The Bow · 1980s Burgundy Suede Flat Shoes, Innovare Italy, AU 6
Burgundy suede · gathered organza toe bow · flat sole · Innovare · made in Italy · 1980s · AU 6 · EU 37 · UK 4 · US 6
Burgundy suede, flat sole, a gathered organza bow at the toe cap in the same oxblood-burgundy as the upper. The bow is not a fastening; it is a whole argument for wearing the shoe. It gathers full and soft, the organza having weight to it, sitting at the toe like something a woman pinned there on purpose.
Innovare, made in Italy, 1980s. The Italian flat of the 1980s occupied its own category: the decade of the heel also produced its counter-movement, a certain kind of Italian shoe that was architectural and considered without ever being severe. Innovare was among the labels working in this register, making shoes that rewarded close attention: the quality of the suede, the precision of the gather, the way the bow matches the upper so exactly it looks grown rather than added. Ballet flats of this construction, from this period, are what Italian craft looked like at its most confident and least showy.
The shoe that changes an outfit from the ground up.
Care
Brush the suede with a suede brush in one direction only after each wear. The organza bow can be gently re-shaped with steam; do not press directly. Store stuffed with tissue.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: Insole 24cm. AU 6 · EU 37 · UK 4 · US 6.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Good. The suede has a patina of use, consistent with age, with light surface marking across the toe cap. The organza bow is intact and holds its shape. The flat sole shows wear to the ball of the foot. No damage to structure.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
The bow is not a fastening and holds nothing shut; it is there purely as an argument, and it wins. Gathered from organza in the exact oxblood of the suede, it looks less pinned-on than grown, as though the shoe budded in the night and this is what came up by morning. A flat that asks for no attention at the heel spends all of it at the toe, which is the correct distribution for a shoe that intends to be looked at from across a room. Wear the pair and they improve whatever is happening above them, working quietly upward from the floor.