For Cruise ’14, British shoe and accessories designer Charlotte Olympia looks to vintage comic book creation, Archie’s Girls.
From spider webs to Christmas puddings, Charlotte Olympia is forever referencing something weird and wonderful in her shoe and accessory collections. This season, the Brit designer steps into the shoes of Archie – the 1940s American comic book character created by Bob Montana, which she spent her school holidays reading.
Olympia has taken inspiration from the comic’s love triangle between Archie and his two girls – blonde bombshell Betty and raven-haired vixen Veronica. The outcome is a playful, bold and bright collection of sweetie inspired clutch bags, comic strip covered wedges and heels good enough to eat.
And it’s not the first time Archie has been used as the source of inspiration for a collection. For Spring/Summer ’13, cult beauty brand MAC created bold and beautiful palettes and packaging inspired by the comic book.
Taking note from Archie and his girls’ favourite hangout, the diner, the cruise collection features a sweetie bag full of tasty looking treats. Think Love Heart shaped clutch bags with ‘Be Mine’ and ‘Hug Me’ slogans, sundae inspired pumps topped off with cream leather and a glacier cherry embellishment, Olympia’s signature Dolly courts with the addition of a sweetie bracelet ankle strap, and even Gummi Bear shaped pouchette bags.
Some of Olympia’s best-loved pieces have been given the Archie touch for Cruise ’14 too, including the charming Chatterbox telephone clutch in a ice cream hue and the iconic Kitty flats which now come in an Archie inspired sugar pink shade.
As always, Charlotte Olympia has created a playful campaign to showcase the collection, this time casting her very own Archie’s Girls. Styled and printed like a page straight from the retro American comic, this campaign shows Archie moving between Betty and Veronica whilst they show off some serious shoe candy.
All that’s left for us to do is choose which of Archie’s girls we want to be this season.
The Charlotte Olympia Cruise ’14 collection, inspired by Archie, is available in store and online now.
See which pieces are new in store and online each week with StyleNest’s New In This Week page.