JASON WU

Using a vriety of beautiful patterned lace & fashionable motifs, celebrated fashion designer Jason Wu creates a range for Melissa that transforms classic Melissa styles into brand new designs inspired by the latest trends.

Jason Wu's designs are regularly seen on the red carpet & coveted by the world's best-dressed celebrities including Jessica Alba, Emma Stone & Michelle Williams.

RONALDO FRAGA

Ronaldo Fraga is considered Brazilian fashion’s “cult” designer. One of his trademarks is the dialogue he maintains between national culture and the contemporary world. His designs for melissa have embodied these qualities and offer a mix of colour, cheek and style to the new collection. Considered one of the most important names within Brazil’s fashion history, Ronaldo Fraga is this season’s hottest export and the latest melissa collaborator. A graduate of Parson ‘s School of Design in New York and Saint Martin’s School in London, Ronaldo Fraga launched his label in 1996 with the collection titled “I love chicken hearts” which announced his obscure and marvellous entry into the Fashion Industry.

Alongside working on his self-titled fashion brand, Ronaldo Fraga works on developing projects that aim to generate employment within the garment and design industries within Brazil. In 2007, he received commendation from the Brazilian cultural order, a prize which is awarded to citizens who proudly embody and support Brazilian culture. This award was handed to him by Minister of Culture ‘Gilberto Gil’, which Fraga claimed was truly a great honour. This was a also a significant event for the Fashion Industry as a whole, as it was the first time this award was granted to a designer and the first time the Brazilian Fashion Industry was identified as an instrument of cultural re-affirmation by the Federal Government.

Ronaldo Fraga’s collaboration with Melissa truly allows us to celebrate fashion at any stage of life. With his dream of combining culture and design, Ronaldo Fraga creates a playful and modern range of shoes that allows Mother, Daughter and Baby to live life in comfort and share a timeless passion that is passed on from generation to generation.

GARETH PUGH

English born Sir Gareth Pugh, has been a designer for over 29 years and is considered one of the most promising names of his generation. He is most famous for his collection using balloons to accentuate the joint and limb areas if his designs (a technique that would become one of his trademarks). He has also won fame as a designer who explores different forms, shades and mediums to create his unique and stand-out pieces.

Pugh himself describes his designs as being “about the struggle between lightness and darkness.” Gareth Pugh has also been labelled as the “latest addition to a long tradition of fashion-as-performance-art” that stretches back through Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, and Vivienne Westwood (one of Melissa’s most famous collaborators).

In 2008, he achieved one of the greatest fashion honours, becoming the newest member of superpower editor Anna Wintour’s entourage. Gareth Pugh has many famous muses and has dressed celebrities including Kylie Minogue (who wore his designs throughout her Showgirl tour), Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Ashlee Simpson.

Melissa is very excited to add Gareth Pugh to our ever-growing list of amazing collaborators.

JEAN PAUL GAULTIER

In 1982 melissa first collaborated with Paris couturier Jean Paul Gaultier in the creation of a plastic sneaker. We are now pleased to announce melissa’s long awaited collaborative re-union with Gaultier who this time has created a 10cm chiselled plastic stiletto.

“Working with Melissa has been a coup de pied a la mode! I’ve enjoyed the challenge of creating a high heeled plastic shoe with all the values of my design ethos” – JEAN PAUL CAULTIER.

Staying true to melissa’s ethos, Jean Paul Gaultier’s design is a cutting edge sexy style that is a unique plastic masterpiece and a fashion match made in heaven. Due to the intricacy of the design, which comprises of both opaque and transparent plastics in varying strap widths and a metal cigarette heel, the newest technology advances in production have had to be implemented to satisfy the demands of this model.

On vogue.com Gaultier has been quoted as saying “I’ve worked very closely with Melissa on the development of this style – it’s very sexy. I’d love to see it worn with fishnet tights, so you can really max out on the transparent aspect of the plastic.”

