Style -- 4 days ago
O’Keeffe: The Shoes That EVERY Gentleman Should Know About
Words: Holly Macnaghten
Every now and again a brand comes along and takes the fashion industry by storm. O’Keeffe is one of those brands. Much like the mantra that we have here at The Gentleman’s Journal and how we like to live, O’Keeffe is about style over fashion – “O’Keeffe does not focus on trends, we focus on the longevity of the construction and the understated design”
Never heard of the brand before? Don’t worry, nor have a lot of people – this is the kind of footwear brand for those who know. Having adorned the feet of style icons, leading fashion editors from London to New York and some of the world’s most famous actors of today, this understated designer footwear is the best kept secret in the industry – but not for long.
O’Keeffe is not about Maud O’Keeffe, it is not about a woman making men’s shoes. In her own words, Maud tells us that it is in fact about, “a small team of people who work very closely on the brand together. We are nothing without each other’s talents and I rely completely on the O’Keeffe team”.
Her first foray into the world of design was at The Observer, in the production and design department. From here, she went on to marketing & sales with Jean Paul Gaultier, McQueen and Helmut Lang and not (as many an article elsewhere might tell you) doing shoe design!
Men’s shoes had always been a passion of Maud’s due to, she says, “the construction, the pattern cutting, the weight and the quality that can be achieved”. Every member of the O’Keeffe team plays an important part in the brand – all “with an equal voice”. Well, gentlemen, if this doesn’t sound like the kind of brand you wish to be pounding the pavements in, we don’t know what will. Perhaps the fact that each tongue is inscribed with a curious crest in Latin might just be the deciding factor you need, combining the two tongues it translates as the O’Keeffe motto “Forti et Fideli Nihil Difficile”, the left one reading “To the brave and faithful”, and the right “Nothing is Difficult”.
Fusing luxurious Italian craftsmanship with Irish heritage, every pair of these handsome shoes should take the fancy of the well heeled gentlemen of today. We asked the woman behind the brand a little more about O’Keeffe…
WHERE DO YOU LOOK FOR INSPIRATION?, “Generally to the past, I love 1920s to 1950s but we take elements of those and update them. Our philosophy is to have new techniques that are made by an experienced and dedicated small team of shoemakers. For example, we have a patent pending Goodyear construction made by our technical director Andrea Gismondi, that makes the shoes more comfortable. Then we have 2 artisanal polishers who spend 3 hours polishing each shoe so in some ways we hark to the past when making the shoes but also to the future with technical constructions.”
WHO IS THE O’KEEFFE MAN?, “The men that buy our shoes are quite varied. From all walks, ages, professions – we are grateful to them all and quite often humbled by interactions with them via email. We have one gentleman that has bought 25 pairs since we started!”
WHAT SETS O’KEEFFE APART FROM OTHER LUXURY BRANDS?, “We are a luxury brand who make shoes in small batches, we use the best hand crafted techniques and leathers but we just walk our own road, quietly. I just think that we are different as we do not seek global domination or fast money, we will take our time like a good Irish Malt.”
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