Chelsea Girls

photo: Zoe Gertner

  For Fall 2012, we can anticipate Cole Haan's collaboration with Olivia Kim of Opening Ceremony and It Girl, Jen Brill as the brand's newest influencers. 

via NYT:T -  Cole Haan’s recent collaborations — with the musician Theophilus London on a pair of blue suede bucks and with the recording artist and designer Hiroshi Fujiwara on neon-accented wingtips — have offered men of style a new view of the venerable footwear brand. This fall, the company is giving its women’s line a similar treatment. For the first limited-edition women’s collaboration, Olivia Kim, Opening Ceremony’s vice president of creative, and her pal Jen Brill, a brand ambassador for Chanel and creative consultant, have created a collection of shoes that can be worn from day to night. “Being able to run around the city comfortably and still look cute is always a challenge,” Brill says. “That was the starting point of the design process.” Both women grew up wearing Cole Haan shoes, and for inspiration they turned to looks from the company’s archive, like a leather fisherman sandal from the mid-1990s and a 1970s clog. The twist? “We wanted to use colors that were different from what you may expect traditionally from Cole Haan,” Kim says of their collection’s three styles: a strappy sandal ($528), an ankle-strap pump ($528) and an ankle boot ($548), all rendered in jewel-toned Italian suede. “We personally love rich, saturated colors,” added Kim, whose hair is sometimes frosted pink. (Brill’s signature is red lips.) The Chelsea collection will be available Sept. 10 at the Cole Haan SoHo store (128 Prince Street; 212-219-8240). Kim and Brill, meanwhile, are hard at work on their holiday line; they say to expect metallic pastels and plenty of flash.