After working for Pierre Cardin, then Jean Patou, Jean Paul Gaultier released his first collection under his own name in 1976. A master tailor, his suiting featured a deconstructed aesthetic, with an androgynous flavour, underpinned by his risqué collaborations, best exemplified by Madonna’s conical bra for her 1990’s Blond Ambition Tour. In 2004 he became Creative Director for Hermes and he also now produces couture collections in addition to his mainline and fragrances.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

“The most amazing thing about this partnership was to be able to create modern products, with very high quality, for affordable prices” – Vivienne Westwood.

For more than three decades Vivienne Westwood has forged her way into the hearts, minds and purses of fashionistas across the globe. Now she has found a place within Melissa’s collections, with the collaboration commencing in 2008 and still going strong today!

Westwood has created over 30 styles through her Anglomania brand exclusively for Melissa. Some are new designs whilst others are a re-birth in plastic of her previous leather designs.

Westwood’s trademark practically is a faultless match for Melissa’s injected thermoplastic. “This technique guarantees perfect shapes without interweaves as we see in fabrics …” says the designer herself. In Anglomania all of Westwood’s quintessential Englishness and unabashed historicism loans itself neatly to her creations for Melissa’s collection. Her designs are unquestionably British, undeniably feminine and fearlessly non-conformist. Therefore Melissa, renowned for its innovation and boldness, seems the ideal fit for this enviable brand extension. Indeed, as Westwood once likened fashion to a baby that she had picked up and never put down Melissa is precisely that for many devotees.

Westwood is an institution, and now the esteemed matriarch counts the Melissa brand as a part of her monarchy.

EDSON MATSUO

“I’m fascinated by plastic, a simple material with many possibilities of being. It gives freedom for the creative process and has a great affinity with Brazil. I believe plastic is only limited by the designer’s creativeness” – EDSON MATSUO.

The creative director of melissa, Edson Matsuo, is a multi-talented art professional who studied architecture and has worked as an illustrator, cartoonist, graphic designer and art director.

Today he is responsible for melissa’s Research and Development where approximately 120 people work on new projects and ideas. He is the artistic leader, working with designers who are invited by melissa to create new styles and establishing melissa as a reference for design and fashion all over the world.

ALEXANDRE HERCHCOVITCH

Herchcovitch thinks as melissa thinks: FASHION is FUN, CLOTHES COMMUNICATE and DESIGN is all about STYLE.

Being ahead of its time, creating different styles and seeing fashion as a strong communication channel has always been melissa’s way of life. It was this belief that led Melissa to Alexandre Herchcovitch – a designer who is able to transform classic into modern, simple into glamorous, easy into complex and shoes into a fashion accessory.

During his career Hechcovitch has presented his fashion collections at Sao Paulo, London, Paris and New York Fashion Weeks and has a retail store in Tokoyo. Selected products of his are sold in the USA, Canada, France, Spain and Australia.

Hechcovitch’s collaboration with melissa began in 2002 and since then he has created two or more styles for melissa every year. The models created by Hechcovitch are now the most cherished fashion icons on the cosmopolitan circuit. Working on a simple concept – to seek fun – the designer has combined plastic with style and started a new chapter in design.

ZAHA HADID

The collaboration of melissa with Zaha Hadid heralds a new era in footwear design. Like a perfectly executed architectural project, the Zaha Hadid for melissa creation was two years in the making and a first for the world of fashion.

Iraqi born Zaha Hadid is constantly pushing the boundaries of architecture and urban design. Hadid, the first female laureate of the Pritzker prize of architecture, experiments with novel spatial concepts to intensify existing urban landscapes in a pursuit of visionary aesthetic. She challenges conventions as well as notions of space. Her vision of architecture is very personal, original and above all optimistic and this vision can be clearly seen in the shoe she created for melissa.

For over two years Zaha Hadid worked closely with melissa transform her design into a reality. The collaboration was a perfect fit with Zaha describing, “The fluidity of our design combined perfectly with the technology of melissa’s plastic, injecting pieces without closures or seals.”

Zaha’s design engages with the fluid organic contours of the body. The shoe’s asymmetric quality conveys an inherent sense of movement to the design, evoking continuous transformation. The concept addresses the perception of wearing the shoe in motion rather than a static display on a shopping window.

