London-born Deborah Lyons may only be 25 years old but her love of art and the pursuit of a narrative behind her sculptural shoes started from a very young age. Having studied in London, Florence and Paris, Lyons finally settled in New York at Parsons to study fashion design where she discovered a passion for footwear. After freelancing in areas of fine footwear, she finally launched her own line Mechante of London that fuses intricate details, elegant lines and superb craftsmanship. The Mechante signature is a gold triangle stretched out along the sole and an 80s' glam and futuristic blended aesthetic but most notably her shoes don't stack up to the ludicrous physical heights that has increasingly become de rigueur for designer footwear, marking Mechante out from the rest of the shoe crowd.
Dazed Digital: Where did the name Mechante come from?
Deborah Lyons: Mechante in french means a naughty girl. A Euro friend gave me the nickname around the time I started working on the line and it just seemed to work with their youthful coquettish style... Not sure what it says about me though!
DD: What was the inspiration for the autumn/winter 09 collection?
Deborah Lyons: This collection was inspired by powerful women of fact and fiction, the shoes are all named after these women, e.g. Dita-Dita Von Teese, Sofia-Sofia Loren, Lolita, and Beatrix- Beatrix Kiddo. The contrasting fabrics, metallics, and skins represent the paralells and contradictions between force and femininity.
