These shoes are beautiful- from the rich the caramel color to the fact that they are somewhat of a blend between rugged Red Wing boots and wingtips.
Hopefully we'll find something for the store that is reminiscent of these gorgeous shoes!
And for those of you still unfamiliar with The Sartorialist, please check out his blog for wonderful photos of personal style from people all over the world. I think he's currently in London for Fashion Week!
Gavin and I decided that the time had come to manifest our ideas and respective passions into a more organized effort—a concept store.
New to the idea?
One of my first encounters with a “concept store” was a couple of summers ago in Rome, Italy. I was lost, wandering around one of the most expensive streets in the city (obviously lost), and stumbled into TAD(Tendenze e Antiche Debolezze. Upon entering the store, I was mesmerized. Besides the much welcomed breeze of cold air, I was shocked to discover that the store didn’t merely offer clothing—but also featured furniture, art, an in-house salon, a café, and hard to find perfumes/body products. The entire store was highly curated, comprised of both established and independent designers, but sharing the commonality of forward-thinking design. The notion of the “concept store” has blossomed, perhaps not to the degree of TAD, but much like Collette in Paris, or Opening Ceremony in New York and L.A., these stores are driven by an over-arching idea, a theme. Gone are the days of mindless consumerism. People today, many thanks to the economy, are demanding quality for their dollar. Not only does the product need to meet their new standard of excellence, but the entire experience of shopping in a store must match it as well. Below I've included some images of the TAD Rome and Milan stores.
TAD Milan
Entrance to TAD Roma
And thus, welcome to a Foreign Collective. Yes, we both live in Memphis, TN. We understand the pitfalls of our circumstance, but we have decided to move forward and provide you guys with an excellently curated online-concept-store (still following?)with items that come from both Memphis and various cities that we travel to. Our objective is to showcase items we are passionate about—may it be clothing, shoes, music, art, or even objects for the house. The point is, everything in the store is something we would personally wear or own. They are all either vintage pieces or have been very gently worn by their previous owner. Each item is exclusive to our store, because they’re not mass produced (at least not anymore!), so let’s shun conformity and embrace individuality. We have done the work for you, now reap the benefits.
The blog will be an open forum to present all of the things we are currently looking at (i.e. especially during the hours of 7-4 when I should be working…) or events in Memphis that we are personally recommending.
For the first 25 items purchased, Gavin is working on a special project that he is personally crafting by hand.
Stay tuned for the store launch. Hopefully it’ll be sometime next week.
And for now, I leave you with this beautifully haunting video of Tilda Swinton for Pringle of Scotland.
With several weeks pumped into this idea, the store should be up and running before you know it. We will elaborate more when the time is right but if you stay connected with us through the blog everything will be unveiled.
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