Today Zaha Hadid is recognised as an industry icon.

GAETANO PESCE

melissa is known for developing amazing collaborations. The most recent collaboration is with the Italian architect-artist-designer Gaetano Pesce.

The new melissa + Gaetano design is the most revolutionary shoe created by melissa. This limited edition ankle boat is comprised entirely of interconnected circles, which wearers are able to cut and create a total of seven different styles from the original shoe. Directions on how to create each new style is included when purchasing.

Gaetano Pesce is based in New York. His work is characterised by the ‘diversified series’ the double functionality of objects and architecture, the creative use of colours, the political dimension of his projects, the theory and practice of the ’poorly made’, the provocation, the use and improvement of synthetic materials, the theory of ‘feminity’ in the architectural projects and lastly the culture of objects.

CAMPANA BROTHERS

Inspired by Brazilian street life, the Campana Brothers combine everyday objects with advanced technology to create vibrant, energetic and fabulously unique designs – from armchairs and lampshades to cutlery and jewellery.

Fernando and Humberto Campana transform mundane materials into objects that celebrate the discarded and are instilled with the spirit of contemporary Brazil.

KARIM RASHID

“Plastic is such a malleable material, so flexible, biomorphic, high performing, democratic, comfortable, soft, complex, moldable and variable. I have always dreamed of a plastic world – a PLASTIC UTOPIA, where everything is warm, rounded, soft and beautifully colourful.”

“melissa is from a place that is foreign to me, Brazil, an exotic place, a place that reminds me only of dreams, a place full of life, warm hearts, passion, creativity and love. I had no idea that a company existed that makes injection molded plastic shoes, that is capable of such complex wonderments for the feet….. Now I know, and now I have the pleasure and opportunity to create some small artistic expressions that add to their positive spirited line of shoes. This collaboration is MELISSA KARIM. This is a beautiful project and a great collaboration to soften and domocratize our every day objects” – KARIM RASHID.

Karim Rashid, the celebrated New York based Egyptian designer, has previously worked with Issey Miyake, Prada, Georgio Armani, Artemide, Cappellini, Edra and Sony, just to name a few!! Karim’s teardrop shaped high heel style for melissa became a hit amongst trendsetters around the globe. His works combine modern design with a classic model of the brand. He also designed a sneaker with winding lines, a bag with Rashid ICONS and a watch, all for melissa.

LOVEFOXXX

Luiza Hanae Matsushita, more popularly known as LoveFoxxx, is the Brasilian lead singer of the indie-electro band Cansei de Ser Sexy, better known as CSS. Lovefoxxx has been an illustrator and a fashion design assistant, however, in recent years she is more known for her music career.

In the winter of 2006 Lovefoxxx created an illustration for the front of the melissa galleria located in Sao Paulo, Brasil. This illustration was then incorporated onto a sneaker design to create the melissa + Lovefoxxx sneaker which was released that season.

In 2009 Lovefoxxx collaborated with melissa again to create the Numa Lovefoxxx style which featured a mouse on the front of the shoe. Now in 2010 the Joking Lovefoxxx style has been released. Lovefoxxx is inspired by the animal world. The new Joking style, when viewed from above looks like the face of a fox.

ISABELA CAPETO

Isabela Capeto’s career started 16 years ago when she graduated from the Accademia di Moda in Florence, Italy. Since then she has become increasingly successful and is now recognized as one of the most important Brazilian stylists.

Isabela possesses a unique method of creating her collections. Inspired by museums and books, Isabela treats each of her pieces like a work of art. Her designs are handmade and embroidered with many details and decorations. Isabela’s main objective is to make women feel beautiful when they wear her romantic clothes.

J MASKREY

“Since I moved to Paris at the beginning of this year, romanticism took over me and my thoughts … so I decided to create a line both feminine and modern … beautiful shoes covered with crystals that will illuminate the steps of melissa’s customers” – J MASKREY.

