The Woman Behind All Your Favorite Shoes
By Wim Langedijk for HURS
The Woman Behind All Your Favorite Shoes
HUR Reads is our definitive shortlist of the most prominent articles from around the web.
By HURS Team
1
Those Ugly Shoes? She’ll Make You Love Them.
In 2018, Nina Christen sparked a footwear revolution with the clunky, square-toed shoes that defined Daniel Lee’s debut at Bottega Veneta. After years designing for luxury brands like Celine and Loewe, she launched her own eponymous brand last year, with a Paris boutique now in the works. Her work transcends fashion trends, drawing from scientific precision and architectural form to challenge traditional footwear. Her latest hit? A shearling-lined “grandpa” slip-on bootie that’s already gained cult status.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye is closing her beauty brand Ami Colé this September after nearly four years. The brand, rooted in her Harlem upbringing and inspired by her Senegalese mother’s salon, focused on products for Black and brown skin tones. Despite early success, including accolades and a partnership with Sephora, Ami Colé struggled with operational challenges and the pressures of scaling quickly. N’Diaye-Mbaye reflects on the complexities of growing a purpose-driven, inclusive brand in a fast-paced industry and the toll it has taken. She emphasizes that while the brand is closing, her commitment to representation and diversity in beauty remains strong.
THE CUT
Has pretty privilege dropped its mask? Neon Coat, an invitation-only app, turns attractiveness into currency, providing models and influencers in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and London free meals, workouts, and beauty services in exchange for social-media posts. While ordinary customers fight for reservations, the app powers a parallel economy where visibility and looks replace money. Businesses call it marketing; critics see a deepening social divide. As pretty privilege goes mainstream, it raises a stark question: what happens when beauty becomes currency?
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The Musée Carnavalet’s newest exhibit Agnès Varda’s Paris, From Here to There offers an intimate look at the French director’s artistic journey, rooted in her early photography and extending through her filmmaking. Showcasing self-portraits, rare sketches, and archival footage, the exhibit reveals how Varda fused life and art with a unique vision. It highlights her pioneering concept of “cinécriture” and commitment to transforming the mundane into film. Running until August 24th, the exhibit sheds light on a visionary whose influence reshaped modern cinema and carved a place for women behind the camera.
THE NEW YORKER
In an intimate interview with The Paris Review, American poet Fanny Howe explores the complex ties between faith, family legacy, and creative struggle that define her work. From her Catholic conversion to the challenges of lineage and motherhood, Howe reveals the raw forces behind her constant reinvention of language and form. Chloe Garcia Roberts leads an unfiltered conversation with a poet deeply engaged in her craft.