"It's a very simplistic collection, more focused on comfort and elegance. Nowadays shoes that don't have comfort are unusual because women increasingly want greater comfort because of the trend of sneakers", he told the agency Lusa in the British capital.
The collection shown in London was essentially made up of low or half-heel leather sandals, in colors such as blue, green or pink with a metallic finish.
Sarah Maier's new spring-summer 2024 collection also includes, for the first time, a line of sneakers and women's bags.
The fashion show was held as part of Emerge SS24, an event promoted by the Oxford Fashion Studio platform in parallel to the official calendar of London Fashion Week, which started on Friday and runs until Tuesday.
Portuguese Nuno Abelho will also participate in Emerge SS24, in which 26 designers from 14 countries will be presented, such as Latvia, Panama, India, Kuwait, Mexico, Australia or the USA.
Born and raised in Angola, in 2019 the businesswoman, currently based in Lisbon, decided to follow an old passion for shoes, despite having studied linguistics in South Africa.
“I've always had a knack for drawing since I was little and my world is shoes. Life takes many, many turns and I followed a dream of moving into the world of fashion, in the area of my shoes,” she told Lusa.
The brand was developed during the covid-19 pandemic and officially launched in 2022, with sales only online.
Initially, production was made in Portugal, but currently she only works with Italian artisans who she met through contacts she made at a fair in Milan.
"The first production I did was in Portugal, it wasn't as large as I would have liked and there were a lot of difficulties in terms of raw materials because almost everything was imported from Italy", explained Madaleno.
Production in Italy “makes all the difference” and opens more doors, he added, despite recognizing “great quality” in the Portuguese footwear industry.
“Being here is an opening and an evolution because unfortunately we have a market that is very closed and my objective is to expand. I have to take other paths”, he stressed.
The Sarah Maier brand's first collection stood out for its models with nine-centimeter high heels styled in the shape of a triangle, a reference to the brand's logo, and the use of Swarovski crystals.
“I'm more of that style, but we're not going to stop here, because a large part of this collection hasn't been presented yet. We're going to continue using crystals and other materials that are still surprising”, she anticipated.
As for the heel, "which is the face of the brand, it comes in a more moderate, more modern and more attractive version”.
