Designer Anyi Lu makes fashion shoes workable

By Elizabeth Ridgeway, Special to the Town Crier

Hungry for high heels that don’t hurt? On Thursday, Main Street boutique Crimson Mim previewed the spring collection of shoe designer Anyi Lu, which featured a series of heels and flats that specialize in bringing comfort to high fashion.

“My shoes target career women ages 25 to 45. They want beautiful, stylish fashion shoes, but they need a good fit that they can wear to work,” Lu said. Lu learned the importance of shoes as a professional ballroom dancer, and her line is inspired by the practical design elements that improve high heels made for dancers.

“As a dancer, you work with certain heel heights. As a rule of thumb, if shoes are higher than 3.5 inches, you can sit down - you certainly can’t walk,” Lu said. “I stand up and walk and work in these shoes.”

Anyi shoes are crafted in Italian Nappa leather and features sacchetto stitching. This flexible construction allows even a high-heeled shoe to mold and bend with the foot as it moves. With a wide, deep toe box and an unusual emphasis on arch support, each shoe feels like an airy caress.

When she couldn’t find comfortable, danceable fashion shoes, Lu realized she had found a market niche for herself.

Lu left a career in chemical engineering to take classes at the San Francisco Academy of Art. A job with Los Angeles shoe designer Taryn Rose led to the next big step: launching Anyi Lu shoes.

“You want to know the truth? If I had ever known that it would be this much work, this hard and this costly, I would have had second thoughts. It’s challenging,” Lu said. “But I love getting to be the first person to wear my own shoes. It’s certainly an advantage for me, as a woman, to design for women. I know what’s comfortable, what fits with an outfit.”

Her lyrical, playful collection emphasizes a retro look. With names like Jive, Samba and Flash, the shoes look like a swing dancer’s dream, with buttery leather and the Louis heels and T-straps of the retro era.

The sneak peek at the new spring line, not yet available in stores, revealed a series inspired by the South Pacific Islands. Lu grew up in Taiwan, and her collection features big ornaments and bold stitching that remind her of springtime and her childhood. The wide straps and buckles complement Lu’s function-inspired design: “Most straps are so thin they cut into the skin of the ankles,” Lu said.

One of the first locations to carry Anyi Lu, Crimson Mim pairs shoes, accessories and tops. “Ultimately shoes have to be sold with clothes. Women, career women especially, pick the outfit first and then find shoes to go with it,” Lu said.

“My guiding principle at this store has always been, if Audrey Hepburn were alive, would she wear it?” Crimson Mim’s owner Christine Campbell said. She held up Lu’s “Jive” shoe from the autumn collection, a black and white heel with a playful oxford look. “I think that she would love this shoe.”

For more information, visit www.anyilu.com and www.crimsonmim.com.