Credit: George Pimentel

Credit: George Pimentel

A True Artisan

Rocco P., who has been designing beautiful shoes for 25 years now, recently made a trip to Toronto to unveil his latest Fall 2008 shoe collection at posh retailer George C. His globally coveted Rocco P. line featured an exclusive boot designed for Amy Winehouse.

Discussing all things shoes, Rocco revealed that when designing a new collection, he tends to stay far away from trends and the direction fashion seems to be heading each season.

 “If fashion is going a certain way, I always go the opposite way. I don’t follow trends. It doesn’t make me feel safe. I want to realize what I dream during the night,” he noted. “My clients trust me every season.”

Crafting stunning shoes in his production facility in Italy every season, Rocco P. has developed a large following among some of the world’s most fashionable high-end consumers, who love all things exotic. Talking about his inspirations, Rocco noted at the event how he is inspired by all women.

And women sure love him too. Even British rocker Amy Winehouse, whom Rocco likens to Keith Richards, was smitten by his designs. Contacting his firm in Milan, Winehouse was able to get a pair of boots and a bag custom designed for her by Rocco. Just like Karl Lagerfeld (who dedicated a previous season’s collection to Amy Winehouse), Rocco is a huge fan of Amy as well. On Amy’s red red-hot boots (pictured above), stylist Jennifer Tse from The Artist Group Limited noted that they are “very Amy Winehouse and very beautiful.” She added, “[Rocco’s] shoes are amazing in the way he uses textures and fine material — definitely old craftsmanship with modern design.”

And this is what Rocco P. does best: capture women’s desires and create shoes of rare beauty. Rocco P. is known for his artistry in playing with exotic skins. Rocco revealed how, on his flight to Toronto from Italy recently, one woman couldn’t stop staring at his shoes and bag, and she actually asked to feel the exotic custom slippers he had with him. For his Fall 2008 collection, Rocco did not disappoint. The exotic skins he used included python, eel, and crocodile.

Coming from a family of shoemakers, Rocco P. has stayed true to his family’s centuries’ old art of shoemaking.

“In Italy, we have a very old tradition of shoemaking, and actually there are not so many people who have maintained these traditions. Many of my friends, they prefer to go to Turkey [or to] China to manufacture their shoes.”

With the luxury market losing its luster recently, as everything has become mass produced, Rocco has kept his company small and out of the hands of big luxury corporations.

Rocco revealed that he has turned down numerous requests over the years to sell shares of his company. A true artisan and a free spirit, Rocco understands the importance of being free to design from the heart and to not have to answer to a huge corporation.

“I like the freedom I get in owning my company,” Rocco stated in our interview.

In Canada, Rocco P. shoes are sold exclusively at George C in Toronto (21 Hazelton Avenue). In the United States, Rocco’s shoes can be found at Barneys in New York and at Madison in Los Angeles.