Cecilie Bahnsen x Charles Keith: back to school never…

Cecilie Bahnsen x Charles Keith: back to school never looked so good

Danish designer Cecilie Bahnsen is a rising star on the fashion scene.

Her voluminous, romantic dress silhouettes have become a firm favourite for the way they marry ethereal prettiness with loose-fit insouciant silhouettes that look best paired with clompy boots and chunky sandals.

And when it comes to the topic of what to pair them with, Bahnsen has given us a few options. The LVMH prizewinner made her first foray into footwear last year with a range of floral-embellished neoprene sandals she designed with Japanese brand Suicioke. The dorky-meets-glam sandals quickly became bestsellers, seen on the feet of every fashion girl worth her salt last summer.

Now, the Copenhagen-based designer is back with another footwear collab that’s got you covered for when the weather cools.

Partnering with Singaporean shoe brand Charles & Keith, Bahnsen has created a capsule of four shoe styles: three Mary Jane designs and a distinctive mule. The shoes come in patterns and colours seen at the brand’s autumn/ winter 2019 show, where black and white was broken with flashes of lemon yellow.

The collection takes inspiration from school uniforms, a theme that’s always interested Bahnsen, whose first runway collection, for AW17, was inspired by black and white Italian Catholic schoolboy uniforms from the late 19th and early 20th century.

“I’ve always been fascinated by school uniforms. I think that explains why I loved the Mary Jane shoe. It's a traditional school-girlish shoe, but it also has that quality of a masculine-feminine contrast that I'm always looking for. Historically, the Mary Jane was not just a shoe for girls. Right into the 20th century little boys wore them too,” says Bahnsen.

For her, the partnership with Charles & Keith felt like a natural one. “I think the brands have a strong connection, as both started with the idea that there is power and strength in femininity. It is about design made for women to feel comfortable, strong and independent.”

The collection has sustainability at its core; the shoes are made from recycled satin and the dust bags are stitched from leftover cuts of fabrics from previous seasons. One of the shoes is made from a black and yellow patchwork material created from leftover fabrics from older collections – “it allowed us to give the fabric and the designs a new life,” says Bahnsen.

The Mary Janes are simple, elegant and easy to wear. They’d look great with jeans and a blazer, but particularly good with dresses. Bahnsen’s own preferred way to wear them? “I always love to style shoes with a pair of socks and a voluminous dress.”

And you know who makes a great one of those…

The collection is available on Ceciliebahnsen.com and charleskeith.co.uk now. Prices start at £220.