Pause - Feel - Enjoy
Less than a 2 hour drive up the coast from Barcelona there is the perfect place to pause – feel - enjoy.
A place that was a secret kept by a few artists, poets, architects and writers who fell in love with the beauty of its rocky coasts, fresh Mediterranean air, and the vivid colors of its light and landscape: the Costa Brava.
It is difficult to think of another place where you could have played a game of chess with Marcel Duchamp, crossed paths with Salvador Dalí on a walk by the sea or enjoyed a caña (beer) with Picasso in one of the fishing villages.
With hidden coves, hard to reach beaches, crystal clear water and fresh as can be seafood, it is easy to see why the Costa Brava has become a getaway for cultural tastemakers and home to one of a kind restaurants such as Ferran Adria's El Bulli.
We are pleased to present the first models of our Brava Collection. This new line of shoes reflects the stress-free nature of this region and the creatives who once called the Costa Brava their home. The light and summer feel of our new Blake construction shoes deliver comfort without compromising on style and they are perfect for a much-needed escape of your own, to pause – feel – enjoy.
The Derby we have named Pablo is casual yet refined with a relaxed toe box, slim cut waist and semi-lined upper. The heel has a slight inclination of 3mm which enables more comfort when walking and helps to protect the structure of the shoe.
We have crafted these box calf leather Derbies in a colorful range of pine green, washed indigo, gold, and coral which would have fit the quirky yet powerful character of Picasso.
Our Salvador model has the closed lacing system of an oxford, slightly more formal, but uses the same profile as the Pablo.
The vamp is shorter than our formal Goodyear-welted oxfords but maintains the elegance of our shoes with their well-balanced proportions. Salvador is available with a light patina in dark vermouth, cognac, and a deep blue we call pielago.
Pablo Picasso used to say, “Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist”.
We believe in this principle.
Our Brava Collection employs Blake construction which enables a lighter weight shoe with a slim and low profile sole that delivers additional flexibility. These features compliment the semi-lined upper and allowed us to design a casual shoe that maintains a sophisticated look and silhouette.
The Brava Collection was developed without having to have socks in mind, so comfort was absolutely critical when designing this line. How did we accomplish this?
Like our Goodyear-welted shoes, the answer is in what you don’t see. We took the best components of our Goodyear shoes and bespoke construction adding yet another secret of our carefully engineered three-layer insole, which we named Capricho*.
We first combined a layer of veg tan leather with a layer of cork footbed, a detail that we adopted because of it´s moldability qualities from our Goodyear-welted shoes. We then finished the insole with a layer of Ortholite, a superb technical material known to maintain 95% of its cushioning properties after the first year, compared to 35% of the average insole.
Together the elegant design, lightweight and flexible semi-lined uppers, Blake Construction, and our Capricho insole of this new Brava Collection are perfect for a pause from the day to day grind, when you want to feel comfortable and enjoy some time off and away. In other words, they are a nice alternative for the days when your office shoes need their rest too.
Both the Pablo Derby and Salvador Oxford of our Brava Collection are now available online and in our boutique in Barcelona. Please email sales@normanvilalta.com if you have any questions.
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* In Spanish a capricho is a work of art in which cleverness or fantasy breaks the observance of rules
