Designing for a Cause and a Challenge
When pattern designer Marie Krizova was approached by the Western Shoe Association, based in Encino, Calif., to develop “glass” slippers to present at the organization’s first charity auction event, Krizova, a designer with little footwear experience, didn’t hesitate to accept the assignment.
As the principal of Los Angeles–based MKP Development, Krizova mainly does pattern designs for a host of companies. But armed with a studio packed with the latest technology, including a computer-aided design system from PAD System Technologies, Krizova had the tools and was up to the challenge.
“We like to borrow the Adidas slogan here in that impossible is nothing,” she said.
The slippers Krizova ended up building were actually the model used in a contest in which leading footwear designers such as Bettye Muller, Taryn Rose and Beverly Feldman decorated them.
The finished works were displayed during the WSA’s Glass Slipper Awards party and were part of a Feb. 3 silent auction in Las Vegas to raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. The WSA organizes biannual shoe shows in Las Vegas. The OCRF charity event was run in conjunction with The Collections at WSA, the show’s designer section.
As described by Krizova, the glass slippers were actually a sort of stuffed shoe. “We just used muslin and polyester. I wanted to do a regular pattern similar to a jacket or something to make it as easy as possible for our sewing team,” she said.
Krizova did the first mock-ups with paper and eventually incorporated CAD to build size-eight prototypes. The assignment was to produce 100 prototypes, and the turnaround time was quick.
“It was a challenge, but we tried to use the principles of creation, the same that would be used in building a house or Web site.”
MKP donated all of the company’s development time to the cause. As a graduate of the Art Institute/California Design College, Krizova was saddened to learn of a student who came down with ovarian cancer, which is the fourth-leading cause of cancer-related deaths among U.S. women.
Krizova said the WSA project exemplifies how important domestic development and production is to the apparel industry, because speed-to-market starts in the design studio.
For more information, visit www.mkpdevelopment.com. —Robert McAllister
