Just recently completing her Masters in Fashion Footwear at the London College of Fashion, designer Sandra Plantos created Presence as her graduate collection, where she drew from her architectural background. Exploring both materiality and the act of making, Plantos abstracted natural materials and how they’re used on a daily basis to elevate their “status” in the form of evocative footwear.
The collection utilizes concrete as a way to entrap and restrict the movements of the user, essentially making the footwear immovable and slowing down the pace of everyday life. The result is an multi-sensory experience as the physical act of moving slowly decelerates the mind and the processing of imagery, making the tactile qualities of the material become more noticeable, thereby enhancing the experience of the “self”.
The deconstructed nature of the conceptual footwear makes them sculptural, with spaces created for the feet to reside.