Armed with a business background and a love for shoes, Coye Nokes stepped onto the footwear scene with the debut of her eponymous collection for fall ’09. “I recognized an opportunity around functional shoes for the professional woman that are modern and have an edge,” says the Houston native. “We call it ‘office with an edge’ that takes you from day to night.” However, launching her own line of luxury footwear is not the only major event happening in Nokes’ life. This month, she’ll say “I do” while standing in one of her own designs. “I’ll be wearing the Jacqueline pump in silver python and my bridesmaids are wearing it in gold metallic,” she says. Based in New York, the shoes are handmade in Italy and retail for $390 to $640. The designer opens up about her inaugural collection, the industry trends she’s spotting and what we can expect from her next line in this extended, exclusive version of the interview coming up in the June issue of WSAToday.

Coye Nokes

What trends are you seeing for fall ’09?
Trends in footwear are coming back to being more glamorous. [The styles are] more focused on pretty and flattering footwear. [Designers are also] focusing on mixing materials, which we definitely did some of, and some color blocking. It’s another way to make the footwear interesting.

What will be fall’s hottest colors?
One of the ones we have in our collection, and that I’ve seen a lot, is a midnight blue. We’re calling it ink; it has a fresh, clean look to it. There will also be some really interesting metallics, [especially] in the copper family.

What’s the hottest material?
I think the hottest material is patent in different, unexpected colors like taupe and ink. There are also a lot of skins out there now.

Describe your debut collection in 25 words or less.
The inspiration is Parisian Office. It has global sophistication, an edge, and speaks to the woman on-the-move who always looks polished and chic.

Amelia flat

What are your stand-out styles?
We have our four main silhouettes. Each is named in honor of a famous woman who inspires me, and I hope that I can inspire other women in the process: Jacqueline Onassis Kennedy, Amelia Earhart, Katharine Graham and Josephine Baker. I address heel height by offering everything from a flat to a 4-inch heel. I give the customer a bit of variety by mixing materials on one style, but then keeping it solid on another. You can take the same silhouette and change the materials or use color blocking and come up with something new and fresh or different.

What makes your shoes a cut above?
I think it’s a combination of my focus on flattering a woman’s foot, which I’ve always focused on myself in my own footwear selection, and my attention to detail.

What do you, as a designer, do better than the competition?
I put together clean lines and a flattering shoe, but it’s strong. When you walk in it, you feel confident; you’re not teetering down the street. This makes an absolutely beautiful collection that speaks to a wide audience.

What is the one thing retailers need to communicate to customers about your shoes?
The package of quality with fashion and functionality that my shoes have. These are great shoes for you to wear to work and out at night. The way we designed the collection, it’s meant to be very versatile, particularly at an accessible price point for an Italian-made shoe.

Jacqueline

What’s the best feedback you’ve received from a retailer so far?
The feedback has been fantastic. The best I’ve gotten is that we’ve hit on an opportunity that isn’t really being addressed by anyone. That’s the driver behind why I wanted to do this and the styles we’ve developed, and retailers are the ones who are with consumers everyday. To get that validation was really gratifying.

What’s on the horizon, trendwise?
I think we’ll continue to see the movement toward more chic, sophisticated styles. I think in the next couple of years that will continue to grow as people move back into wanting to feel confident and ready to take on the world. For women, focusing on your fashion and your style communicates that message.

What’s a dead trend?
The throw-on-whatever-sloppy-shoe-and-go-out-the-door attitude.

If you could change something about the industry, what would it be?
What’s frustrating to me is there’s a lot of inefficiency. In order to survive, we’ll have to become more efficient at getting product out and orders through.

What can we expect from your upcoming spring/summer ’10 collection?
The inspiration for the spring ’10 line is Urban Riviera. We still maintain our basic signature, but it’s also fun and has a lot of rich colors with a bit of pop. The big focus is on the different styles and heel heights and incorporating day-to-night versatility and creating wearable collections. We are carrying over our house collection with the Jacqueline style, but for the most part, we’ve taken a step back and created a lot of new sandals and flats.

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