Faryl Robin Morse

Go shopping for shoes with Faryl Robin Morse, and she’ll ask you these three questions before you even try them on for size: One, “If you walk into a room, will this shoe stand out to you?” Two, “If you picked it up and turned it over, would you think [the price] makes sense?” Three, “If you’re on the worst date that you’ve ever been on, could you walk home?”

Better make sure you answer yes every time. Morse puts every shoe in her eponymous collection to this same test, every season. We recently sat down with Morse to turn the tables and ask her the tough questions.

Tell us about your new spring ’08 collection.

It’s inspired by a Midsummer Night’s Dream. We went more feminine this season than we have gone historically. Think pixie dust, fairies and magic to your movement.

The Madras, new for spring '08

If you could change something about the industry, what would it be?

One of the taglines in our office is that industry standards are inferior. By the time it becomes an industry standard it’s because people have made sacrifices to get there. ‘You have to give up style to be comfortable. You have to give up comfort for style. If we live by our industry standards, we’re, in essence, penalizing our customer by not fighting harder, for not saying, ‘Are you kidding me?’ You can have shoes that are comfortable and good looking. The consumer has changed. In a sense our consumer is more educated than we are. It would be easier for us if stores understood that change as well. I’d also get more women in power roles. Where are the women? There are women buyers, merchandisers, journalists, stylists, etc., but where are the women executives?

Who are some other designers and designs you admire?

Christian Louboutin makes really beautiful shoes, but what’s groundbreaking is how he gets them on celebrities’ feet. However, it makes no sense to me that a woman will pay $750 for a shoe. That’s what’s so appealing about Jimmy Choo and Giuseppe Zanotti. You have to admire a designer and company’s ability to follow what they think. Nobody is reinventing the wheel entirely.

What does Morse think is the next big thing? Read more in our exclusive interview in the August 2007 issue of WSAToday, coming soon.

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