentacles of an individual often get rolling on doing something that simply involves his or her diehard passion for it whilst still accepting challenges — let’s say someone who never backs down. It sounds a bit eerie to even envisage that prospect, however this is the face of raw reality we live under today. In fact, this is how big luxury brands in fashion are born by making sure day and night that they aren’t out of the picture for a split second and their patrons are always happy giving them what they really are look for.
On the road to becoming one such prime name to be reckoned with in fashion industry is the new found luxury shoe brand “Malone Souliers” by Mary Alice Malone, co-founder and its creative director and Roy Luwolt, her influential business partner as well as managing director of the company.
Together they have changed the spectrum of what kind of shoes an elite group of women would love to match and wear with their dresses if given the choice.
I am sure by now you all must be curious to know more about this great brand that seems to be turning the tables. With this in mind, I sit down with them to find out what led to the birth of it and how well the overall journey has turned out to be.
Initially, the sport that the Pennsylvanian-born Mary Alice played like a truly reigning champion was horse riding. She was so good at it that she got selected to participate in the Junior Olympic Equestrian Team at a young age. While it had nothing in common with what she was about to get into in her later life, the one thing she routinely loved doing was the act of creating something elegant. “I’ve always loved the tactile notion of creation and from the tradecraft of furniture making I was part of, I found the craftsmanship of cordwaining— two disciplines that oddly but naturally converge,” she says.
Having discovered what she really wanted to do, she went on to study the inimitable Cordwainers Course at London College of Fashion. As Mary Alice did with all her heart, she learnt quite vital lessons over there.
“Interestingly, it taught me as an artist how to color outside the lines. As a student you’re taught the academic rules; the do’s and don’ts, and deep down I believed our professors wanted to somehow equip us to know how best to do things so we can find out for ourselves how to do them the right way,” she says. “It was all about carving out your own path uninhibitedly. What more could be fulfilling in hindsight!”
In the league of high-end shoe brands battling it out, it’s no surprise that any new product entering the market must have an edge factor to survive and stand out effortlessly. And Malone Souliers surely does and makes no excuses about it. As Mary Alice explains, “Our brand was founded on the ethos of particularity; from meticulous development of shape, size and color to the upmost millimeter. A finished luxury good, generally speaking, insists on every detail, visible and invisible. Simply said, we are addicted to doing good things the hard way.”
While working on her designs, Mary Alice likes to navigate her way beyond the confines of inspiration in order to achieve the much anticipated outcome. “We love to design starting with the three dimensional creation of the shoe and then onto two dimensional concepts of that shape,” she says.
Picking colors for her collections is a crucial part of the brand identity on the whole. More or less, the color factor is the soul of her creations. “I did study as a colorist and for us at Malone Souliers it certainly informs the shapes, lines and silhouettes. So you might say it’s simply indispensable,” she says.
The other winning paradigm of Malone Souliers shoes is their comfort level which never gets short of being mentioned time after time. So it really is of huge importance for Mary Alice to capitalize on when she says happily, “We’re often told that our heels tend to be the most comfortable one might find around. This is the best testament to our insistence on architectural shoemaking practice, which, despite heels, demand comfort as a direct result of specificity. After all, luxury is anything but discomfort.”
That’s why some of Malone Souliers’ signature lines especially the likes of Savannah, Dawn, Maureen, Montana, Veronica and a handful more have remained on top, demonstrating a timeless consistency all the while. Seeing celebrities like Solange Knowles, Lupita Nyong’o, Jemima Kirke, Kim Kardashian and Blake Lively wear their brand makes Mary Alice and Roy feel proud of what they have accomplished. “We find it very humbling that they have so many attractive choices to choose from. With it comes another challenge that surely can’t be overlooked; they seem to perpetually demand more quickly than we can deliver. But we try our best to cater to their orders as and when possible,” the duo proclaims. “Overall, this gives us immense pleasure and that’s what we are here for. In the end, our goal is to make a place in the hearts of lots of really beautiful celebrities.”
The popularity of Malone Souliers as a luxury shoe brand today also owes to the amazing team that makes it up and understands its goals. “The secret behind our brand gaining so much attention is solely linked to the excellent skills of our craftsmen who are diligent, tenacious veterans and for some reason choose to stay and work with us. Besides, me and Roy constantly tussle over the issue of who is responsible for the success of the brand; he would say it’s me and I would say it’s him,” Mary Alice laughs.
It’s never easy to launch new merchandise internationally. Anything unexpected might happen. Nerves quickly trickle in while making sure everything goes as planned. Even Mary Alice felt the same way. “Yes I was entirely insecure about how things will pan out. In fact I still am, however coupled with my partner Roy Luwolt we had afforded ourselves a couple of years of preparation both in design and business prior to launching the firm. As a result from day one, we had vowed to learn from our mistakes and in fact corrected them, an attentive practice we ardently continue to date,” she says.
There is always an element of inspiration in every person’s life that he or she attributes for their overwhelming success. For Mary Alice, there have been a handful of women who seem to have played a key role in the making of her career as it has — her mother, Mary Alice Malone Sr., her intimate hero, Denize Morrison, CEO of Campbell’s Soup, her personal mentor, Ruth Chapman, her most womanly idol. “Besides, there’s the other non-woman I spend most of my frightful adventure/life with, my business partner, Roy Luwolt and it’s full of twists and turns,” she says. “I just adore them.”
Facing constructive criticism from their families regarding the work they do has only brought betterment in them. “It’s not that they don’t love or support us. They do but constantly demand our best,” Mary Alice says adding that fashion is merely regarded as a wild entity in their society.
She chose London over New York, Paris or Milan to settle down and launch her brand for good reasons. “There are two critical aspects to our establishment in London. The first being the locational advantages of international supply chain and trade, and the second; every bit as important is the culture of exquisite craftsmanship, borne of the legacy men have long enjoyed thanks to the city’s high-end shopping paradise, Savile Row & Jermyn Street. For the first time ever, we aim to convert that to the benefit of women,” she says.
More so, her partner is sure about everything to go well as they make progress. As a matter of fact, what he likes the most about Mary Alice is her purity as a designer unaffected by trends or commercial pressure. “This great quality is and will always be most important to us. Usually, that’s where the real action takes place,” he explains. “The rest automatically falls in place.”
As for her own style statement, Mary Alice delves into a world bound with limitless possibilities yet standing still to do what she dreams of. “I just cherish the freedom of laziness; I love to be happy therefore I’m comfortable in whatever I wear, be it formal, casual, experimental or ridiculous. Altogether it’s mine.”
And the bohemian spirit of Mary Alice as it comes alive when she is on holiday is what makes her designed shoes so captivating. “We don’t get to take many holidays having the appetite we do, but fantasies say Cuba, Cabo and Columbia,” she quips.
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