Glass plays only a supporting role in the Cinderella shoe by Christian Louboutin, which will be released in October 2012. photo © 2012 Disney. All Rights Reserved.
When the Walt Disney Company approached the footwear impresario Christian Louboutin to create a wearable glass slipper to commemorate the “Diamond release” of the 1950 classic Cinderella, one may have expected a miracle of glass design, complete with the designer’s signature ruby red sole. The resulting product released in July, while beautiful, is comprised mostly of lace rather than glass, though it is adorned with Swarovksi crystals. Only the unrelenting red sole matched the expectations set so outlandishly high by Louboutin in the past two decades of brilliant shoe design. Seeking to quench our unfulfilled desire to see more glass-ified footwear, the GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet hunted down a shoe designer who may be something less of a celebrity but remains every bit an artist. His name is Pasquale Fabrizio, creator of Q by PasQuale — the world’s only wearable glass shoe collection.
Sporting a glass-entwined spike heel, and a mysterious glass sole, Pasquale Fabrizio’s Q are part of the PasQuale Limited Collection; the footwear models pictured are “Argento” and “Vesuvius.” photo courtesy: thelosangelesfashion.com
Manufactured by hand in Italy using Murano glass, each of the five shoes in the collection features a sole comprised of a, “glass substance” and described as, “more durable, flexible, and transparent than ordinary glass.” Vogue.com also claims the shoe is bulletproof. “Glass substance” is a vague description, but we are still not privy to Coca-Cola’s “ingredient X” and that has never stopped consumers. Fabriozio’s family has been in the business of handcrafting shoes for 50 years and it took him 10-percent of that time (5 years for the arithmetically challenged) to research and create the glass substance suitable for footwear architecture. Only 500 pairs were made upon the shoe’s debut, and at present the Q website alerts that the shoe is sold out online, but “more are coming.” Perhaps our West Coast readers will have better luck at the brand’s flagship store in Los Angeles.
Pasquale Fabrizio’s Q by PasQuale Limited Collection; “Cleo” and “Ruby.” photo courtesy: thelosangelesfashion.com
The shoes in the collection all feature a spiked heel bedecked with a glass coil slinking up to the high rise sole. Many are inlaid with 24-karat gold and embellished with hand crafted Murano glass beads on Italian leather straps. If you are lucky enough, or Christina Aguilera enough, to purchase a pair it would come to you in a solid glass box with a certificate of authenticity. Why leave your handcrafted glass art on a table or a shelf when you can wear it to brunch? Known affectionately as the “cobbler to the stars” Fabrizio has created something more than a mere gimmick – he has created a whole new level of Glasswear.
—Katharine Morales