After the success of the melissa ‘bejewelled’ line by J Maskrey launched in 2003, J Maskrey once again graces melissa with her glamorous talent with the launch of the Night Sky line. The styles that have received her magical touch are Ultragirl, Esmeralda, Vinyl, Joy and Lady Dragon. The name for the new line, Night Sky, came to J Maskrey on one of her trips whilst observing the beauty and lights of the Sky from her aeroplane window.

J Maskrey commenced her career as a make-up artist. She then decided to follow her creative ideas and began to develop jewellery to be worn directly on the skin – thus the beginning of ‘skin jewellery’, her registered trademark. Clients of her unique and dazzling form of body art have included: Kate Moss, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Kate Winslet, Janet Jackson, Courtney Love, Yoko Ono, Cate Blanchett and Gwen Steffani. J Maskrey has collaborated with several top fashion brands as a result of developing her Skin Jewellery technique. These have included Ungaro Couture, Estee Lauder, Givenchy Parfum, Kenzo, Sonia Rykiel Judith Lieber, Alexander McQueen, Red Bull, Hugo Boss, SK II and many more.

In 2000 J Maskrey branched into clothing and debuted at London Fashion Week in 2001. Nowadays she lives in Paris concentrating on her ready-to-wear collections and working closely with melissa and various other collaborators.

JUDY BLAME

Judy Blame has brought his unique visionary skills to melissa by customising particular individual styles with his signature found object jewellery.

A multi-tasking creator and industry leader, London-based stylist Judy Blame, has his finger on every unforgettable happening in the British fashion world, including the iconic ‘i-D’ and ‘The Face’ editorials in the80’s, which defined the generation, and also Boy George’s stylish and avant-garde accessories. Responsible for giving a timeless identity to Boy George, Bjork and Neneh Cherry the stylist, jeweller, designer and art director nowadays is a part of the design team at Louis Vuitton and a guest editor at i-D magazine.

Judy Blame is renowned for his subversive style and ability to reuse and reorganise different materials in unusual ways.

PEDRO LOURENCO

“Melissa is an amazing company and I was immediately excited with all the possibilities plastic has to offer” – Pedro Lourenco

Born and brought up amongst scissors, needles and fashion shows feeding an innate talent for design, Pedro Lourenco was only twelve when, in 2003 he designed his debut collection. The son of fashion designers, Pedro is highly disciplined and has a special interest in ‘cutting and finishing’ techniques.

Melissa amalgamates technology and design and is always in search of new innovative talents like Pedro. Since Melissa was founded over thirty years ago in Rio Grande do Sul, the company has broken ground with its innovative creative collaborations. It all goes back to Melissa’s revolutionary founding idea that plastic is a medium of creative expression. The plastic technology developed by the brand is multidisciplinary, making it a perfect material for Pedro Lourenco’s creative interpretation.

“I always loved the idea of creating a product that can be produced and is ready to use straight from a machine – the complete opposite of what I do. Plastic gave me the possibility to create shapes and three-dimensional effects without seams or apparent fusion.”

The Melissa + Pedro Lourenco partnership will launch with two styles for Australia’s High Summer 2013.

ELISABETH DE SENNEVILLE

“Working together again with [Melissa] is incredible but nit a surprise. I always show their shoes to clients and they say ‘Wow, I would love to get them’ – Elisabeth de Senneville

Elisabeth de Senneville launched her first range for Melissa back in 1985. Extremely proud of this partnership, Melissa is delighted to be working with her again on the new Rainbow collection. While de Senneville has been active in French fashion since the 1960s, she came to prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s with her defining collections, which were a combination of both functionalist and futuristic elements.

Rather than following trends, de Senneville has been primarily interested in new technological developments and constantly seeks to apply non-apparel industrial processes and materials to her clothes, making her a perfect match for Melissa. Unconventional and industrial materials Elisabeth de Senneville has used include plastic, knitted copper threads, rubber, and wool mattress padding. Among her most unusual innovations was her creation in 1981, of plastic clothes imprinted with holograms.

The de Senneville customer is young, adventurous, and intelligent. While many of the materials she has used have been unusual, the shapes of de Senneville’s clothes are often basic and functional and are inspired by athletic wear.

