Mona Moore finally “heating” Los Angeles !

A new concept shoe store as we love them just opened in Venice Beach, California: Mona Moore.
The first Mona Moore opened in Montreal 7 years ago, and got its name from the french words Mon Amour (meaning “my love”). Then, they launched Mona Moore website to shop online (about 40% of store sales are online), and now they decided to open a store in Los Angeles.

The Mona Moore space was formerly an artist’s studio and before that a barbershop that appeared in the movie “Get Shorty.” The two women behind this are Lisa Bush and Anna Maria Varriano. Lisa Bush says that “The neighborhood is a nice mix of residential and commercial (…) I’m a huge fan of urban beaches like Miami’s South Beach and the south of France. We have that in Venice.”

They feature a lot of high end designers and new cool and original brands. Mona Moore currently stocks the most Dries Van Noten shoes and accessories in Los Angeles, but also Ann Demeulemeester, Haider Ackermann and Phi. And the collection will get bigger next month with the arrival of luxury souliers from Marni, Lanvin and Pierre Hardy.

As the L.A Times describes it, the interior is as minimal (raw concrete, white walls) as you would expect from a boutique featuring polysyllabic Belgian and Dutch designers. But Moooi chandeliers, Venetian mirrors and vintage chairs give the boutique personality along with the mirror ball.

Sounds like a must-go place to me ! If you are lucky enough to live in L.A, you should definitly go there and send me an email to tell me all about it !!

To go and visit; 1112 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice. (310) 452-4070 & monamoore.com

.

.

A fun story: Puma or Adidas, you’ll have to choose !

Herzogenaurach, Germany was a sort of Mini-berlin town split into 2 clans and the people living there had to choose their clan between adidas or Puma. Intermarriage was out of the question. According to the Sidney Herald, the story began in the 1920s between two local shoemakers and brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, who were making shoes together in their mother’s kitchen, trading as Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. But they started fighting and Rudolf left to set up Puma on the other side of the town’s river, and Adolf renamed the company adidas. The fight created decades of fierce business rivalry, split a town in two, and led to the establishment of two of the best-recognised sporting brands in the world. “Some of the stories you hear are just mind-blowing,” Puma marketing manager Filip Trulsson said, “Puma people not marrying adidas people, adidas and Puma gangs in the schools, pubs loyal to one firm refusing to serve workers from the other, it’s all gone on here.” But now, after more than 60 years of enmity, Puma and adidas have chosen to end it. Next Monday, employees of both companies will shake hands and play a soccer game, the first joint activity since the Dassler brothers fell out. In a joint release, adidas and Puma said they were associating the “historic handshake” in support of the “Peace One Day” organisation, which celebrates its annual non-violence day on Monday.

.

.

Fergie’s shoe colelction is available !

The new Fall colelction of Fergie shoe (from the Brown shoe company) is now available ! And hopefully it will give us a little of the confidence and sexyness of the Grammy award)winning artist Fergie shoes still makes fabulous shoes for women around the world and creates unabashedly sexy footwear that gives a bit of star quality to every person who steps into its choc style! Shop here.

.

.

Bata shoes museum in Toronto

Oh shoe lovers you’re gonna love me. As shoebizness.com is read in 56 different countries, I would expect some of you to live in Toronto. And if you are, you must go see the Bata shoe museum, which has hundreds of shoes (from a collection numbering over 10,000) on exhibit. The Museum celebrates the style and function of footwear in four impressive galleries. Footwear on display ranges from Chinese bound foot shoes and ancient Egyptian sandals to chestnut-crushing clogs and glamourous platforms. Over 4,500 years of history and a collection of 20th-century celebrity shoes are reflected in the semi-permanent exhibition, All About Shoes. Three other galleries feature changing exhibitions, and this months’ Chronicles of Riches brings visitors ‘behind the scenes’ for a rare view of the multitude of exceptional artifacts held in the collection from Napoleon’s black silk socks worn while he lingered in exile on St. Helena to shoes of bear fur and silk worn by an ancient Japanese samurai. More info here.

.

.

Wear your golf shoes in the street with the new hybrid

Danish shoemaker Ecco introduces its Spring/Summer 2010 men’s golf collection, showcasing highest-grade leathers, superior comfort technologies and an expansive range of new styles, from luxurious classic looks to casual, street-inspired designs. “It’s a hybrid, with stability and support, but something you could wear all day,” said C. B. Tuite, the general sales manager of ECCO’s golf division. More info here.