Alexandra Neel, who once danced with the Paris Opéra, worked for Celine, Balenciaga and Nina Ricci before launching her own collection in the of Spring 2001. Fashion mavens took note of Neel with her very first collection – one very sexy, slightly kinky pump with corset lacing up the heel. Rather than citing any one designer as an motivation, Neel looks to her fellow dancers as a constant source of inspiration.
Her 15 years as a ballet dancer taught her the value of hard work as well as a discriminating taste for accurate detail. Through her designs she tries to capture a woman’s most tenuous side, to gently reveal her subtleties, softness and fragility. She imagines the woman who wears her shoes as someone who is strong, feminine and sexy – like Sharon Stone’s character in Basic Instinct.
She incorporates her own love of seductive lingerie, corset lacing and vintage lace to her collection of stilettos – details most women reserve for the bedroom. Her dream is that her shoes will make any grown man weak. It comes as no surprise then that Ivana Trump is one of her many celebrity fans.
