Studio Nicholson Puts a Deer Coat on the Paraboot Michael
The Instagram account of fashion designer Nick Wakeman is largely a mood board of timeless fashions worn by people of note.
Moments immortalised on her feed include Denzel Washington departing LAX looking fly in a white tee, blue jeans and all the accessories in 1993; Jeremy Irons clad in a crisp white shirt and tie for a Donna Karan Eyewear campaign in 2001; and Bruce Willis rocking a very good corduroy blazer over a black knit in year unknown.
There are also lots and lots of shots of a young Keanu Reeves.
Her fashion label, Studio Nicholson, is reflective of her apparent predilections: it sells fantastic garms of enduring forms.
And, occasionally, it partners with the traditional brands that produced the very gear pictured in the shots she likes to share.
For example, June saw the launch of Studio Nicholson x Paraboots – a collab that has grown by a foot (rather, two, since it's a pair) today.
With the colder months in mind the partnering parties have made it their common cause to deliver a refreshed version of the Paraboot Michael, the 79-year-old moc-toe derby which most would consider its quintessential offering.
And since Wakeman appreciates that the silhouette by the French make is already as perfect as can be, the blueprint remains the same.
So... what has been refreshed, exactly? Good question. The shoe has been crafted from grained deerskin, as opposed to suede or leather.
The supple fabric is of dark brown colour which, by no coincidence, complements the newest Studio Nicholson.
More importantly, they reckon it'll last.
“We never compromise on fabrication,” says Wakeman, “and I’d discovered this particular deerskin which is so special not only because it has this beautiful glossy grain but it is also super durable.”
“Applying it to the Michael derby made perfect sense in a mission to add that elevated, just-noticeable difference to such a versatile shoe”
Other just-noticeable differences include a change in laces (striped, like the hiking-inspired shoe styles that are currently ubiquitous in fashionable cities worldwide) and Studio Nicholson branding on the trademark Paraboot green tab that's positioned, as usual, on the Michael's sidewall.
Importantly, these subtle touches take nothing away from the time-honoured design that classic menswear heads, like Wakeman, have adored for decades.
The Studio Nicholson x Paraboot Michael is now available for £445 on the Studio Nicholson webstore and in Studio Nicholson's London brick-and-mortar.
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