There are a few Middle Eastern designers who have broken through into the international fashion industry over the years. Lebanon’s Elie Saab and Zuhair Murad, for example, or the UAE’s DAS Collection by Emirati designers Reem and Hind Beljafla have made their mark on the international stage but to date, there’s only been one shoe designer to credit this region as home. Enter Camilla Skovgaard.
True, she’s not exactly Middle Eastern by birth - born in Denmark, Skovgaard relocated to Dubai when she was 20 years old to design, as she puts it, for ‘the region’s royal wives and daughters’ - she is helping to put the region on the map thanks to her trademark zig-zag soles, which are now popping up all over the world.
Skovgaard introduced what is officially known as the ‘saw sole’ (the term ‘zig-zag’ being associated with Reebok’s ZigTech line) in her Spring/Summer 09 collection, which included a sandal with a diminutive dragon’s tooth/circular, saw patterned sole.
It proved such a hit that Skovgaard decided to blow up the pattern to a larger size. After developing new moulds for the shape, she quickly patented the idea, realising that she was onto something new.
“I actually tried to steer away from the saw soles at first but then buyers kept on asking them for them so now we include them in every collection,” she says with a laugh. “It took some experimentation to get the rubber density right. If it was too dense, it would be too heavy and rigid, if too soft, the teeth would sink and you’d feel like you were walking on jelly.”
“I don’t feel the sole limits my designs because I know it works,” she continues, after I ask her what it feels like to be so closely associated with a design. “You keep putting them on because they’re comfortable for the feet, the more solid ground contact and light cushioning effect of the rubber and air gaps are extremely comfortable.”
The comfort, paired with her eccentric design ethos has meant Skovgaard’s struck a cord with women everywhere. “Our best seller is our signature saw sole angle wedge boot,” she explains. “They’re great because you really can go from day to evening with them. I like the fact that they’re noiseless too. The rubber sole means you won’t hear a loud click-click when you walk.”
The striking blonde designer now has an impressive portfolio of points of sale - 176 prestigious locations in 33 countries including Saks Fifth Avenue, Harvey Nichols, Symphony Dubai, Joyce Hong Kong and Net-a-Porter.com. This is a feat that no other shoe designer from the region has (yet) pulled off.
“Why are there so few shoe designers from this region? Easy. There’s no access to training. You need to be in Europe for that,” the now 40-year-old graduate of London’s Cordwainers and Royal College of Art explains. So while Skovgaard’s shoes are all manufactured in Italy, she says she still feels she represents the region, where she truly feels at home.
“I like the peace I feel in Dubai. My past is here. I came 20 years ago. In many ways, Dubai is my home and point of return. It's where I've had all my 'firsts’, my first real job, first car, first house, first love, first dog.”
As a regional pioneer, Skovgaard is keen to encourage other young designers cropping up. “For anyone wanting to follow in my footsteps, I’d say take the training. It’s a real joy to learn the craft of shoe making. It also makes it easier to counter inflexible factory managers who may say something is not possible when it is, because you’ve done it yourself.”
Camilla also delved into unexplored territory by working on a contentious film project, Hotel Skovgaard/Hotel 77 together with Emirati director Ali F Mostafa last summer. The edgy four-minute film teeters on the edge of controversy by featuring topless men in chains as subjects alongside her A/W12 collection and a tattooed Camilla herself. “It’s a film project I initiated part out of curiosity and a wish to better help communicate a more accurate side of the Camilla Skovgaard (CS) brand and influence how it is perceived to the media and the consumer,” she explains. “I have changed as a person and a designer over the last couple of years or so and it is important to portray a darker side which falls more naturally to me and has moulded what CS is today.”
“I like to think my shoes are really design-focused, with a stark, dark edge to them so I’d love to translate my focus into more furniture design in the future,” she says, as our meeting draws to a close. “Everything changes so constantly in this industry, it’s hard to predict what’s next.”
Showing no signs of slowing down, Skovgaard’s e-commerce site launched in June and she’s on the hunt for larger office space with her team. Meanwhile, her recent brief foray into film, as well as furniture design (all the pieces in her apartment are of her own designs and made by a carpenter in Al Quoz), suggest that shoes may not be Skovgaard’s only interest.
