The Fairy Godfather of Glass Slippers
Pasquale Fabrizio can fix any shoe. Now he's tackling shoe design, with his Q by Pasquale line, which features soles made of Murano glass.
Repair a hole stabbed through a work boot? Widen soles for model-height dames? Alter a tall boot to hug the calf like a tailored suit? The genius of Pasquale Fabrizio’s shoe repair is its invisibility. Like a professional hit man’s crime scene clean-up, it’s undetectable in the meticulously finished product that he was there.
Fabrizio has seen all the dirty little secrets of footwear mechanics at his Pasquale Shoe Repair shop on San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles. Work orders range from erasing a rowdy-night hangover from scarlet-soled party heels to building custom shoes for films, where his team was responsible for boots worn by Angelina Jolie in Mr. Mrs. Smith and the boxing boots Will Smith wore in Ali.
With an encyclopedic knowledge of shoe construction, Fabrizio decided to produce his own line of shoes about six years ago. He researched new leather techniques and the manufacturers who make all the European designer brands in Italy. Then he found a letter opener with a glass handle. “I loved the feel of it,” Fabrizio said. “From there it became my obsession, how to put glass to a shoe.”
After years of research and development with Italian factories, Fabrizio will release his shoes made of translucent Murano glass under the label Q by Pasquale. The evening heels—made with Murano glass soles, glass-wrapped heels and glass bead embellishment—will retail for around $7,500. A secondary line of shoes made from traditional materials (such as leather, fabric and wood) will retail for $600 to $700 and feature hints of glass detail to differentiate from the competition.
“A shoe like this has been done," Fabrizio said of his wooden platform wedge with glass beads floating in the heel, "but you include the glass, which makes it fun.”
A shoe from the forthcoming Q by Pasquale line featuring Murano glass details.