“I think the new product will suit an international, young, futuristic woman” says Mrs. De Senneville of her new design with Melissa.

SALINAS

“Our brands have a lot in common; they are fun, colourful and very pop. This is the great success behind this partnership” – Jaqueline Di Biasi, Salinas Creative Director

Since its inception in 1997, Salinas has established itself as one of the most sought after fashion swimwear brands in the market. With its Brazilian roots planted firmly in the sand, the brand captures the design, quality and passion of Brazil. However it was not until 1997, when supermodel Tyra Banks graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s coveted swimsuit issue that Salinas was on its way to becoming a global brand, influencing the market in its style and setting the standard for high Lycra quality.

Now with its wide range of prints and styles, Salinas can be found in well-known stores and boutiques around the world. With celebrity fans such as Madonna, Kate Hudson, and top models like Gisele Bundchen, Christy Turlington and Adriana Lima, it is easy to understand why Salinas has become one of the most sought-after swimwear brands in the world and why Melissa loves to team up with the brand to create the most fun and comfortable sandals perfect for everyday wear.

LIBERTY

“Both teams in London and Brazil were really happy to be part of Melissa’s plastic fantastic world. [We were] all really excited to see the results of using the Liberty print on the plastic base” – Martina Ergotic, Liberty Art Fabrics Brazil Marketing Director

Liberty London embodies British tradition with avant-garde design. Their annual collection features breathtaking classic prints, as well as newer designs that reflect the current trends. Liberty Art Fabrics Company of London has actually been in existence since the late nineteenth century, and since its inception, lists successful partnerships with brands like Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent and Nike as some of its accomplishments.

It actually has a long history of partner projects and most recently the brand has worked with model Kate Moss (a fellow Melissa ambassador) singer Florence Welch as well as other well-known shoe brands such as Dr. Martens and Manolo Blahnik.

For Liberty London, Melissa shoes have always been innovative pioneers in what they do, which is using unique material to create fashion pieces. For its first collaboration with Melissa, choosing which fabric to print on the famous jelly shoes wasn’t an easy task, especially since Liberty’s archive consists of 43,000 designs! The aim was to choose prints that brought together both the Liberty heritage and a colourful Brazilian spring/summer vibe. In the end two classic prints were chosen: Margaret Annie, from the 19th century with pink colour tones, and Emma and Georgina, another gorgeous heritage classic design from the same period that focused on blue tones.

JULIA PETIT

The first new collaborator for 2013 is Julia Petit, one of Brazil’s most famous socialites. Daughter of Spanish artist and advertising mogul Francesc Petit, Julia was born into the fast paced world of art and fashion. Julia first made her mark as a fashion model and then went on to become a jewellery designer, television presenter, music producer and renowned blogger. What a marvellous list! Always one to intertwine her passions, in 2007 she produced the soundtrack for the catwalk parades of designer Andre Lima at Sao Paulo Fashion Week.

So it is now that Julia Petit can add Melissa shoe designer to her list of credentials and we are very excited to have her on board.

A lover of animal prints and bold colours, Julia elected to have her first style with Melissa incorporate both elements to create her own version of the Melissa Dreaming.

KARL LAGERFELD

“My inspiration was the native country of the brand, celebrating the Brazilian joie de vivre. The best way to know a country is to work with people from that country. I know little about Brazil so it’s a great opportunity” – Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld is known to those in the industry as the Godfather of Fashion and is a legend in his own time. His trademark look – ponytail and dark sunglasses – is just as notorious as his work. Lagerfeld’s fashion career spans over many decades and can be linked to an extraordinary list of fashion houses including Chloe, Max Mara, Valentino and Fendi. But it wasn’t until 1983, when Lagerfeld joined Chanel that led to the most renowned role of his career, becoming Creative Director of Chanel Fashion House.

Visionary, iconic and eclectic, Karl Lagerfeld embodies all the characteristics to make a perfect Melissa collaborator and was invited to design a capsule collection being produced overall.

His ability to capture, interpret and anticipate tomorrow’s trends is always fascinating and we cannot wait to see what elements he brings to his future designs for Melissa.